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Fact Checkers Get Blasted by Facts, Frum Defends the Worst Democrat, and SNL Is Unintentionally LOL

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jan 29, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

01.29.24

Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – SNOPES

We love the fact-checkers, we really do. Their obvious use as a Democratic Party tool is so laughably blatant you cannot help but laugh. Whether it is how they reorganize facts to "prove" Republicans are wrong, focusing more on the GOP (Senator Ted Cruz sports more PolitiFact corrections than President Joe Biden) or ignoring Biden's numerous fact-telling errors by covering false claims by anonymous randos on social media, they are just precious little jesters.

Another component they share is the condescending smugness in their delivery – as if the most arcane details are common knowledge and the cherry-picked minutiae focused prove that you are an under-educated mope. Case in point, this weekend, as Snopes attempted to rush in and rescue President Biden from well-deserved ridicule when he was pictured wearing a blue-collar worker's hard hat backward.

The smug geniuses came in to inform us, the rabble, that we did not know what we were talking about and that lunchpail Joe was, in fact, wearing the hat incorrectly, except for the small detail that he clearly had the safety gear on backward, with the tension dial of the internal hat chassis, which is supposed to rest at the base of the skull, showing broadly on his forehead. These viscounts of vérité even unraveled themselves by showing the worker whose hat was borrowed for the photo-op pictured in another scene wearing his hat in the correct fashion. They then had to issue an Editor's Note and reverse their judgment on the claim.

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Low Octane Gas Lighting – SKY NEWS

  • Those Jews need to learn their place…literally.

Among the press outlets displaying outward antagonism toward Israel in its war with Hamas, one of the more outward has been Britain's Sky News. In just the latest case of direct antagonism toward the Jewish people, we see this exchange between Belle Donati as she is speaking with Minister Danny Danon of the Likud Party, and she dares suggest that Jews during the Holocaust were "voluntarily" relocated.

Once called out on this note, she attempted to steamroll Danon to move past her insulting comment, but he had none of it. Sky News has since had to come out and apologize for Donati's comment – an apology, tellingly, not issued by Belle Donati herself.

Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • So, reading the actual ruling was too much to expect?

As the tensions between the White House and the state of Texas over the border squabble continue to increase, it is clear where the collective media are coming down on the issue. Repeatedly, we are served reports and commentary on how Governor Greg Abbott and his state military units are violating the Supreme Court ruling regarding using razor wire along the border locations. 

What is being consistently (intentionally) misreported is that SCOTUS commanded that Texas is forbidden from doing so. This is inaccurate, as the ruling simply said the federal border agents were permitted to take down the razor wire in areas it thinks necessary, but the state is in no way ordered to halt installing it.

Presentation Paradox – THE ATLANTIC

  • Remind us again why we are supposed to call him a conservative…?

For reasons only clear to himself, David Frum took it upon himself to rehabilitate the reputation of turn-of-the-century President Woodrow Wilson.

You know, the Democrat. The one who was a rampant racist to the extreme of wanting to RE-segregate the government. The one who instituted the payroll tax and IRS. Frum wants to uncancel that president…as any true "conservative" would surely want to do.

Pre-Written Field Reports – SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

  • "Man, what a crazy wing-nut Trump is, using this valid term we never heard of! What a kook!"

Understand first, the insulated bubble-dwellers in the entertainment industry hold disdain for those who disagree and love to pose as if they are the true holders of knowledge. With that in mind, we turn to SNL and the "Weekend Update" segment, where Donald Trump was once again the target of barbs because Joe Biden has not done anything mockable since…the opening of this column.

Host Colin Jost (Harvard, 2004) commented about Donald Trump's mental acuity – not Joe Biden's, mind you – and referenced a speech he gave where he spoke about the term "de-banking." The Urbane Jost was not aware of this being a known financial term, nor apparently the hyper-educated writing staff, and not even much of the refined audience members.

If you are "proving" Trump's impacted cranial dexterity by mocking him for correctly using a valid financial term, that would indicate the mental sloth would be found with the accusers.

Both Kinds of Standards – NBC NEWS

In Friday's column, we covered how NBC News had a piece it was working on by contacting Chaya Raichik, from The Libs of TikTok account, about her "claim" (which she did not actually make) that Boeing and some airlines were having safety issues due to having drag employees and other DEI issues going public.

NBC News reporter David Ingram put out his piece, and in it, he makes the declaration that conservatives have now made air[ports and airlines the latest front lines in the culture war:

The topic may be tantalizing for Republicans as they attempt to fire up their voter base ahead of the 2024 presidential election: They can capitalize on widespread interest in news about air travel while also appealing to conservatives’ long-standing criticism of affirmative action and other diversity programs. 

As usual, the focus is on conservatives seizing on a topic and highlighting airline safety, but there is little in the way of exploring why the topic emerged in the first place. The reason DEI is coming up is that reports have emerged of companies touting their hiring policies and one airline even boasting its drag flight crew. These coincide with stories just this month of a plane's door flying off, another losing its wheel during takeoff, and another case of a plane grounded when its wing was discovered to be missing bolts – noticed not by maintenance mechanics but by a passenger.

So sure, it is conservatives making up an issue again that was placed before them.

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"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.