Today's Journalism Needs A Serious Examination Of Conscience

The economy is so bad, MSNBC had to lay off 300 Obama spokesman...Jay Leno 

• MSNBC is just one of many poster children for the failures of journalism today {Refer to my 3/24/14 post  "MSNBC Remains A Haven For Lunatics."}. 
• Journalism has only two main functions: To tell the truth and to be a government watchdog. It's clear that journalism today has failed on both counts. For the last six years and more, we've witnessed so-called journalists protecting the progressive political class highlighted in their rah-rah reporting about Pres. Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton.  In addition, and perhaps even more disturbing, are journalism's sins of omission. The most recent example of this was the release of  IRS documents by Judicial Watch last week. The documents clearly show the IRS wanted to shut down conservative organizations. Yet, the three largest alphabet networks spent a whopping zero amount of air time reporting that news. And even though the countless scandals of this administration as unveiled and tracked by the alternative media, the main stream media continues to refer to them as "so-called" scandals. In fact, Newsbusters reported yesterday that most of the reporting by the major networks on the Boko Haram kidnapping failed to report that it was Hillary Clinton who refused to label them as terrorists. Yet, when it came to the remarks made by Karl Rover regarding Hillary Clinton's heath, the major networks spent almost 30 minutes---one two separate days---defending Clinton from Rove's remarks (which, in my opinion, were stupid anyway). On the other hand, Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC couldn't wait to go to Clinton's defense. She said alerting the public to Clinton's not labeling Boko Haram as a terror group was simply a tactic to go after Hillary Clinton's record as Secretary of State. Again, protecting progressives trumps reporting the truth.
• Mistakes and errors are made in every profession. But modern day journalism's reporting is more about collusion and intent to misrepresent the facts. In many cases, they've even been complicit in promoting deceit. And the reporting on Benghazi, Obamacare, the IRS and more are just recent examples. It wasn't too long ago when the dean of CBS News, Dan Rather, tried to promote an outright false report regarding George W. Bush's National Guard service. In my opinion, his intent and the intent of the network (it was on a 60 Minutes investigation) was to undermine Bush's chances for re-election. As a result of this bogus story, Rather and several CBS executives resigned.
• The malfeasance was even more conspicuous in the reporting of the Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case in 2012. Throughout the entire episode, the media kept posting photos of Trayvon when he was about 12 years old when he was really about 17 and 6 feet tall.  Even the AP had to admit the photos showing a younger Trayvon may have negatively shaped public opinion in the shooting case. But the misconduct and deceit by the media didn't end there. It was later found out that NBC edited Zimmerman's 9/11 call. NBC later apologized referring to it as an "error." NBC's wrongdoing should surprise no one. Many of us recall the 1992 Dateline piece on trying to prove how GM's new line of pick-up trucks could easily explode. It was later discovered that NBC staged the collision and used remote devices to have the trucks explode. After an investigation by GM, the president of NBC News resigned in disgrace.
• Just two days ago, it took the Washington Times (a conservative publication) to report 36,000 immigrants were released from U.S. custody, 116 of whom were convicted for homicide, drunk driving and a variety of sex offenses. The big three alphabet networks neglected to report this disturbing news.
• And need I remind anyone that the lies surrounding Obamacare were so conspicuous, someone with a hearing disability would have picked up on them. Yet, it took the main stream media over 3 years to alert the public of the lies.
• It's becoming increasingly clear that journalism needs a serious examination of conscience---unless it's just too damn late for that.

Postscript: And now George Stephanopoulos admission he donated $75 grand to the Clinton Foundation over 3 years.

Hillary Clinton The Perfect Progressive Politician: Good At Nothing; Bad At Everything

Hillary Clinton Reveals Zero In Non-Candid, Tell-Nothing Interview...The Onion

In March of last year, I wrote: "As Democrats, progressives and most of the presstitute media drive the fairy tale and myth surrounding Hillary Clinton's accomplishments, the question arises: Will it work if she decides to run in 2016?"  Well, 2016 is a heartbeat away, and it appears she's making her move. Just as disturbing, she has a ton of supporters (especially in the media) who already started enveloping her in bubble wrap. So that leads to yet another question: Will it work?

We already have a president who was able to dodge the "lack of accomplishment and experience" charge. And history can repeat itself as it does so often. But there is one big difference. Hillary does have a record. It's just that her record sucks---big time. Let's take a brief trip through this fairy tale.

