Free Republic

Several journalists erroneously tweeted that Stephen K. Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon — before closing arguments in the trial. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell tweeted: “BANNON GUILTY.” His colleague Chris Hayes tweeted “Bannon found guilty,” citing a tweet by CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who was covering a different case. Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace warned others that they were getting the facts wrong: So, too, did Bannon biographer Joshua Green: O’Donnell apologized for spreading the misinformation about the verdict, as did Hayes, taking down their mistaken tweets: Others also apologized:...

The Washington Post fired its political reporter Felicia Sonmez on Thursday after she publicly criticized the paper and her colleagues for nearly one week straight. Sonmez started internal drama at the company when she called out fellow reporter Dave Weigel on Twitter for retweeting an alleged sexist tweet last week. Weigel retweeted a tweet that joked, “Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.” Sonmez shared a screenshot of Weigel’s retweet and said, “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!” On Monday, the Post suspended Weigel for...

The Washington Post is in turmoil this weekend over twin newsroom spats involving several star reporters: Taylor Lorenz over false reporting in an article and Dave Weigel and Felicia Sonmez over a joke; a fourth Post reporter, Jose Del Real, self-immolated himself online after tangling with Sonmez over her response to the joke. Lorenz reported this week on social media influencers covering the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial just concluded in Fairfax, Virginia. Lorenz was called out by two subjects for falsely reporting she reached out them for comment before publication. The Post then engaged in several efforts to clean...

Journalists, other liberals agree: Press went easy on Trump, too critical of Biden White House officials have been hosting secret meetings with journalists in an effort to "reshape" coverage of the Biden administration that they view to be unfair. CNN reports: The White House, not happy with the news media's coverage of the supply chain and economy, has been working behind the scenes trying to reshape coverage in its favor. Senior White House and admin officials—including NEC Deputy Directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti, along with Ports Envoy John Porcari—have been briefing major newsrooms over the past week, a source...

Media malpractice has come full circle in Kenosha, Wis. ... From the start, the media misrepresented the Blake case and ensuing riots. They portrayed Blake as an unarmed man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, subjected to police brutality due to racism. The truth was far different. After an intensive investigation, prosecutors declared Blake’s shooting a justifiable use of force. The federal Justice Department reached the same conclusion. ... As with the Black Lives Matter riots in Minneapolis and beyond, the mainstream media incessantly focused away from the violence, despite almost 20 related...

The talk around the virtual water cooler this Monday morning is the mysterious firing of a Boulder Daily Camera reporter over a September 11 anniversary feature article.The story was completely retracted less than a week after it was published, but the paper waited until this weekend to offer a bizarre explanation that suggests the reporter either made it up, or got pretty much everything wrong except the date.The reporter is even blamed for a misleading headline.Apparently, there are no actual editors left at the Boulder Camera to read a story before it is printed.Reached Friday evening, the author of the...

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki holds the Biden Administration's first press briefing. She discusses the 15 executive orders President Biden signed today as well as his belief that addressing the country's problems directly is necessary to brig the country together.

USA Today is on the warpath against high schools with so-called racially insensitive nicknames. In separate stories, USA Today pressured Red Mesa High School in Arizona to drop “Redskins” and Robstown Early College High School in Texas to replace the nickname “Cotton Pickers.” There’s a big catch to these stories. Red Mesa is a predominantly Navajo school located on the Navajo Reservation. Located near the U.S.-Mexico border, Robstown is 94 percent Hispanic or Latino. Minorities quoted in the two stories are proud of their schools’ respective nicknames and resist politically correct efforts to erase them.

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy accused reporters from CNN, Politico and The New York Times on Sunday of helping House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff “peddle” the now-debunked conspiracy theory of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Gowdy was asked in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” to identify reporters he believed took leaks from Schiff for stories related to the Intelligence panel’s Russia investigation. “Well, I hope you have a three hour show,” Gowdy quipped.

Today’s Campaign Update, Part II (Because The Campaign Never Ends) It’s all just another day’s work for our fake news media. – In my weekly Tuesday afternoon radio spot on News Talk 93.1 FM in Montgomery, Alabama, hilarious host Greg Budell brought up the new Project Veritas video expose’ of CNN. Those undercover videos, recorded by a whistleblower employee who was fired on Monday, reveal all sorts of news-faking machinations that take place at the fakest fakety-fake fake news outlet of them all. A video released late Monday contains various clips of CNN President Jeff Zucker exposing an obvious personal...

