The sad state of what used to be called "journalism". Is there no sense of pride and integrity in this profession?

Tony Branco

Grassley mows down media over Kavanaugh coverage: 'Some of you have bias'

"Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley scolded some members of the press on Thursday for being biased against Republicans and their Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

"Grassley said one incident in his office revealed that slant. He'd been visited by both pro- and anti-Kavanaugh protesters, but said in one case, a reporter refused to interview pro-Kavanaugh activists.

" 'One time, the people that were for Kavanaugh wanted to be interviewed," said Grassley, R-Iowa. "And they said, 'We're only interested in interviewing people against Kavanaugh.'"

" 'That’s a bias that none of you should be proud of," he added.

"Grassley delivered the biting criticism at a press conference to discuss a supplemental FBI background investigation report delivered early Thursday." . . .

A Fired Up Chairman Grassley Explains to the Press How Biased They Are

Ted Koppel UNLOADS: CNN’s Ratings ‘Would Be in the Toilet’ Without Trump 

"Veteran journalist Ted Koppel absolutely unloaded on CNN, Brian Stelter, and the state of journalism in 2018. Appearing in an October 1 Kalb Report forum, Koppel told CNN host Brian Stelter that the network secretly loves fighting with Trump: “CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump.” The former Nightline anchor also called for journalistic “humility” instead of “arrogance.” 

"As the panel discussed Trump, Koppel looked at Stelter and bluntly informed him: “Everybody here keeps talking about ideology and politics." “Money,” he stressed, adding, “You would be lost without Donald Trump... CNN”s ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump” A flustered Stelter sputtered, “Ted, you know that’s not true... You are playing for laughs.' ” . . .

The Mainstream Media Fraud  "The conjoined Democratic Party and mainstream media's despicable character assassination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh combined with the two-year single-minded determination to destroy the Trump presidency by any means possible has irretrievably awakened a preponderance of the citizenry.  In a recent poll, 70% of all Americans and 90% of Republicans have lost faith in the self-styled mainstream media.  They are imploding due to the self-inflicted destruction of their credibility and integrity, which has exposed the fraud this cabal has carried out over the past 85 years.  The damage done to this nation and its citizenry is incalculable." . . .

That Male Feminist Who Kicked A Pro-Life Woman? He Just Got A Small Taste Of Justice

Weasel Zippers

"Actions have consequences, screwball. Update to this story.

"Via Daily Wire:

On Wednesday, a video surfaced online of a male feminist identified as Jordan Hunt physically assaulting a woman for being pro-life.

Though Hunt is apparently still on the run and yet to be apprehended by Toronto police, he has received a small taste of the justice coming his way: The hair studio he worked at up until Wednesday, Noble Studio 101 Hair Studio, swiftly cut ties with Hunt after seeing the disturbing video, Human Defense Initiative has confirmed:

In screenshots provided to the Human Defense Initiative, when questioned about the assault, the shop replied “Was a sub contracter. Until today when I found out what happened today!!!! Not cool. He will never step foot in my studio again.”

Keep reading…

NY Times: "For Once, I’m Grateful for Trump"

From the NY Times...WAIT!...what?

"For the first time since Donald Trump entered the political fray, I find myself grateful that he’s in it. I’m reluctant to admit it and astonished to say it, especially since the president mocked Christine Blasey Ford in his ugly and gratuitous way at a rally on Tuesday. Perhaps it’s worth unpacking this admission for those who might be equally astonished to read it.

"I’m grateful because Trump has not backed down in the face of the slipperiness, hypocrisy and dangerous standard-setting deployed by opponents of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. I’m grateful because ferocious and even crass obstinacy has its uses in life, and never more so than in the face of sly moral bullying. I’m grateful because he’s a big fat hammer fending off a razor-sharp dagger.

"A few moments have crystallized my view over the past few days.

"The first moment was a remark by a friend. “I’d rather be accused of murder,” he said, “than of sexual assault.” I feel the same way. One can think of excuses for killing a man; none for assaulting a woman. But if that’s true, so is this: Falsely accusing a person of sexual assault is nearly as despicable as sexual assault itself. It inflicts psychic, familial, reputational and professional harms that can last a lifetime. This is nothing to sneer at.

"The second moment, connected to the first: “Boo hoo hoo. Brett Kavanaugh is not a victim.” That’s the title of a column in the Los Angeles Times, which suggests that the possibility of Kavanaugh’s innocence is “infinitesimal.” Yet false allegations of rape, while relatively rare, are at least five times as common as false accusations of other types of crime, according to academic literature.

"Since when did the possibility of innocence become, for today’s liberals, something to wave off with an archly unfeeling “boo hoo”?

