Journalists: Don't Blame Us, We Were Just Following Orders

UPDATE on Peter Doocy's absense: FOX News' Hillary Vaughn and Peter Doocy Welcome Baby Girl: Photos (people.com)

 David Strom – HotAir

"Read between the lines, and you get: if we cover this story, we help Republicans and piss off the Democrats, and we really really hate the idea of helping Republicans . . . " It's the same argument made for why schools needed to be closed during the pandemic--Trump wanted them reopened, and we couldn't have that." 

"Democrat donors and elected officials aren't the only rats scrambling to get off a sinking ship. 

"Reporters are on the same ship and have lived there for quite a while. They know they better jump while they still can. 

"But they've got a problem: they have participated in the coverup just as much as the president's team. 

"Last month, when the Wall Street Journal published the least surprising story in American history--that Joe Biden appears to have slowed down a teeny tiny, almost unnoticeable bit--the rest of the mainstream media jumped all over them and accused them of spreading propaganda. 

"Last Thursday's debate exposed the hoax. What to do?

"The "modified limited hangout" is their current answer: admit to a small offense to hide the fact that they committed a much larger one. 

In June, when the Wall Street Journal published a lengthy piece on President Joe Biden’s mental state, the newspaper got slammed. The White House, its allies, and some in the media – including CNN’s Reliable Sources – criticized the Journal for quoting mostly Republican political foes on the record, who had a clear political motive to damage Biden’s image. No Democrats were quoted on the record making those allegations, and several Democrats complained their on-the-record quotes praising Biden’s sharpness were not included. The Journal defended its reporting at the time.

. . .

Judge Denies Biden Admin Attempt To Lock Up Peaceful Pro-Life Protester

  Leif Le Mahieu (dailywire.com)

"During his remarks before the judge, Crampton asked for no jail time to be imposed and said that she should consider the “peaceful protest context” and that the Biden administration’s bringing of conspiracy against rights charges against the pro-lifers was “unprecedented.' ”

"Paul Vaughn, a pro-life father of 11, escaped prison time on Tuesday after he was sentenced in Nashville over his participation in a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility March 2021.

"The Biden administration had asked for one year of prison time, but U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger decided to impose no prison time or fine, sentencing Vaughn to three years of supervised release. Vaughn was convicted of violating the FACE Act and in participating in a conspiracy against rights.

"The Biden Justice Department brought charges against Vaughn and 10 other pro-lifers present at a sit-in at the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mt. Juliet.

When given an opportunity to speak, Vaughn said that the “reason I am engaged in activities is because I care for my country.”

"He added that it was between the judge and God whether he should be “locked up.” Vaughn also maintained that he had never broken the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that has been used to go after pro-lifers protesting and sidewalk counseling outside of abortion facilities.

"Vaughn also talked about how his children still had nightmares from when the FBI came “with lethal force,” to his home to arrest him. He asked how such a show of force was necessary over non-violent charges. He added that he would have been “more than willing” and “would have come down at any time,” to talk to federal officials about the charges." . . .

How it all went down in Israel on October 7

 . . ."Some of the dead terrorists carried maps along with provisions for several days.  Hamas apparently hoped to penetrate deeper into Israel, perhaps even to reach all the way to the West Bank." . . .

Joseph Puder - American Thinker

The Nukhba killers entered Israel with orders, as reported by Die Zeit: "Attack Kibbutz sa’ad (home of my cousin Aaron) and gain control, inflict as many casualties as possible; also, secure Road 232. Kill anyone who poses danger or distract your operation. Take soldiers and civilians prisoners and transport them to Gaza."

She posed a danger to the Hamas operation.

"It was still dark outside in the Gaza Strip in the early morning of October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terror group’s messengers were knocking on doors to wake up and alert the battalion commanders responsible for around 100 fighters under their command.  They then alerted the commanders of the smaller groups with the message to assemble at the assigned points along the 40-mile-long fence separating Gaza from Israel.

"In Israel, it was the Saturday of Simchat Torah, a joyous holiday that turned into one of the darkest days in Israel’s history.

"The above account was provided by the German newspaper Die Zeit and was derived from the interrogation of the captured and imprisoned Hamas Nukhba terrorists who murdered 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 others into Gaza as hostages.

