Media Double Standard Clearly Evident
Posted: November 21, 2016 Filed under: 2016 Presidential Election, Donald Trump, Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Jeremiah Wright, mainstream media, mass media, media bias, Steve Bannon 3 CommentsMedia Double Standard Clearly Evident
by JBS President Emeritus John F. McManus
Recent headlines insist that Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump’s choice for a top advisory post, is a hate-filled ogre. Rallies and demonstrations throughout the nation describe him with explosively charged rhetoric. The demonstrators also don’t accept the Trump victory on November 8th while claiming that the President-elect is a racist and sexist hater of gays, Muslims, and immigrants.
Image by Sollok29 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Obama wasn’t in attendance when Wright’s hateful outburst was caught on film. How many other times the left-leaning pastor called on his parishioners to condemn America isn’t known. But the acceptance by his congregation of his strident condemnation of our nation surely indicated that his call for the Almighty to destroy our country wasn’t an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence.
When that video surfaced, Obama was just a candidate seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination. He quickly responded in a televised speech in which he sought to separate himself from the angry pastor. But there were no protests or riots because of the denied connection between the candidate and his pastor.
Nor did either the mass media report or the protesting minorities make note of Obama’s close relationship with Saul Alinsky, the so-called community organizer who saluted “Lucifer” and taught Marxist political tactics. The mass media would have eagerly pounced on most others for anything remotely equivalent in their background.
Then, there’s the numerous unanswered questions about the Obama birth certificate. Yes, Trump eventually accepted it as legitimate and sought to convert the matter to non-issue status. But questions that the media should have asked, but never did, remain.
For instance, the birth certificate released by the White House after years of ignoring the matter states that the race of Obama’s father was “African.” But in 1961, blacks were termed Negroes and the term African-American was used by no one. This birth certificate lists the site of Obama’s birth as “Kapi’olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital.” But in 1961, there was no such institution by that name. A merger of the two separate facilities didn’t occur until 1978 when the hospitals were combined and the new name created. Further, the birth certificate states that Obama’s father was born in “Kenya, East Africa.” But Kenya didn’t exist in 1961. Later formed as an independent nation (in 1963), the region was known in 1961 as “British East Africa Protectorate.”
We point out these remarkable inconsistencies, not to insist that Barack Obama was not a “natural born citizen” but to provide more evidence of the mass media’s willingness to overlook important information that might unfavorably impact one of its favorites. Had Donald Trump, or any Republican for that matter, produced a similarly flawed document or been credibly linked in a relationship with an anti-American like Jeremiah Wright, you can bet the angry youngsters clogging the streets and the liberals and leftists who dominate the Fourth Estate would never let such “juicy” information die.
Those who protest Trump’s victory and media stars who refuse to ask meaningful questions about Obama’s legitimacy show their bias. But the Trump victory indicates that their hold on the thinking of millions of Americans is slipping away. And that’s very good news.
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Mr. McManus served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1950s and joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966. He has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and President. Mr. McManus has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs and is also author of a number of educational DVDs and books. Now President Emeritus, he continues his involvement with the Society through public speaking and writing for this blog, the JBS Bulletin, and The New American.
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Lazy Liberal Journalists Smear Bannon
Posted: November 18, 2016 Filed under: 2016 Presidential Election, Communism, Conspiracy, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Politics | Tags: media bias, Southern Poverty Law Center 1 CommentEditor’s Note: The following comes from Accuracy in Media and reveals many activities that are happening behind the scenes of the current protests. As JBS has been saying, these are anything but spontaneous.
“Lazy Liberal Journalists Smear Bannon” by Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media
Media bias won’t let up just because the liberal media were humiliated on November 8. The bias is now being directed at the President-elect’s conservative appointments.
On Monday night’s CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley proclaimed that the Southern Poverty Law Center had declared that Donald J. Trump’s campaign CEO Stephen Bannon “has no business being in the White House.” Bannon was named as chief strategist and counselor.
In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has no business being cited as a credible source by any responsible news organization. It smears conservatives for profit, diverting attention from real domestic threats, such as the Marxist extremists currently demonstrating against Trump in the streets and threatening to disrupt his inauguration.
Many of the demonstrators are from the ANSWER Coalition, an outgrowth of the pro-North Korea Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party.
But don’t expect to get any information about the ANSWER Coalition from the SPLC.
In fact, the SPLC is in bed with communists of all kinds, having participated in the notorious Left Forum held in New York City earlier this year. We noted at the time that the event featured “an assortment of communists, 9/11 truthers, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists, and other extremists.”
Even more troubling, SPLC President and CEO Richard Cohen was a member of the “Countering Violent Extremism Working Group” of the Department of Homeland Security in 2010. It is possible that Cohen, in this capacity, was able to get access to classified information, and that the SPLC, in turn, shared its erroneous data on conservative opponents of the Obama administration with federal law enforcement agencies.
The attacks on Bannon stem from his leadership of the news site, Breitbart News, a popular source of alternative news and information which was strongly pro-Trump during the campaign. On occasion, the site features some unorthodox conservative views that Bannon’s critics have tried to pin on him.
The site was named for Andrew Breitbart, who pioneered new and effective ways to undermine the left. One of his disciples, Jeremy Segal, did a video exposing Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL) being honored at the Communist Party U.S.A.’s headquarters in Chicago for a lifetime of “inspiring leadership.”
Lazy liberal journalists would rather cite the SPLC as authoritative without having to bother to investigate how the group has been exposed by such investigative reporters on the left as Ken Silverstein. At one time, notes Silverstein, the group did some good work against racist hate groups. But later, in order to expand its business model and make more money, it expanded the “hate” label to mainstream conservative organizations. It has accumulated $300 million in a reserve fund and has become “one of the most profitable charities in the country,” with its top officials getting membership in the so-called financial elite one percent.
