At CNN, Retracted Story Leaves an Elite Reporting Team Bruised

The linked story is here: NY Times

Wow, CNN had to retract big story on “Russia,” with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Post News Report introduced the Times' story  . . . "Still, it is unclear to what degree the story was inaccurate. CNN has never said that the article’s reporting was incorrect, and Mr. Zucker made clear on a morning conference call, soon after the retraction, that the network would not go back and report the story again.

"Some journalists inside and outside the network said privately that they believed the story was materially true. But the story also suffered from a lack of clarity. A reader could easily come away with the impression that Mr. Scaramucci himself was under investigation for some kind of illicit dealings with the Russians — an assertion that the article does not explicitly make.

SIGNIFICANT CONSEQUENCES

"The fallout came quickly. The day after the retraction, Rich Barbieri, the editor of CNN’s business and finance site, sent his team an email barring the publication of “any content involving Russia” without editorial approval — “no exceptions.”

"As Breitbart News and other CNN critics gloated over the retraction, Mr. Zucker decided that stern action was necessary to demonstrate to its employees — and to the outside world — that the network would not tolerate such mistakes. The network asked Mr. Lichtblau, Mr. Haris and Mr. Frank to resign." . . .

On to the Times article: 

U.S. soccer team booed in their own country as Mexican fans turn LA into an 'away' game

LA Times

• U.S. goalie Tim Howard swears after trophy ceremony in Spanish
• Majority of 93,000 fans supported Mexico

Dreamers gather

"The 37-year-old Monrovia resident reflected the sentiment of most of the 93,000 strong crowd when he added: 'But yet, I didn't have a choice to come here, I was born in Mexico, and that is where my heart will always be.' "

. . .  

"Long after the game finished Mexico supporters remained, bouncing up and down as they chanted and cheered for their team.

"The American's were not even spared in the trophy ceremony after Mexico's 4-2 win - booed for one final time as they were announced as runners up.

"Speaking after the game, another fan summed up the mood for many American-Mexican fans.

"He said: 'We're not booing the country, we're booing the team.

" 'There is a big difference.' "

Do you recall Obama has said, “These are young people who study in our schools…play with our kids,” he said. “They are Americans in their hearts, their minds, in every single way except one – on paper.”

Really? What about this?  Mexico Soccer Fans Boo National Anthem, Slur Goalie    . . . "Mexican fans by the thousands jeered and whistled during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner that played over the Estadio Azteca sound system before the United States played Mexico, USA Today reported.

"USA Today reported that most in the stands refused to stand as well. The United States would go on to tie Mexico 1-1 Sunday."

Death of the ‘impeach Trump’ movement

Barry Farber  . . . "Even the dimmer lights among the Democrats were warning their clinically insane protesters that you don’t impeach an American president just because you don’t like him. There has to be a “high crime or misdemeanor” in there somewhere, and for the first few months of Democratic head-banging without benefit of padded cells, there was no such thing.

"All of a sudden in mid-May it looked like the Trump-haters’ fantasy was coming true. The alchemists of ancient times never succeeded in converting ordinary metals into solid gold, but the political alchemists of today’s Democratic Party did succeed in converting vapors into solid “obstruction of justice,” namely, Trump asking then-FBI Director James Comey to “Let the investigation of General Mike Flynn go.” And there was great excitement throughout the Democratic ranks of those who began to hate more intelligently. Not only did they now have a “crime,” they had an independent counsel to investigate it. The No. 2 man in the Justice Department, Rod Rosenstein, appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel. Here’s where flaky history ends and solid guesswork begins!" . . .

"We Made Donald %#&@ Trump PRESIDENT -- What Else Can We Do?"

"We know what happened after the Reagan amnesty. We know politicians and the media are lying to us. Why, some of the politicians who lied to us then are lying to us today, for example, Chuck Schumer." . . . 

Ann Coulter  "Congress has tried to sneak through amnesties three times in a little more than a decade. Every time, the American people somehow found out -- despite the best efforts of the press -- rose up in a rage and killed the proposed bills. 

"In 2006, President Bush got the brilliant idea to push amnesty on the country. His party was wiped out the very next time voters could get to the polls.

"Liberals like to claim that their brave opposition to the Iraq War led to the midterm slaughter, but, as I recall, they were against that war in the 2004 presidential election, too, and Bush won. An April 2006 Washington Post–ABC News poll -- taken about a month after Bush launched his amnesty crusade -- showed that more Americans approved of Bush's handling of the Iraq War than approved of his handling of immigration. In nearly every poll on Bush's handling of immigration that year, a huge majority of the public disapproved.