"Incredibly, the Hamas leaders were able to keep their murderous operation secret until the last moment.  They refrained from using cell phones by assuming that the Israeli intelligence services might pick up their signals.  They passed on instructions by live messengers.

"At dawn, the approximately 3,000 Hamas (Nukhba) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists assembled along the fence were told that this is no longer an exercise, but the day of action.  Hamas had been preparing for this day for at least ten years.

"The vaunted Israeli intelligence services were well aware that something unusual was going on in Gaza but attributed it to Hamas mounting another exercise.  There was no follow-up on these observations.  Complacency — viewing Hamas as being deterred and incapable of executing a major operation — allowed for complete laxity.

"As the sun was breaking out, weapons were distributed to the drug-induced (Captagon) Nukhba terrorists, which included assault rifles (Kalashnikovs), hand grenades, and rocket launchers.  Immediately thereafter, the Hamas and PIJ terrorists climbed in their Toyota pickup trucks and motorcycles.  Some were marching by foot, and others, trained by Iran and in Malaysia, mounted motorized paragliders to penetrate Israel by air, and others by sea with rubber dinghies." . . .

Recalling segregationist Biden

  American Thinker 

But to my knowledge, Biden has never apologized for his wretched maneuvering to give legal armor to segregation, nor for camaraderie with similarly foul Democrat fellows. Instead, he contrives a false résumé in which he agitated against the very rot he actually championed. 

"In 2013, NBC reported on a BBC Oprah Winfrey interview in which she shared her prescription for eliminating skin-color acrimony.

" 'There are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it -- in that prejudice and racism -- and they just have to die," the talk show host insisted.

"Her proposal was faulty. Not all members of aged generations harbor negative notions. Too, ideas good and bad endure into successive generations despite time's march.

"There are many fine reasons to desire Joe Biden's political demise, not least of which are preservation of nationalism over globalism, constitutional ideals, electoral integrity, and, as recently caused millions to shudder, the president's pathetic debate spectacle.

"Another can join the crowd: Turning America's back on earlier times' racial injustices necessitates consigning ignoble perpetrators to obscurity. One such miscreant was Joe Biden.

"Like several 1970s Democrat senators, he inveighed against bussing to integrate schools. 

“ 'Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point!” the Delaware senator thundered on a 1977 senate floor.

"A 2019 NBC News subheadline summed up the divisive senator’s impact: “Joe Biden helped give America the language that is still used to oppose school integration today, legislative and education history experts say.”

"NBC’s story revealed that in 1975, Biden had sponsored legislation that limited courts’ authority to integrate schools, and also an amendment that prohibited the federal government’s withholding tax monies from segregated institutions." . . .

Jack Smith is Willing to Try Trump Up to Inauguration Day –

 Post: Jonathan Turley 

"In other words, Smith’s appetite for a trial before the Inauguration may exceed his ability to force that expedited schedule." 

"The Washington Post is reporting that Special Counsel Jack Smith may try to convict former president Donald Trump all the way through the election and up to 11:59 am on January 20th. After the oath, the Justice Department has long maintained that it will not prosecute a sitting president.

"There is also a long-standing policy of the Justice Department to abstain from criminal proceedings before an election to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the outcome. Smith has signaled that he will discard that policy and that he is prepared to try Trump not only up to the election but through the election.

"He is now reportedly willing to try Trump up to January 20th.

"Smith has made trying Trump before the election the overriding priority in his two cases against the former president. He failed repeatedly to force a shorter schedule on appeal before the Supreme Court. His arguments were revealing. He suggested that the public should have a possible conviction before they cast their votes. It flipped the DOJ policy on its head in openly seeking to influence the election.

"The Supreme Court was not persuaded, though Smith did succeed in effectively cutting the appellate process a bit shorter.  He then lost in spectacular fashion before the Court on presidential immunity.

"According to the Post, he is not giving up the ghost and is now committed to a trial running up to Inauguration Day: “Current officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed … that if Trump wins the election, the clock on the two federal cases against him would keep ticking until Jan. 20, when he would be sworn in as the 47th president.”

"Even with Smith’s continued push to try Trump at all costs before the Inauguration, it could be a challenge. There is a 30-day period before the Supreme Court case is effectively returned to district court.

"Judge Tanya Chutkan has been highly favorable for Smith and highly motivated in seeking a trial before the election. That led to problems highlighted in the recent opinion. Chutkan was so motivated that she failed to create an adequate record on these issues. That record will now have to be established." . . .