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Who Are Trump Supporters?
Posted: August 18, 2016 Filed under: 2016 Presidential Election, GOP Debate, Hillary Clinton, neoconservatism, Politics | Tags: 2016 election, 2016 Presidential Race, Donald Trump, media bias, politics, Trump 5 CommentsWho Are Trump Supporters?
by JBS President Emeritus John F. McManus
New Yorker Magazine is hardly a bastion of right-wing politics. Instead, it can usually be found promoting causes championed by liberals, left-wingers, and elitists. Its veteran political writer went to several Trump rallies to find out for himself what motivates anyone to support the New York City mogul.
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Image by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (Donald Trump supporters) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
The report I received – not the article itself– stated that Trump supporters “have had it with” an array of anti-Establishment politicians and policies. There’s nothing sensationally new about that. Its list of reasons is impressive, and they smack of accuracy. It says “Trumpies” are rebelling against anyone named Bush or Clinton, and against political correctness, illegal immigration, welfare waste and fraud, ObamaCare, Federal Reserve money-printing schemes, Barack Obama’s golf, Holiday – not Christmas – trees, global warming nonsense, gun confiscation threats, cop killers, stagnant wages, boys in the girls bathrooms, and more. My own survey assures me that all of that is a correct reading of any Trump supporter.
However, George Saunders who wrote the lengthy piece in New Yorker can hardly be described as an admirer of either Trump or the many Trump supporters he encountered and interviewed as he traveled across the country. On the other hand, the writer of the report (no name was provided) went far overboard in attributing any sort of pro-Trumpism to what Saunders provided.
With more than two months still remaining before Americans vote for the next president, plenty can happen to sway the yet undecided, maybe even move some from one camp to the other. We hope all will base their decision on facts, not on hit pieces or wild characterizations of any candidate.
The two articles mentioned above did agree in one main point. It is that most Americans are tired of promises not being kept by Democrats or Republicans, of changes in the nation’s culture and moral standards, of being given half-truths and lies when honesty remains the best policy, and of sensing that the country is being changed – not for the better but for the betterment of an arrogant well-entrenched few.
But another lesson reinforced from reading the magazine article and the ensuing report convinces me that checking the original is far and away the wiser course. Relying on someone’s view of something may take you far from what it really said.
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Mr. McManus served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1950s and joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966. He has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and President. Mr. McManus has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs and is also author of a number of educational DVDs and books. Now President Emeritus, he continues his involvement with the Society through public speaking and writing for this blog, the JBS Bulletin, and The New American.
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Media Takes a Beating during the Colorado Debate
Posted: October 30, 2015 Filed under: 2016 Presidential Election, GOP Debate, Politics | Tags: GOP debate, JBS President John F. McManus, john birch society, lamestream media, media bias, Ted Cruz Leave a commentMedia Takes a Beating during the Colorado Debate
by JBS President John F. McManus
After a presidential candidate debate, everyone has an opportunity to name winners and losers. We’ll get to that shortly. But first, let’s name the biggest loser in the October 28 contest – the nation’s mainstream media that took a sound thrashing from several of the participants.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz identified the big loser early in the two-hour circus when he ignored a question about the debt limit and, instead, expressed his contempt for the entire mainstream media. He first aimed his oratorical weapons at the panel before him: “The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media.” The audience applauded enthusiastically.
Cruz continued: “Look at what is being asked. ‘Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don’t you resign [your Senate seat]? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?’” Now the audience was cheering. Cruz added that none of the mediators, all of whom he obviously believes are left-leaning Democrats, would be able to vote in a GOP primary. More agreement from the Colorado throng!
Later, Florida Senator Marco Rubio continued the attack begun by Cruz when he referred to the mainstream media as “the Democrat’s Super Pac.” Given his chance, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie lambasted the CNBC panel for ignoring substantive issues facing the nation and asking the panel about whether the federal government should regulate fantasy football. Angrily, he shouted, “We have a $19 trillion debt; we have people out of work; we have ISIS and Al Qaeda attacking us; and we’re talking about fantasy football???” That won him a burst of appreciation from the attendees and, likely, from the TV audience. Both Rubio and Christie should move up in the polling.
Already lagging as a result of several dull performances, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush thought he could gain some momentum by attacking fellow Floridian Marco Rubio for missing Senate votes. It didn’t work. Rubio capably defended himself and the lackluster Bush has to be considered one of the big losers in the debate. Other losers, or at very least non-winners, include Ohio Governor John Kasich who droned on monotonously about his home state’s record, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul who seemed tired of the process but did assert that new House Speaker Paul Ryan wouldn’t change anything, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who stated that he had defeated the Clinton machine several times in Arkansas and could do so again against Hillary Clinton.
Participants who neither won nor lost included real estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, both leaders in the latest polls. Trump attacked Super Pacs and gun-free zones. Carson repeated his contempt for political correctness and government subsidies. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina suggested scrapping the massive tax code and issuing a three-page document that every taxpayer could read and understand. That won’t win her any support from lawyers and accountants. She ended her comments with a vain hope to debate Hillary Clinton.
Clear winners this time were Rubio, Cruz, and Christie. Mention should also be made of the four second-tier candidates who participated in a non-televised early evening debate: George Pataki, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, and Lindsey Graham.
The next debate, likely without a few who ought to drop out, will be held in mid-November. In the meantime, expect some media personalities to defend themselves and their profession.
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Mr. McManus served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1950s and joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966. He has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.