"Three years ago, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his seat to an unknown economics professor, Dave Brat, by a whopping 55 percent to 45 percent, despite outspending Brat 40-to-1. It was the first time in history a member of leadership had lost a primary. (This despite Cantor being one of the “Young Guns”!) Brat had explicitly attacked Cantor for supporting amnesty.

"Most spectacularly, last year, an utterly implausible presidential candidate crushed all his opponents -- including the media -- and won the White House by promising to deport illegals and build a wall." . . .

Californians Give North Korea Congratulations On Achieving Their Dream Of Hydrogen Bomb

Hat tip to Weasel Zippers, who remarked "only in California".

"North Korea is claiming that they successfully detonated their first hydrogen bomb. You’d think that the idea that they might have an H bomb would be somewhat alarming to those of us who are here on the West coast, but we went out on the street and it seems like if you ask people a question in a cheerful enough way, we will offer congratulations for just about anything."

Civil Rights Group Wants Kid Rock Detroit Concerts Canceled Because He Criticized Kaepernick

Weasel Zippers



"And Kid Rock has done more for Detroit and black people than Kaepernick ever has."

The choice of Kid Rock as the opening act for a new sports arena in mostly black Detroit has injected the musician into the national debate over race and culture because of his embrace of the Confederate flag, an expletive-laced criticism of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and unabashed support for President Donald Trump.

Olympia Entertainment selected Kid Rock to open the new Little Caesars Arena with concerts next week. Kid Rock, who is white, has been lauded for his philanthropy and support of Detroit, but his recent criticism of Kaepernick has prompted one civil rights organization in Detroit to plan a protest and call for the concerts to be canceled.

Kaepernick, who is black, refused to stand during the national anthem while with the San Francisco 49ers last year in protest of police violence and social injustice. During a concert last month in Iowa, Kid Rock told fans that “football’s about ready to start,” then went on to say, “You know what? (expletive) Colin Kaepernick,” the Des Moines Register reported.

Kid Rock, who is from the Detroit suburbs and proudly claims the city as his home, has six concerts scheduled at the $860 million, 20,000-seat arena, starting Tuesday — a move that Peter Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Detroit’s Wayne State University, called “incredibly tone deaf.” . . .

Stupid Men in culture

overthinkingit.com

The denigration of men: Ridiculed, abused, exploited - the triumph of feminism has made today's men second class citizens, argues a deliciously provocative new book.  . . . "If ever we do manage to do something well we’re told it’s because our achievements were handed to us on a plate — probably at the expense of women — and not because we’re skilled and work hard. And, naturally, the problems of the world are all our fault.

"In 2013 the Labour MP Diane Abbott made a damning speech about Britain’s men and boys, smugly announcing that masculinity was ‘in crisis’.

"The then shadow Public Health Minister declared that male culture is a ‘celebration of heartlessness; a lack of respect for women’s autonomy and the normalisation of homophobia’." . . .

MESSAGE to large corporations, small businesses and the advertising agencies they employ:   

The Facebook page of the same.

In this Subway commercial you can't miss the childishness of the men and the total disrespect for them in the woman's face. You may recognize the woman's expression from many, many other commercials and programs.

This is a safe space for politicians as well, especially rejected ones:
Hillary Clinton mixes it up with Bernie Sanders, blaming him for her loss
"Blaming sexism didn't work, blaming the Russians didn't work, and blaming Trump "the creep" didn't work.  So now Hillary Clinton is blaming Bernie Sanders for her miserable election rout last November." . . .

What do you mean “we,” lefty

Paul Mirengoff  "Leaders of the National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco have written an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle titled “We are all Antifa.” The truth of the statement depends on the meaning of “we.”

"If the authors mean the National Lawyers Guild, their statement is accurate. This outfit is, and always has been, a far left organization. As Jesse Rigsby wrote in FrontPage Magazine back in 2003:

The National Lawyers Guild embraces every anti-America, anti-capitalist, anti-war, anti-Israel, and “anti-imperialist” cause in vogue among the far left and declares itself “dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system.” If this strikes the reader as a slight hint that the Guild’s underlying ideology is not exactly laissez-faire capitalism, that is because it is not. While the Guild is not officially communist or Marxist, its membership, leadership, past internal struggles, and adopted stances consistently point to an organization whose underlying convictions could best be described as such.

"Antifa is just the latest in a long line of anti-America, anti-capitalist causes the National Lawyers Guild has embraced. It hardly needed to say “we are all Antifa.”

"But if by “we” the Guild means the American public, from which it has always been alienated, then the statement is false. This is clear from recent surveys of likely voters by McLaughlin and Associates, a conservative-leaning organization that polled for the Trump campaign." . . .

