At Memories Pizza, New Threats the Press Continues to Mostly Ignore

April 2nd, 2015 10:41 PM
Update, April 3: The Indiana man who claims to have been hacked now admits that he wasn't, but says he was "joking" about robbing Memories Pizza, and is threatening to sue those who exposed his (ahem) public comments.  Those of us following the Memories Pizza story won't have trouble remembering it as the years go by, thanks only partially to the Walkerton, Indiana store's fairly unusual name…

Local Indiana Station Ambushes Memories Pizza to Gin Up an RFRA Story

April 1st, 2015 11:43 PM
Something hasn't seemed right about the Memories Pizza story from the get-go. Now I know why. In a Tuesday report, TV Station ABC 57 cited the Walkerton, Indiana business's Crystal O'Connor as saying that, in the station's words, they "don't agree with gay marriages and wouldn't cater them if asked to." In other words, they've never been asked to. The non-story which ignited a national firestorm…

Gov. Cuomo Bans 'Non-Essential' Travel to Indiana, Still Going to Cuba

March 31st, 2015 8:53 PM
The press won't roast New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for this, but it should — at a very high temperature. Today, Mr. Self-Righteous, who in the past has suggested that anyone who is pro-life, against same-sex marriage, or for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment as written and adjudicated should leave his state, banned all "non-essential" state travel to Indiana, home of a recently enacted…

Chicago Trib Excuses Emanuel's Ignorance on Origins of Airports' Names

March 29th, 2015 9:32 PM
In Chicago, incumbent Mayor and longtime Democrat fixture Rahm Emanuel floated the idea of renaming one of its airports after President Obama. After all, according to Emanuel, both of Chicago's major airports, O'Hare and Midway, are "named after battleships." No they're not, as will be seen after the jump. The Chicago Tribune's Bill Ruthhart failed to recognize Emanuel's startling gaffe until…

White House: 'Death To America' Only Meant For 'Domestic Audience'

March 24th, 2015 12:05 AM
CNN is reporting tonight that the White House considers the "Of course, death to America" comments made by Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as merely statements "intended for a domestic political audience." That clueless take would be headline news everywhere right now if this were a Republican or conservative administration. The National Journal's John Kraushaar's tweet reporting…

Yahoo Reporter: Cruz Talking About God-Given Rights Is 'Bizarre'

March 23rd, 2015 2:54 PM
Meredith Shiner is currently a Yahoo News political reporter. Before spending three years at Roll Call, where she was considered "a leader in the newsroom," she toiled at the Politico for two years. Shiner is a graduate of Duke University, and "grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago." I have provided these resume-level details to emphasize how utterly incomprehensible it is, as well as…

Cincy Paper Pondered Quashing Story of Gay Activist's Faked Abduction

March 7th, 2015 9:35 AM
Monday night, a Cincinnati-area same-sex "marriage" activist posted on Facebook and tweeted that he had been abducted and was in the trunk of his car. A short time later, police found 20 year-old Adam Hoover and determined that he had (very clumsily) faked his abduction, and would be charged with the crime of "making false claims." In the meantime, news of Hoover's abduction and then its false…

Spiteful: Jezebel's 'Update' to False Walker Assault Reporting Story

February 28th, 2015 7:45 PM
As noted this morning (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), Jezebel's Natasha Vargas-Cooper wrote a Friday morning hit piece directed at Scott Walker, Wisconsin's Republican Governor, calling him a "conservative werewolf" for including a provision in the Badger State's latest proposed budget to eliminate the requirement that universities report campus sexual assault statistics to the state. Vargas-…

Time Editor Kluger: Facebook Should Censor Anti-Vaxxer Voices

February 19th, 2015 4:57 PM
Time magazine editor-at-large and global-warming alarmist Jeffrey Kluger called on Facebook today to censor users who promote criticisms of vaccines, commonly known as anti-vaxxers. While Kluger is absolutely right to note that Facebook would be well within its rights to do so and that private-party censorship is not a First Amendment free-speech issue, Kluger's paternalistic lecturing and the…

Moore, Rogen Now Claim Their Tweets Didn't Criticize 'American Sniper'

January 19th, 2015 11:50 PM
Your truly noted yesterday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) how Michael Moore tweeted, in part, that "We were taught snipers were cowards." Earlier today, Geoffrey Dickens at NewsBusters observed that Seth Rogen, whose "The Interview" movie was at least partially salvaged financially by freedom-of-speech supporters on the left and right who watched it online and in person in select areas, tweeted…

Conservative Talker Zings Cowardly CNN Re: Charlie Hebdo Cover

January 14th, 2015 3:56 PM
Atlanta-area conservative talk show host Michael Graham got in a good dig at CNN via Twitter this morning. Take a look.

Luke Russert: Boehner Survived GOP's 'Barking' 'Kamikaze Caucus'

January 6th, 2015 3:58 PM
Longtime journalist Tim Russert, who among many other things hosted NBC's Meet the Press for over 17 years, passed away suddenly in June 2008. His son Luke now works for NBC, and among other things is a Meet the Press panelist. Based on some of his more recent output, Luke is perhaps better described not a journalist, but as the network's desginated childish, mean-spirited namecaller. After…

In LA, CBS Station Pretends There Was a Real Kwanzaa Parade

December 27th, 2014 8:40 PM
What follows is an object lesson in why year-end best, worst and other lists shouldn't be published until the year actually ends. A Kwanzaa "parade" was held in Los Angeles yesterday. In reporting on the event, CBS Los Angeles published a work of fiction (saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes) which absolutely belongs on any 2014 list of most embarrassing moments in…

Pity Party at AP: Obama Still Handicapped by Bush 43's 'Legacy'

December 10th, 2014 6:42 PM
Nearly six years into Barack Obama's presidency, it's still George W. Bush's fault. Early Wednesday morning, Julie Pace at the Associated Press proved yet again why it is more than appropriate to characterize the wire service where she works as the Administration's Press. The headline at Pace's story tells us that poor President Barack Obama still has to confront the "Bush legacy," and is still…