06.22.23
Reporting on the Mirror – FOX NEWS
- Since Trump tripped himself up, then it must be a conspiracy!
This week, Donald Trump sat for an interview with Brett Baier, and unlike Kaitlan Collins during CNN's ill-fated town hall, the Fox News anchor was cool, composed, and politely challenging throughout their interview. In the course of the discussion, Baier was direct and brought the facts, and then in one particular exchange in digging into some of the specifics about the case of the classified documents, many feel Trump implicated himself in the course of answering.
This has resulted in some from the Trump camp declaring that Baier was fed intel from the DOJ to entrap Trump. The comedy in this is that they ignore that there was no exclusive information used in the interview; Baier simply was focused and asked probing questions. This also means that, unlike his usual boasting about being the smartest person in the room, Trump had somehow been tricked into delivering an answer he had not intended to give.
I’ll answer that. No. I wrote my own questions. And frankly I didn’t know that I would get much on the indictment questions assuming he might say he couldn’t talk about it. Thanks for watching. https://t.co/J17r0RqPit
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) June 21, 2023
Anti-Social Media – NEW REPUBLIC
- Looking at a tragedy as a source to score a political point is the new repugnant.
As many were watching the progress of the doomed Titanic deep-sea explorer Titan, the crew over at New Republic saw the plight of the people as an opportunity to score political points in a ghoulish fashion.
First, they delivered a bold declaration that the passengers might have deserved their fate because they were Republican donors. That article by Daniel Strauss and the tweet promoting it were taken down following a backlash. But the outlet still came out with a follow-up piece decrying the media focusing on this story but ignoring the conditions of far less fortunate people facing hardships.
These scumbags at @NewRepublic cannot help themselves from acting like craven political ghouls.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) June 22, 2023
Lives are lost, but the main goal is to score some kind of social relevance points. pic.twitter.com/t3G6JuLtJI
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – SNOPES
It turns out fact-checkers, like many other news outlets, fall prey to the rush of getting a hot story published as soon as possible. This is a rather disqualifying behavior as these sites cloak themselves in the veneer of being the final authority on a story and the affiliated facts. If they are just pushing out items without fully vetting the facts they claim to possess, then they are no better than any select news outlet belching out items.
As the OceanGate drama built up this week, Snopes came out with an item declaring that Elon Musk was a component, as his StarLink internet was used on the submersible. But then, okay, maybe he did and possibly did not have his internet involved. Then ultimately, it was said that this claim was debunked – after this very same site declared it to be accurate.
Funny thing, we here at Riffed From the Headlines thought that getting the facts before pimping out your content was the mission statement for fact-checkers.
Evolution of a @Snopes authoritative fact-check:
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) June 22, 2023
- Declares Elon Musk was partly responsible of the loss of the Ocean Gate submersible.
- Well, it is kind of fuzzy just how much Elon Musk was involved in the project, but he seems involved.
- Any claim Musk was involved is FALSE. pic.twitter.com/UZkQGwVfx7
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – CNN
- Okay, mark it: That was 83 days between presidential fact-checks.
Well, look at this, it has finally happened – CNN's resident fact-checker Daniel Dale has gotten around to looking into details regarding President Jose Biden. The reason this is significant is that he is an avowed referee of truth regarding the president – it appears there in his Twitter bio. However, despite Biden delivering copious reasons to have his claims and quotes verified, Dale has not actually performed his stated job for around three months.
83 days since he has fact checked the President of the United States. https://t.co/KTkWk4SL4y
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 21, 2023
Even as Daniel has managed to remember what he does for a living, this is a bit of a compromised attempt. What he is doing is looking into claims of Biden making statements on guns, and he reaches out to a leftist anti-gun group to verify details on a gun law. This is a reporter relying on a known sympathetic organization to get facts, as opposed to actually doing research and looking into the sites for the state of Delaware, where the information could be gleaned without a serving of activist commentary thrown in.
NEW -->> CNN’s Daniel Dale Gives up the Game in ‘Fact Check’ Request Posted on Twitter https://t.co/VVx6w7Qxrn
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) June 21, 2023
DNC PR Firm – REUTERS
- Your "DeSantis Debased Delusion of the Day" involves a virtual golf device.
The media complex is in an amazing wave of donor dichotomy. Supreme Court Justice Alito is currently under fire over gifts he received from an individual who didn't even appear in court. This follows similar exposés on Clarence Thomas – all while the press turns a blind eye to the revelations of President Biden and his family marinating in questionable money from overseas entities.
Now comes another "scandal," where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is accused of receiving a golfing simulator from a campaign donor, and he did not disclose the gift!
Except…
The donation was not for DeSantis. It was made to the Mansion Commission, which means this simulator is now a permanent fixture at the governor's residence and is property of the state. It also means the gift was properly and legally reported, but sure, Reuters – scandal!
Florida law requires public officials to disclose all gifts received with a value over $100. But Ron DeSantis received a golf simulator worth tens of thousands of dollars in a donation that appears structured to avoid ethical disclosure requirements https://t.co/ULajcUmiVK pic.twitter.com/MQsROKxuGi
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 21, 2023
Hoax & Change – VARIOUS OUTLETS
- None of these outlets thought to wait and gather the details, is that accurate?
A number of reports were blasted in the news sphere about a gay man who was set on fire in a hate crime. The details in the reports alone should have caused news workers to hit the brakes and demand more information.
As the story went, Scott Rowin claimed he was ambling along in a section of San Diego's gay district and encountered some intolerant and violent individuals. Already questions needed to be asked. As his tale went, two individuals began hurling bigoted insults at him, and as Scott engaged them verbally from a distance, another figure came behind him, doused him with a fluid, and set him on fire.
He, and the press, freely announced this was a hate crime and an assault on the gay community; no specifics, such as how these people knew Rowin was gay, are ever seen. Then his story of immolation went up in smoke when police obtained security camera footage.
It turned out Rowin had been the attacker of a pregnant woman earlier that night, had been the one to instigate the conflict, and she ended up lighting him on fire to drive him off.
Gay Man Claimed He Was Set on Fire in a Hate Crime. Video Told a Different Story. https://t.co/kqXhiqBupT
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 22, 2023
"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage of the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation, where Brad Slager looks to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.