Guess Who Didn’t Make It Onto Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed List

Musta been those spike heels that ruined her.

Tony Branco

Daily Caller   "Vanity Fair’s 2017 International Best-Dressed List honors celebrities and politicians who stand out as fashion icons of the year, but one usually well-dressed figure is notably absent.

"Melania Trump, a former model and current first lady of the U.S., did not make the cut, but former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made the list for the third time.

“ 'Heads of state are particularly well represented this year,” a press release for the list said, “with former president and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama (Couples) honored for the third time.”

"Other political leaders include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was honored for the second consecutive year, and French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

"Vanity Fair Magazine has criticized Melania Trump this summer as the first lady has stepped into a more public role at the White House. The magazine dinged the first lady for wearing high heels on the plane to visit Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey August 29." . . .    Hat tip to Moretti Underground

CNN throws in the towel on fake Russian news

Shoah

Monica Showalter  "CNN has dismantled its vaunted Trump-colluded-with-the-Russians investigative unit in a wretched concession to reality.  The only thing the unit found was an empty well for stories, surrounded by a crust of fake news.  The whole caper damaged the network's credibility, and the public just wasn't buying it anymore.  So the whole unit had to go.

"What a shabby end to what the network had put so much stock in in the heady days of trying to oust President Trump just as he had taken office.

"The New York Times attributes the unit's sorry end to confusion in the fact-checking process – which is baloney for anyone who has ever worked in a newsroom – claiming that on one bad story, a lawyer's concerns were ignored.  That's not the way it works in most newsrooms – normally, the lawyer has the loudest voice about what goes to press, given the potential for lawsuits, much to the resentment of the reporters.  Well, the CNN editors ignored it and paid for it with their jobs when it came back to bite them." . . .

Make North Korea a Chinese Protectorate

Bruce Walker  "During the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact nations were Soviet protectorates.  What that means is that nations like East Germany have a degree of nominal independence, but their foreign policy and national security positions had to strictly conform to the interests of the Soviet Union.  Rather than annex the nations of Eastern Europe after the Second World War, the Soviets made these nations protectorates.

"The Soviet Union took responsibility for the actions of these nations.  So despite the fact that there were many theater nuclear weapons with effective delivery systems in these nations, these could never be used without the consent of the Politburo.  NATO never had to worry that a rogue leader of one of these nations would threaten Western Europe because every leader of a Warsaw Pact nation was ultimately under the control of Moscow.

"America ought to take the position that North Korea is a protectorate of China, recognizing China's right to represent North Korea's interests in global affairs and also to recognize that China can take whatever action it deems necessary to restrain North Korea.  That places both responsibility and authority to Beijing.

"What that would mean is that if China occupies all or part of North Korea, or, indeed, if China annexes North Korea, we would accept that decision without negative comment or action.  It would also mean that if North Korea launched any nuclear attack against Seoul or Tokyo, then we would consider that an act by China against South Korea or Japan." . . .

Sounds great, but the way the Soviets did it was by overrunning it's protectorate militarily in 1945. Would the Chinese risk nuclear with North Korea to do that?

North Korea Just Showed the World Its True Colors   . . . "Other nations, particularly those in the region, must be told of our intentions and efforts. Events recently, and over the years since the emergence of North Korea’s nuclear capability, show that no other nations can or will help. Therefore, we are acting unilaterally. This is just business, nothing personal. Interestingly enough, China may mind a lot less than we think. Kim’s latest is an affront to Xi Jinping, as well, as he heads into the nineteenth party congress."

Bill de Blasio goes full Communist, argues against private property, says state should determine who lives where

Joe Newby   "In an interview published Monday at NY Mag, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio went full Communist, arguing against private property rights while saying the state should decide who gets to live in what buildings.

“ 'In 2013, you ran on reducing income inequality. Where has it been hardest to make progress? Wages, housing, schools?” Chris Smith asked.

“ 'What’s been hardest is the way our legal system is structured to favor private property,” de Blasio said. “I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be.”

"Wait a second — de Blasio thinks residents of New York want the city to decide who gets to live in what buildings?  No wonder we like to refer to him as “Comrade” de Blasio.  But there’s more.

“ 'I think there’s a socialistic impulse, which I hear every day, in every kind of community, that they would like things to be planned in accordance to their needs,” he added, apparently drawing from the Communist maxim of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

"He then admitted his desire for central planning: “And I would, too. Unfortunately, what stands in the way of that is hundreds of years of history that have elevated property rights and wealth to the point that that’s the reality that calls the tune on a lot of development.' ” . . .