"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of 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.
08.31.22
Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC
- This week, Democrat hysterical hyperbole is paying the bills.
There has been some outrage over comments made last night on MSNBC by Kurt Bardella raging about Republicans. It truly is hard to get worked up over anything this guy says once you see his career of political opportunism over the past decade. Bardella will literally point wherever the political headwinds will blow him toward a payoff.
He was a Darrell Issa press flunky, then was at Daily Caller, Breitbart, and next became a Never Trump crank, and ultimately he latched onto The Lincoln Project.
After that dysfunctional outfit became a cesspool, he bravely jumped ship and now is a full-fledged "Democrat consultant," complete with new positions on climate change and becoming pro-choice.
It is for these reasons you have to laugh to see this once stalwart conservative claiming that the GOP today is literally a domestic terrorism cell. That kind of blather will keep you on the MSNBC invite list, at least.
Where's the lie?
— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) August 30, 2022
"The MAGA Republicans are a domestic terrorist cell operating in America. This is a group of people who have decided that it is acceptable to use violence & threats of violence to try to achieve their political means...that is terrorism."@AymanMSNBC @AymanM pic.twitter.com/BPxu2ltr04
Hoax & Change – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- File this in the "Too Good to Verify" ledger.
For days now, the press has been eager to report on the incident at a college volleyball match in Salt Lake City, where a Duke player was heckled repeatedly with racist insults during a game against BYU. ESPN and a number of other news outlets now appear to have been too eager.
Police reports state video evidence shows the person alleged to have said the intolerant phrases, and an officer staged near the Duke bench heard no racial remarks during the stages of the game when they were said to be taking place. Seems that the racist Mormons storyline was just too rich to hold off on reporting before actual evidence of the crime came in.
The fan who was banned by BYU does not appear to have yelled slurs at volleyball match, campus police sayhttps://t.co/pXHOszWffT
— Salt Lake Tribune Sports (@sltribsports) August 31, 2022
Low Octane Gas Lighting – NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
It is not really clear why NPR would want to attempt selling the concept that environmentalists are at the forefront of the pro-nuclear energy movement, but here we are. Not only does NPR say environmentalists are changing their position, they "lead the push" for this change. Uh-huh.
It took some deep research type of digging, but I managed to find an opposing position on nuclear from a huge environmental outfit – made on Friday. Yup.
I might have found a contrary position environmentalists hold on nuclear.
— Brad Slager: Semi-Fascist Practicing to Turn Pro (@MartiniShark) August 31, 2022
To find this, I had to reach all the way back to...this weekend.
(Just sterling research on the part of NPR.)https://t.co/R5o9VB99fe https://t.co/CBfmKnbydb
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – CNN
CNN is on the case of DC Comics making an insensitive attempt to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. The company released a number of variant book covers that had a number of superheroes portrayed carrying or serving notable Hispanic food, such as tacos and tamales. Yes, once again, we have the press trying to insist that food can be racist.
For this exposé of offensiveness, CNN managed to find all of three individuals willing to carp about seeing Carne con queso portrayed in ink. Of course, all three happened to come from media outlets. What is remarkable is that while the complaint now is that this is seen as a sign of offensive stereotypes, it flies against the other food outrage we normally hear about: If people from other groups are seen eating these foods, they are charged with appropriating culture, so nobody is unscathed.
DC Comics' attempt to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month -- featuring stereotypical Latino foods on its covers -- has backfired. https://t.co/JbGgTnPMVd
— CNN (@CNN) August 31, 2022
Blue-Anon – VICE NEWS
Libs of TikTok really has the press in a lather lately, so of course, Vice had to get in on the action. Their "Disinformation, conspiracy theory" reporter David Gilbert was dispatched to go after LOTT, and he came up with a grand conspiracy – woven by himself.
See, LOTT is helping fuel Russian attacks on LGBT individuals. How? Okay, there's this fake pamphlet found in the U.K. that supposedly was made by pro-pedophile groups, and it has made its way to Russia's social media. What does all of this have to do with Libs of Tik Tok? Well…
- "There is no evidence that such a leaflet was ever mass-produced and Piper, the researcher, was unable to find a single reference to this leaflet online prior to the VK posts. The fake leaflet may not have spread beyond these VK posts, but two days later Raichik of LibsofTiktok tweeted an edited video featuring a sex therapist from Pennsylvania who works with jailed sex offenders. Though Raichik never mentioned the leaflets, within days of the video being posted, major Russian disinformation networks on Telegram, some with hundreds of thousands of followers, began sharing it alongside the images of the fake leaflet."
And thus…you uh, well…you see, this shows that the pamphlet only seen in Russia and – uh, never referenced by LOTT is – okay, so this proves LOTT is in on it, because the Russians later used videos from LOTT, even though there is no proof LOTT had any idea these pamphlets were around, but there is still this connection, which is really super horrible because David Gilbert insists that it is horrible!
Here's how LibsofTikTok is helping to supercharge Kremlin anti-LGBTQ disinformation https://t.co/ZcSNQGKsxZ
— David Gilbert (@daithaigilbert) August 30, 2022