"A third moment, connected to the second: Listening to Cory Booker explain on Tuesday that “ultimately” it doesn’t matter if Kavanaugh is “guilty or innocent,” because “enough questions” had been raised that it was time to “move on to another candidate.”

"This is a rhetorical sleight of hand in three acts: Elide the one question that really matters; raise a secondary set of “questions” that are wholly the result of the question you’ve decided to ignore; call for “another candidate” because it will push confirmation hearings past the midterms, which was the Democratic objective long before most anyone had ever of Blasey’s allegation.

"Fourth moment: Watching Julie Swetnick, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of attending parties decades earlier where women were gang raped, change key details of her story in an interview with NBC News." . . .

Read the full article and learn about the next four moments.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), join the Facebook political discussion group, Voting While Female, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

How Jeff Flake's One-Week Delay Helped Clear Brett Kavanaugh's Name

Weekly Standard  Let us count the ways.  "When Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake insisted on an additional one-week delay of the Kavanaugh confirmation vote in order to allow the FBI to conduct a supplemental background-check investigation into allegations of sexual assault, many Republicans feared that it would accomplish nothing other than provide time for more people to smear Kavanaugh with new false allegations.

"In fact, the delay has actually helped clear Kavanaugh’s name.

"FBI investigation turns up no groundbreaking information?

"Shortly after 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 4, Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer spoke to the press following a confidential briefing about the FBI's supplemental background check. While the senators were limited about what they could say, Feinstein focused first on the fact that neither Kavanaugh nor Ford, who testified publicly for hours last week, were interviewed by the FBI.

"If the FBI investigation had turned up some groundbreaking new information, that is not the kind of thing you’d expect the Democratic senators to focus on.

"The FBI interviewed all the alleged party attendees—Ford’s lifelong female friend Leland Ingham Keyser, Kavanaugh friend P.J. Smyth, and alleged accomplice Mark Judge. Keyser had previously said she recalls no party at which Kavanaugh was present and does not know Kavanaugh. Schumer and Feinstein gave no indication Keyser has changed her story.

"The FBI also interviewed Chris Garrett, a person Ford went out with around the time of the alleged assault in 1982 and Ford’s only known social connection to Kavanaugh and Judge. The FBI also interviewed Tim Gaudette, who hosted a July 1, 1982, party that has been the focus of much speculation. Schumer and Feinstein gave no indication those interviews turned up groundbreaking information.

"Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said in a statement: “This investigation found no hint of misconduct and the same is true of the six prior FBI background investigations conducted during Judge Kavanaugh’s 25 years of public service.

”Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a key undecided vote, said this morning: "It appears to be a very thorough investigation.” 

"Senator Flake told reporters: “We’ve seen no additional corroborating information.”

" By all indications, the additional FBI investigation has been good for Kavanaugh. 

"Let’s also consider the other ways in which the week-long delay helped Kavanaugh clear his name. " . . .

2001 video shows Obama admitting being a 'thug,' fighting, drinking, drugging in high school

Many of us dislike this man intensely, though not for his past but his political and diplomatic philosophy. Obama's qualities are every bit as distasteful in whites as in a black man. The whites Hillary and Schumer have certainly done journeyman's work in tearing this nation apart. TD

Thomas Lifson  "The standards being applied to Judge Brett Kavanaugh's fitness for high office would have killed the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, among other recent Democrats (Clinton and Kennedy, for starters).  Bill Clinton has adopted a low public profile and deployed Hillary's "Bimbo Eruptions" squad to silence and discredit the female "survivors" of his sexual aggression.  But Barack Obama went on the record in 2001, and nobody cared about behavior in high school they now feign outrage over in the case of Judge Kavanaugh.

"Kudos to Ryan Saavedra of The Daily Wire for uncovering a video from 17 years ago in which Barack Obama discusses his own behavior in high school.  Evaluating it in light of the claims used to pretend Brett Kavanaugh was too degenerate in high school and college to merit membership on the Supreme Court reveals the utter hypocrisy of Kavanaugh's opponents.

"While it is true that the unsupported claims of rape attributed to Kavanaugh have no counterpart in Obama's admissions, the "evidence" against Kavanaugh's character including drinking and "ralphing" is pale compared to what Obama admits to.

-"I was a thug," a "mischievous child"
-"I got into fights."
-"I drank and did – and consumed substances that weren't always legal."
-"I might have drank a six-pack in an hour before going back to class" 

"In point of fact, most people not crazed by desire to maintain the Supreme Court as a means of imposing progressive social policy that is too unpopular to pass Congress understand that childhood foibles should not be held against anyone.

Ryan Saavedra 

✔@RealSaavedra

Obama on his adolescent years in a rare video of a 2001 interview:

-"I was a thug," a "mischievous child"
-"I got into fights."
-"I drank and did--and consumed substances that weren't always legal."
-"I might have drank a six-pack in an hour before going back to class"