"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.
12.22.21
Anti-Social Media – MSNBC
- Joy Reid suggests all the poors in West Virginia undercut Joe Manchin's position on the BBB bill.
The imbalanced coverage in the press over Joe Manchin's refusal to be cowed into voting for Joe Biden's massive spending bill/administration face-lift continues, as the math-challenged journalists think one man is holding up the bill and not the plurality of the Senate. In the desire to keep Joe vacationing on a guilt trip, Joy Reid decided to join the chorus, and she was off-key in her thinking, as is on-brand for her.
Anybody ever wonder: how can West Virginia and Kentucky have such powerful United States Senators repping them yet be so overwhelmingly poor? Somebody’s getting that money, and it ain’t ordinary West Virginians and Kentuckians… just a thought… pic.twitter.com/T7stjm1WY6
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid ?? (@JoyAnnReid) December 21, 2021
What exactly the wealth of a state's gentry has to do with this matter is unknown – and what money she is referring to is a complete mystery. What is not mysterious is that more of Manchin's constituents oppose the bill, and a huge majority of them are concerned with inflation.
Low Octane Gas Lighting – THE NEW YORK TIMES
At The Times, Eileen Sullivan is reporting on a lawsuit brought by Haitian immigrants who have been deported but still get their day in U.S. courts. The deported immigrants are part of a suit brought against Border Patrol agents over alleged mistreatment of those crossing illegally into the country.
Yes, this concerns the fake horse-whipping story from months ago – and, amazingly - yes, The Times repeats the bogus claims of immigrants being whipped.
- "Mirard Joseph was bringing food to his wife and child, he said, when a Border Patrol agent on horseback in Del Rio, Texas, 'lashed at' him with his reins and dragged him by the collar toward the Rio Grande, which in that region separates the United States from Mexico. In Mr. Joseph's case, the photographs prompted accusations that the agents had used their reins as whips – a claim that is central to the investigation."
"It was the most humiliating experience of my life." Haitian migrants pursued by Border Patrol agents on horseback in September have filed a lawsuit accusing the U.S. government of physical and verbal abuse, inhumane treatment and denial of due process. https://t.co/WORzF6s6jX
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 21, 2021
Not central to Ms. Sullivan is the testimony of Paul Ratje. He would be the photographer of the now-infamous pictures that prompted the fake outrage this Fall. Ratje has come out publicly to state that whipping did not take place, but that was only three months ago. The Times will catch up on that news soon enough.
Blue-Anon – POLITICO
The vice president has been battling severe negative popularity since she was sworn in, and the only thing worth being happy about is that her boss has become even more unpopular and serves as something as a distraction from her bad impression.
There has been an effort in the media to put some shine on her image, and now Politico comes out with a bit of a shield, hoping to deflect some bad publicity.
- "Florida Democrats are sounding alarms over what they believe is a sustained and coordinated campaign rapidly unfolding across Spanish-language media to tarnish the image of Vice President Kamala Harris."
This seems a curious application of party energy. Getting angry over a handful of Spanish stations in the Miami area is hardly the way to fix national approval numbers that show Harris is underwater with the general public.
Florida Democrats are sounding alarms over what they believe is a sustained and coordinated campaign rapidly unfolding across Spanish-language media to tarnish the image of Vice President Kamala Harrishttps://t.co/d7mYH55CL6
— POLITICO (@politico) December 21, 2021
Presentation Paradox – WASHINGTON POST
WaPo's media critic Erik Wemple opens his column by referencing CNN's media critic, Brian Stelter, who was doing his usual thing. Stelter, the recidivist Fox crank, had pointed out how that channel supposedly went through a horrible week. Of course, at the same time, they were announcing how Fox was christened the top-rated news network of the year for the sixth consecutive year, but that is a trivial detail.
Wemple noted the departure of Chris Wallace, but then noted how good his replacement had it, as Brett Baier had a great episode as a fill-in, and then he noted that Fox – who Stelter loves to claim never breaks news – had all of D.C. in a lather when Joe Manchin sat with Baier and revealed how he was walking away from Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill. Then Wemple went on to pour even more water on the hot takes about Fox.
- "In a polity governed by logic and fact, all that programming would shred the Fox News audience and reduce it to a shrieking voice on the national sidelines. In the world that we actually inhabit, however, Fox News pummels all comers in its category. In November, for instance, it had 71 of the top 100 shows in cable."
Reporting on the Mirror – CNBC
- We think Cramer could use a mental wellness check.
To this point, we have backed off covering the MSNBC howler Jim Cramer, as he has been unraveling steadily for a couple of weeks over Covid concerns. After days of bleating over vaccines, he posted a pic of him testing positive for the virus, which did nothing to curtail his ranting. Now, just two days after declaring to the world he was contagious, Jim now states he is Covid-free…in less than a week.
It is certain he will now become a calm and reasonable voice on the topic of vaccines.
I am symptom free now... I contracted it thursday night. Three Moderna shots. I have tried to show people that you can plow through, most likely because of the three vax. But those who don't vax, won't vax https://t.co/3MEa1IBBQc
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) December 20, 2021
Pre-Written Field Reports – THE NEW YORK TIMES
- The people who tell us to listen to medical professionals issue their diagnoses.
To help out their readers, The Times decided that with so many questions regarding the new Omicron variant, the paper would issue a list of symptoms that could indicate you have contracted the new strain of the virus. The first curiosity is in how rather random and generic the list appears.
It's still too early to know exactly how, or if, symptoms of Omicron differ from Delta, experts say. Here's what we know so far. https://t.co/GNJBhfySeY pic.twitter.com/5JckhDKZd2
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2021
The other head-scratcher (not a symptom, to be clear) is that The Times is basically telling people that if you have the symptoms of the flu, you probably do not have the flu, but Omicron.