• As many Americans now know, Hillary Clinton and her State Department refused to brand Boko Haram a terrorist organization even though the organization's history is replete with terror largely upon innocent civilians (my previous post summarizes their history).
• Her record as Secretary of State is---quite frankly---a disaster. Of course, Benghazi comes immediately to mind, and it will be interesting to see what other information will be revealed by Trey Gowdy's committee. We already know the administration lied and deceived Americans in an apparent cover-up defined by incompetence and a plethora of systemic failures before, during and after the attack on the consulate. Hillary Clinton was in charge at the time of the incident. Throughout her tenure as Secretary of State, our foreign policy was floundering (not much has changed under John F. Kerry either).  The lack of coherence and direction in foreign policy has been breathtaking under both administrations in State. But under Hillary, even the left-leaning rag, The Philadelphia Inquirer, had to admit: "{Hillary} Clinton produced no diplomatic breakthroughs nor any new strategic doctrine...She has no major foreign policy success." And the Washington Post, another left-of-center publication, asked: "Where is the record of accomplishment, let alone greatness?"
• To add more to an already vapid record, Jennifer Rubin, again of the Washington Post, pointed out Secretary Clinton's failures in the Russian reset, trumpeting the false impression of al-Qaeda's decimation, poor relationship with Israel, calling Syria's Assad a "reformer," and down-playing human rights violations.
• In reviewing Clinton's foreign policy, The Heritage Foundation (a conservative group) summarized it well: "America's position as a superpower is being weakened by Pres. Obama and Secretary Clinton's failure to stand up to tyranny...An administration that chooses to appease evil rather than confront it will ultimately decline in credibility both at home and abroad." That statement was written four years before Putin's move into the Ukraine.  And what more can one add when we now see what is going on in Syria, Egypt and other hot-spots around the globe. The evidence is overwhelming. In foreign policy, Hillary Clinton was a failure.
• But it didn't start with foreign policy. It started with her tenure as Senator from New York State. Once again, her record is sloppy and almost non-existent. Gov.trac reported her record of accomplishments as senator was "trifling." In fact, during her entire tenure, she missed 10% of the votes. The average rate among all senators is 2%.
• So what we're left with is the perfect progressive politician: Good at nothing; bad at everything.

Postscript: Since this was posted, Clinton's email and fundraising scandal was exposed. So add this to Travelgate, Whitewater, missing Rose Law Firm records and countless more.

F*ck Hashtag Diplomacy: A .50 Calibre Round Between The Eyes Is Much More Effective

"The horrors we see in Africa today will become America's horror tomorrow." NY Post Editorial

Let me be clear. Whatever works in freeing the Nigerian school girls, I'm all in. But the initial reaction by our government, the global community and many in the media leaves room for serious concern. In my opinion, confronting global terrorism with hashtag diplomacy is merely symbolism over action. I've written extensively about this problem---including Boko Haram---for years. My purpose was to alert the powers that be that something must be done. My pleas, as well as the pleas of others, appear to have fallen on deaf ears until this most recent incident in Chibok. In fact, while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, her department blocked designating Boko Haram a terrorist organization. The other interesting phenomena in our media and those who keep flashing hashtags is the conspicuous absence of designations such as Islamist, Jihadist, etc. The following is just a recent sampling of the atrocities committed by Boko Haram as most of the world turned a blind eye (these Islamist murderers have been in operation for approximately 12 years now):

• Multiple bombings---including car bombings---of churches, schools, buildings, police stations,  weddings, outdoor parties, etc.
• In November 2011, multiple bombs blew up in Damaturi killing over 100 people.
• In December 2011, 37 people and over 57 injured in an attack on St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla.
• In January 2012, 37 died and over 100 injured in attacks against Christian Churches, police stations and immigration offices in three towns in Nigeria.
• Later in the same month, Christian churches, police stations and businesses were attacked in Kano. Over 185 were killed.
• In June 2012, three Christian church were attacked. Fifty people were killed.
• In October of that year, approximately 40 people were slaughtered in Mubi during a night-time raid.
• In March of 2013,  22 people were killed and over 60 injured in a bus bombing at a Kano bus station.
• In July 2013,  42 people were killed at a school, most students.
• In September 2013, another attack upon a school left 40 students dead.
• In February 2014, the Izghe Massacre. Almost 200 villagers were killed.
• In February 2014, they attacked another school and killed 59 boys. The boys were gunned down or their throats were cut with machetes. The girls were ordered to go home.
• And the April 14, 2014 attack in Chibok where 234 school girls were kidnapped and 16 were killed.

Most of the terror actions of Boko Haram target Christians by either burning their churches down, kidnapping and killing---usually all three. They also forcibly recruit Nigerian youth with the intent of converting them to Islam. Girls who are kidnapped are usually forced to convert and marry their abductors.

As I wrote in the beginning of this piece, I'm for anything that might work---even if it brings attention to these blood thirsty Islamist murderers. But good intentions don't save lives. Only some type of action does.  One observer remarked it reminded him of those putting daisies in the rifle barrels of our soldiers as Commies were slaughtering innocents in Vietnam and Cambodia. From another observer: "How sad that the nation that produced the Greatest Generation who saved the world from fascist tyranny, has been reduced to walking softly and carrying a big hashtag in the face of Islamic terrorists?"

Yes, get these girls home. But, while we're at it, hunt down and kill those Islamist thugs. A hashtag doesn't have the same effect as a well placed .50 calibre round between the eyes.

Postscript: Since this was posted, dozens more women have been kidnapped and villagers murdered and the kidnappings and brutality continue.