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The CNN Toxic Waste Dump with a Tire Fire Adjacent Continues to Spread

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 11, 2022
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

"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.

03.11.22

Stealth Story Evolution – CNN

The ongoing operatic telenovela that is the CNN toxic waste dump with a tire fire adjacent continues. This time, Rolling Stone has peeled back many layers and finds just how deeply entrenched the corrupt nature of Jeff Zucker was, along with he and Allison Gollust having a disturbingly close relationship with Andrew Cuomo. 

Come for the corporate corruption, and stay for the unsettling innuendos from Cuomo to his former assistant and current Zucker lover. Now, just try sleeping tonight…

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Anti-Social Media – Zvezda TV

  • The Russian media may be taking cues from US networks.

In a hilariously cringy piece of video, a Russian Naval general attempts to acknowledge the fallen soldiers in the Ukraine invasion, but news anchor Alexei Gudoshnikov was having none of it. After General Vladimir Eranosian attempted to have a moment of silence for the soldiers lost in the battle so far, Gudoshnikov launched into a tirade about how fabulously the Russian army was performing, in all the glory of a lapdog rolling onto its back. 

- "Can you stop now? I will tell you now what our guys are doing there. Our guys are destroying fascists ... [interjection] ... Let me finish talking. It's a triumph of Russian weapons, it's a triumph of the Russian army, it's the rebirth of Russia."

It's almost comforting to see that statist sniveling in the press is not reserved only to our media complex. 

Body Checking the Fact Checkers – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Another rundown of the media truth detectors not doing their jobs.

As a regular update of things, we at RFTH enjoy going through some of the fact-check outlets and peer over the items they choose to busy themselves with while avoiding coverage of Joe Biden with the harsh light of their corrective lens. 

  • Reuters – Untold fortunes have been saved, as we come to discover that Ukrainians who captured Russian tanks are not actually selling them on eBay.
  • USA Today – Instead of covering Biden's disastrous energy policy, the verifiers at USA Today felt the need to correct The Babylon Bee that there was no plan to sell Alaska to Vlad Putin. Thankfully, we learned the satire site was not accurate.
  • PolitiFact – Do not try seeking out a copy of Time Magazine with the cover of Putin with an artistic rip in the image revealing a Hitler mustache. They assure us this is a false graphic.
  • Associated Press – The Queen Mum did not take Ivermectin when she contracted Covid recently. This was erroneously attributed to an Aussie broadcast. She did not take horse paste, people!
  • PolitiFact – It is important to filter out the lies during wartime propaganda. We are confident that it is not important to clarify that actor Steven Segal is not fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. 

Blue Anon – CNN

There is an odd reality when you are the self-proclaimed "Conspiracy Expert" journalist; you need to work diligently to find the conspiracies in order to justify your job. This is the quandary that CNN's Donie O'Sullivan faces. As he has been the go-to source for all things Q-anon-related, his job has been made tougher given that the vaunted source "Q" has been dormant for over a year. 

Fear not, O'Sullivan devotees, because he has pinned down the message boards and obscure broadcasts of the lingering obsessives of the conspiracy.

- "On an American QAnon online radio show broadcast Monday, one host read verbatim from Russian state media reports about biolabs. Over on the show's online discussion forum a person who had intentionally misspelled the word 'Patriot' so it would include the letter 'Q' wrote, 'I had a hunch that these bastards were getting ready to release another bio weapon and we needed SOMEONE to put a stop to it. Putin stepped up. IMO this was part of his deal with DJT.'"

This means that as he finds the extremely tenuous connection between Q-anon and Russian misinformation, he ends up doing a grave disservice. These are seriously disturbing messages, but by repeating their unhinged theories, he is giving them over to a much broader audience than a message board on a barely-listened-to podcast.

News Avoidance Syndrome – The Bulwark

  • "Enough about our guy, what about the previous one?!?!"

Look, we get it. Charlie Sykes hated Donald Trump so much that he pushed hard for Joe Biden, and now he cannot extricate himself from this wheels-up-in-a-ditch administration. But when it comes to deflections, this might be among the most impotent. Chaz tries to turn attention away from President Softserve and refocus on the guy who is no longer in office. This letter from 15 years ago is such a weak attempt it might, in fact, redirect people back onto Biden as a result of wondering what he is trying to hide.