From their cold, dead hands...

 Diann Russell (substack.com)

"They’ll drag Joe’s rotting carcass over the finish line even if it kills them"

"NBC News reported on Saturday that the Biden family was headed back to Camp David to discuss the “path forward” for Grandpa Joe after his dementia took center stage at last week’s presidential debate.

"By Sunday morning, CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny clarified that the Camp David Biden family getaway was pre-planned and included a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz.

"New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers reported later that the Biden family did not have a pow-wow about the future of Biden’s reelection campaign as NBC’s unnamed sources claimed. Instead, the family spent the morning in hair and makeup to prepare for the photo shoot.

"I read the updates on Twitter with a growing sense of amusement.

"If you want to know why the Biden family wants its senile patriarch to continue publicly humiliating himself on the world stage, the clue is in the phrase “photo shoot with Annie Liebowitz.”

"Do you think Jill Biden wants to give up the wealth, fame, and perks that being married to a Democrat president guarantees?

"How else could an unremarkable elementary school teacher like Jill ever have the chance to rub elbows with Hollywood stars or pose for celebrity photographers like Annie Leibowitz?

"According to the New York Times, Joe’s convicted felon son Hunter was especially influential in convincing old Joe to continue dragging his half-dead carcass to November:  . . ."

The Enabler - by Diann Russell (substack.com) 

"As someone whose mother had dementia, I cannot fathom why Jill Biden isn’t pulling the plug on her husband’s presidency. What kind of loving wife subjects her husband to this level of emotional and psychological trauma?" 

RealityBites by Broc Smith )

Who’s Rating the ‘News Raters’?

 Kurt Mahlburg - Intellectual Takeout 

“We have a lot of questions for them, and because they get federal money, they fall under the jurisdiction of the House Oversight Committee,” he said. 

"NewsGuard is a widely recognized media watchdog that rates news agencies on their reliability, transparency, and financial conflicts of interest. Via a web extension, the organization’s team of “expert journalists” provides outlets with “nutrition label” reports that rate outlets on a scale of 0–100 based on “a set of apolitical criteria of journalistic practice,” according to its website.

"NewsGuard’s stated purpose is to encourage the public to rely on trustworthy journalism and guard against the threat of misinformation.

"That’s all well and good—but what if NewsGuard is itself unreliable, non-transparent, or beset by financial conflicts of interest? If so, is there a watchdog watching the watchdog?

"This is the question being asked by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who announced earlier this month that his committee is launching a probe into NewsGuard.

"Comer explained that the probe will look at “the impact of NewsGuard on protected First Amendment speech and its potential to serve as a non-transparent agent of censorship campaigns.”

"In a letter to the joint CEOs of NewsGuard Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, Comer wrote:

Our inquiry seeks documents on NewsGuard’s business relationships with government entities, its adherence to its own policies intended to guard against appearances of bias, how it tries to avoid and manage potential conflicts of interest arising from its investors and other influences, and actions that may have the impact of delegitimizing factually accurate information.

California's Governor Newsom Caught Lying About State's Job Growth Numbers

 TFPP Wire

. . ."The state’s reliance on public sector growth to offset private sector losses suggests that California’s economy is heading for a serious crash. 

"Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent celebration of California’s job growth paints an incomplete picture of the state’s economic reality.

"A new report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reveals a concerning trend: while overall employment has increased, the private sector is shrinking.

"Since September 2022, California has added 207,000 jobs.

"However, this headline figure obscures a critical shift.

"The private sector lost 154,000 jobs during this period, while public and public-supported sectors grew by 361,000 positions.

"In essence, government-related hiring is propping up the state’s employment numbers.

"Newsom highlighted California’s role in national job creation, stating, “16% of all national job creation last month came right here in California.”

"While factually correct, this statement fails to address the underlying imbalance between public and private sector growth." . . .

In 2022 Gavin Newsom stated CA has a surplus of $100 billion dollars. “$100B SURPLUS”
In 2024, California is facing a record budget deficit of $68 billion. “$68B DEFICIT”
Democrats have done to CA what they’ve done to America. This is intentional.
NEVER NEWSOM in the WH! pic.twitter.com/hb5KC1SePv

— Sheri™ (@FFT1776) June 30, 2024

Israel: What a two-state "solution" looks like

  Israel Observer "38 WEEKS AGO: Palestinian terrorists from Gaza entered Israel on bicycles wearing flip-flops to murder, rape, and kidnap Israelis. 

