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Mike Johnson’s Conservatism Is Verified While in the Press He Is Vilified

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Oct 26, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

10.26.23

Stealth Story Evolution – THE NEW YORK TIMES

As college campuses are devolving into hives of villainy, as rampant pro-Palestinian or pro-Hamas protests are breaking out, one incident at Cooper Union in New York has risen to a new level – and The New York Times descends to a new low at the same time.

In the incident, a protest gathered, and when some students in a library were noticed to be Jewish, the crowd turned on the building, banging on doors and outwardly threatening the Jewish students.

But The Times saw nothing to be concerned about. Two things need to be acknowledged here:

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- For years, campuses have sprouted safe spaces, declared "words are violence," and basically used the excuse that anyone made to feel "unsafe" had a justified claim warranting the silencing of the "offending" voices.

- At The New York Times, celebrated writer Don McNeil was fired over an incident while on a student trip, where he was accused of using a racial slur (it was a clarifying question in a discussion ABOUT racial slurs). It happened in another country years earlier, but petulant staffers claimed his presence was a threat and made for a hostile workplace.

In light of those standards, it is with amazement that The Times looks at a mob turning directly hostile toward students over their ethnicity and comes to the conclusion it was no big deal at all:

There was no indication that the protesters intended to harm the Jewish students or anyone else in the library, but the student who was there was nonetheless scared that the protesters might break down the doors.

Then, as the paper seemingly was told how moronic this new standard to campus threats appears to others, this passage was struck entirely from the piece, with no editor's note indicating a change.

Blue-Anon – PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE

  • The rise of Johnson leading to the fall of Biden?!?!?

If you want to know about new House Speaker Mike Johnson's conservative bona fides, all you need to see is the collective media meltdown over his ascendency to the bench. The press instantly brought up election denialism when he became nominated, and then following his confirmation as speaker, we saw this inane question tossed underhand to President Biden by Laura Barron-Lopez of PBS. She attempts to sound severe about the prospect of Johnson actually overturning Biden's presidency…somehow…

Legalized Press-titution – MSNBC

  • What it looks like when you toss aside ALL manner of objectivity…

Did we mention a collective media meltdown regarding Johnson? Behold this acerbic field report from the capital by Ali Vitali as she intones just about every arch accusation about the new speaker, absent anything in the form of evidence and context.

That anti-constitutional aspect she mentions about the election result was Johnson signing onto an amicus brief, submitted legally and within all legal parameters, and concerning legitimate concerns regarding irregularities seen in various precincts across the country. 

At least she stopped short of calling him an insurrectionist.

(Confession: We assume so, as we stopped short of listening to her entire harpy segment here.)

First Amendment Strike Force – INSTAGRAM

  • They just know some offensive content is arriving, so this was a proactive suspension.

In these hyper-sensitive times (for one side of the aisle at least), canceling disruptive sources is a primary goal of the activist set. You may not see too many other against-the-narrative accounts than the Gays Against Groomers, and it appears the folks over at Meta cannot tolerate an outfit that supports children and opposes having them targeted for sexual material. Instagram has spiked its account, seemingly without cause.

Anti-Social Media – INDIANAPOLIS STAR

At the Indy Star, sports columnist Gregg Doyel is enraged at Pat McAfee, the newly christened star at ESPN. It is not over anything the former Indianapolis Colts punter has said, but the fact that he has on his show current quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has long been a media target for daring to say he refused to get the COVID vaccine, and this upsets Doyel.

Despite the pandemic being over (even Biden has declared this so), Doyel is mad that Rodgers delivers "anti-vax poison." What makes this columnist appear more confused is that not only does he state that the battle over COVID is done, he actually echoes some of Rodgers' very statements about the vaccine…as he rails against the man for the very same position:

Rodgers says what he says, and normally you wouldn’t hear a peep from me. Not anymore, anyway, because it’s like I said earlier: The war is over. Even with vaccines, are people still testing positive? Well, yes.

"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on 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.