The Democratic presidential candidates on stage Tuesday and Wednesday night are trying hard to woo primary voters so that, if they prevail, they can then make their case to the general population as the party’s nominee. But the ultimate deciders come 2020 might not be the ones who cast ballots in neighborhood polling stations. There is a very good chance that the Electoral College will split evenly on Election Day, throwing the race into the House of Representatives. And just as with the popular vote, the majority does not choose the winner. Though Democrats control the House and are likely...

NEW YORK — In separate articles on the same day, the New York Times and Washington Post each seemingly parroted the same talking points 11 times in respective articles in their zest to baselessly connect President Trump’s rhetoric and policies to an unhinged manifesto attributed to the 21-year-old accused of murdering 22 people in cold blood and injuring dozens when he opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso. The manifesto is clearly the work of a demented mind and expressed views that are all over the map, yet both newspapers selectively cited the document to divine the El Paso...

Snopes refused to correct an inaccurate fact-check calling it “unproven” that American Indian activist Nathan Phillips falsely claimed to be a Vietnam veteran. It’s a proven fact that Phillips falsely claimed to be a Vietnam veteran. Both Facebook and Google give Snopes preferential treatment on their platforms. Snopes, a left-leaning fact-checking website given preferential treatment by both Facebook and Google, flubbed its fact-check of American Indian activist Nathan Phillips’ false claim of being a Vietnam veteran.

After news came out about mass layoffs at HuffPost, Buzzfeed and Gannett -- in the midst of the media's relentless smear-job against the Covington Catholic students -- right-wing Twitter had a field day. Tons of leftist journalists announced they were laid off on Twitter and the top meme was telling them to "learn to code" -- which is the same advice the media gave middle Americans whose jobs are being taken in traditional industries. Talia Levin, who was hired by Media Matters last year after being fired by the New Yorker for smearing an ICE agent as a Nazi because...

One month since the start of the shutdown, the Trump 2020 campaign is chugging ahead with staffing and organization -- and even fundraised off the paralyzed federal government. But the shutdown may yet prove to be a drag on the campaign and help set the tone for the race, depending on how long it endures and how it gets resolved. The campaign's internal efforts have carried on as normal, in contrast to the chaos of a "rudderless" White House, as it was described by one administration official. "The campaign has more autonomy and direction than the White House," said one...

During this partial government shutdown, it's become nearly impossible to avoid news articles, and segments on television and radio outlining the many ways that federal employees are apparently suffering financially as a result of the partial government shutdown.The stories are very diverse in topic. Some take a "human interest story" angle, simply looking at how the daily lives of some of these employees have been affected. Others look at the apparent injustice of the fact that some workers are "being told to work without pay." Still other suggest that the lack of federal paychecks will drive down economic growth figures....

From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk Published 1/30/2003 6:20 PM HIGHLANDS, N.C., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- This here's the 335th Report ta the Folks Back Home from the (More er Less) Honorable Billybob, cyberCongressman from Western Carolina. The two big subjecks rat now r Gulf War II n the state ov the U.S. economy. President Bush addressed both subjecks in his State ov the Union address Tuesday night. We'll take a look atta firs item, the impendin war agin Iraq. In partic'lar, we'll look at one part ov the opposition ta that war, namely "historians." Yer Congresscritter hazza mild...

CNN's Acosta calls for Trump to halt media attacks By Associated Press Published: 18:17 EDT, 22 October 2018 | Updated: 18:41 EDT, 22 October 2018 NEW YORK (AP) - CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta says President Donald Trump's attacks on the media must stop or there's a risk someone will get hurt. Acosta is one of the most visible members of the press corps covering Trump and a target for verbal abuse at the president's rallies. He said Monday that Trump has, in Acosta's words, "normalized and sanitized nastiness and cruelty" in an unprecedented way. The White House didn't...

QUINCY, Mass. - Gov. Charlie Baker says a new environmental infrastructure law will help make Massachusetts more resilient to climate change. The bill ceremonially signed by the governor in Quincy on Tuesday authorizes the state to borrow up to $2.4 billion for environmental projects in the coming years. About $500 million is earmarked specifically for helping communities prepare for extreme weather events that many scientists believe will become more frequent with global warming. Baker, a Republican seeking a second term in November, says Massachusetts is a "national leader" in addressing the challenges posed by climate changes.

A particular challenge of the fight over climate change, if not a unique one, is that the shifts accrue subtly. The climate has changed stunningly quickly in global terms but slowly in human terms, allowing us to rationalize, wave away and downplay. The issue of climate change rose to the national consciousness as polarization in U.S. politics spiked. Gallup polling shows that there’s a nearly 50-point gap between the parties in belief in the effects of a warming planet having already begun. More than 8 in 10 Democrats think global warming has been demonstrated; only a third of Republicans agree....