"They looted homes, burning families alive. These are the so-called “innocent civilians” the world defends.

"NO MERCY for such evil!"

How many of these invaders were the last thing many Israeli women and children saw?

I speak of these men being those who did this:

And they were celebrated by these students on American streets!

Andrew Weissmann Apoplectic at Immunity Decision - SCOTUS: The President IS The Executive Branch

 

AfterMath - Home (terrellaftermath.com)

The Last Refuge   "The tip of the Lawfare spear consists of a small group of former DOJ attorneys and Main Justice leftists who helped AG Eric Holder create the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) when it was formed on behalf of President Obama.

"Lawfare, writ large, are a tribe of leftists who strategically weaponize the justice systems within the DOJ.  They are also the main guides, strategists and legal analysts who previously used Robert Mueller and currently use Jack Smith.

"The tribe is led by a trio of fellow travelers: Mary McCord, Norm Eisen and Andrew Weissmann.

"If you research the group, you will discover that Mary McCord sits at the center of every attack approach deployed against President Trump {CITATION}.  The influence of McCord cannot be overstated, while gender fluid leftists like Eisen, Weissmann (and others), wax philosophically about which statutes can be twisted and interpreted to assist their Lawfare strategy du jour." . . .

Democrats hope Gavin Newsom can replace Biden - but do they know about the sleazy California Governor's infidelities, addiction, TEENAGE lover. . .

 ... and why allies say he 'doesn't have real friends'? | Daily Mail Online

"As surely befits a man who looks like a corporate villain from a Hollywood thriller, he's painfully superficial, critics have long whispered.  'Gavin is always around pretty people. But he doesn't seem to have many real friends,' . . ."

RealityBites by Broc Smith

 . . ."Some polling suggests swapping out Biden for another candidate at the eleventh hour would be even worse than keeping him. But after Thursday night and the ensuing Democrat 'freak out' – with even the usually loyal New York Times now calling for Biden to resign – there might not be much choice.

"At a youthful 56, Newsom has risen smoothly up the ranks to the top of California politics, making him on paper an obvious candidate for the White House.

"But, as that toe-curling 20-year-old magazine shoot illustrates, the political capital Republicans have made out of Biden's troubled son Hunter would pale in significance to the mileage to be had from Newsom.

"For while he's handsomely telegenic, the perma-tanned Californian is an undeniably oleaginous and sleazy character whose playboy past includes more than its fair share of infidelity, alcohol abuse and questionable business behavior.

"And let's not forget the complete mess he and his championing of hard-left policies has made of California, the luster of the Golden State endlessly tarnished by bad news: from crime, drugs and homelessness to high taxes, electricity and water shortages, and a sky-high deficit that has led to an exodus of businesses and citizens.

"At the center of it all is a man who hails from California aristocracy. 

"At least Joe Biden can say he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Newsom had the biggest spoon in the cutlery drawer – the Getty family." . . .

You look so California, Joe!

Report: Meeting of House Democrats Devolves Into Biden Grievance Fest—There's a 'Donkey in the Room'

 Bob Hoge – RedState

"I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same." Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)

"You’d have to assume any meeting of House Democrats to discuss political messaging these days would be tense, considering that the leader of the party just laid a rotten egg at the presidential debate last Thursday.

"As Biden sees his odds of winning reelection plummet, party leaders have been freaking out, with some even calling for the president to leave the race.

"It’s no surprise, then, that a Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) meeting reportedly devolved into a grievance fest Tuesday, with panicked members openly criticizing the president and his strategy (or lack thereof). There were even reportedly mentions of the “donkey in the room”— and we all know who that is. Per Axios:

The virtual meeting Tuesday afternoon was a listening session the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) held to go over messaging ahead of the 2024 election.

Much of the meeting was taken up by members expressing their irritation and misgivings toward Biden and his team, according to a member in the meeting and another source briefed on the matter.

Biden was repeatedly referred to derisively as the "donkey in the room," both sources said.

"As we reported early Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) formally became the first elected House Dem domino to fall in what soon may become a cascade:" . . .

Another House Democrat Jumps Ship on Biden: 'Trump Is Going to Win. And I'm Okay With That.' – RedState