Fox News: Laura Ingraham Segment Uses NAMBLA In Southern Poverty Law Center Attack
Fox News‘ Laura Ingraham last night on Bill O’Reilly‘s “O’Reilly Factor” hosted a segment that portrayed the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a fundraising machine whose goal is to shut down national debate. Ingraham moderated a dishonest and one-sided (so much for “fair and balanced”) segment that actually used NAMBLA, a heinous and essentially defunct —  but hot-button dog whistle to radical right wing conservatives — group in an attempt to paint the venerable Southern Poverty Law Center as dangerous and un-American.
Not once did Ingraham, who claims the SPLC just wants to “demonize good people who just happen to have a different point of view,” educate her viewers on what the Southern Poverty Law Center does, the rigorous investigations they perform, or even (God forbid!) the actions an organization must take in order to be labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In short, Ingraham performed journalistic malpractice, in my opinion, something she has built her career on doing.
Some of the “good people who just happen to have a different point of view” the Southern Poverty Law Center tracks:
Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council: The Southern Poverty Law Center writes:
The FRC regularly portrays LGBT people as sick, evil, perverted, and a danger to the nation. It talks about their “dark, perverse†ways and their “sordid sex lives.†It attacks their “transient, promiscuous and unfaithful relationships,†and insists that gay people are “fundamentally incapable†of providing good homes for children — a claim flatly contradicted by virtually all relevant scientific authorities. Gay rights activists, Perkins said in 2011, are “intolerant,†“hateful†and “vile,†and are pursuing an “agenda†that “will destroy them and our nation.†An FRC official has said he wanted to “export homosexuals from the United States.†That same official, speaking on national television in 2010, advocated the criminalizing of gay sex.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association: The Southern Poverty Law Center offers these quotes from Fischer:
“Homosexuals are rarely monogamous and have as many as 300 to 1,000 sexual partners over the course of a lifetime. … [T]he risk of sexual abuse in a homosexual household is much greater than in a heterosexual household.”
– Bryan Fischer Web post, “The Truth about Gay Marriage and Civil Unions,” 2006“It is time, I suggest, to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military. The reason is simple: the more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security.”
– Bryan Fischer Web post, “No More Muslims in the U.S. Military,” 2009“Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”
– Bryan Fischer Web post, “Homosexuality, Hitler, and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,'” 2010“[T]he most compassionate thing we can do for Americans is to bring a halt to the immigration of Muslims into the U.S. This will protect our national security and preserve our national identity, culture, ideals and values. Muslims, by custom and religion, are simply unwilling to integrate into cultures with Western values and it is folly to pretend otherwise. In fact, they remain dedicated to subjecting all of America to sharia law and are working ceaselessly until that day of Islamic imposition comes.”
– Bryan Fischer Web post, “Time to Restrict Muslim Immigration to the U.S., Send Them Back Home,” 2010“Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native [sic] Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.”
– Bryan Fischer Web post, “Native Americans Morally Disqualified Themselves from the Land,” 2011
There are so many more. Literally, over a thousand. But to Laura Ingraham, apparently these are just “good people who just happen to have a different point of view.”
Ingraham hosted former FBI agent and Bob Hamer” target=”_blank”>author Bob Hamer, who admitted he knows nothing about the SPLC in the segment. Hamer then immediately introduces the pro-pedophile group NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, into the segment as an example of “real hatred.”
Ingraham’s other guest, hate group leader Bob Dane, Communications Director for the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
The SPLC notes that FAIR is closely associated with white supremacist and white nationalist groups, and offers these quotes from its leaders:
“As Whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?”
— FAIR founder and board member John Tanton, Oct. 10, 1986“I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.”
— John Tanton, letter to eugenicist and ecology professor Garrett Hardin (now deceased), Dec. 10, 1993“I blame ninety-eight percent of responsibility for this country’s immigration crisis on Ted Kennedy and his political allies, who decided some time back in 1958, earlier perhaps, that immigration was a great way to retaliate against Anglo-Saxon dominance and hubris, and the immigration laws from the 1920s were just this symbol of that, and it’s a form of revengism, or revenge, that these forces continue to push the immigration policy that they know full well are [sic] creating chaos and will continue to create chaos down the line.”
— FAIR President Dan Stein, “Oral History of the Federation for American Immigration Reform,” interview of Dan Stein by John Tanton, August 1994.“Do we leave it to individuals to decide that they are the intelligent ones who should have more kids? And more troublesome, what about the less intelligent, who logically should have less? Who is going to break the bad news [to less intelligent individuals], and how will it be implemented?”
— John Tanton, letter to eugenicist Robert K. Graham (now deceased), Sept. 18, 1996“Immigrants don’t come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing … Many of them hate America, hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans.”
— FAIR President Dan Stein, interviewed by Tucker Carlson, Oct. 2, 1997
At issue is that the Southern Poverty Law Center calls groups “hate groups” after they have consistently documented those groups disseminating lies repeatedly. Also, the Southern Poverty Law Center adds:
All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.
But Ingraham’s viewers will never know any of this, because she has no intention of shedding light on anything that would destroy her ugly world view.
Perhaps what’s truly vile about Ingraham’s brand of “journalism” is the information it restricts from her viewers. The SPLC produced an important and disturbing report about the rise of hate groups in America, militant so-called “Patriot” groups that are planning attacks against Americans, that are creating lies, conspiracy theories, and promoting hate of America’s first black President.
The Southern Poverty Law Center notes “the Patriot movement… generally believes that the federal government is conspiring to take Americans’ guns and destroy their liberties as it paves the way for a global “one-world government.†From a mere 149 organizations in 2008, the number of Patriot groups shot up to 512 in 2009, jumped again to 824 in 2010, and then skyrocketed to 1,274 in 2011 before hitting their all-time high last year.”
Now, in the wake of the mass murder of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school and the Obama-led gun control efforts that followed, it seems likely that that growth will pick up speed once again.
Fox News viewers will never know the deep-seated danger to their own way of life, because Laura Ingraham has an agenda that does not include fair and balanced.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
Hat tip: Mediaite
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South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem‘s bragging about dragging her 14-month old puppy into a gravel pit and shooting her to death because she “hated” the dog is likely the end of her political career, right-wing pundits are now saying.
On Friday when The Guardian broke the news in a preview of Noem’s upcoming book, outrage on the left was immediate, but outrage on the right trickled in, then increased. Even with Noem doubling down, declaring her killing of the puppy (and a goat that same day, same way) happened 20 years ago, people on the right are expressing anger.
A Democratic pollster says 81% of Americans oppose Noem killing her puppy, The Guardian later reported.
“After learning about Gov. Noem’s actions, only 14% consider her to be a good choice for vice president on the Republican ticket. By a 2:1 margin, even Republicans say the governor would not be a good choice (42% vs. 21%),” the pollster, New River Strategies, stated.
READ MORE: Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
Noem’s book, “No Going Back,” to be released May 7, has a number one ranking at Amazon. Publisher Center Street, a Hachette Book Group imprint, also publishes other right-wing politicians including Ben Carson, Newt Gingrich, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Endorsing the book are other right-wingers, including Donald Trump, Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy, athlete and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, and anti-LGBTQ extremist group creator Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok.
On Monday, as Mediaite reported, two Fox News pundits had had it.
Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP Congressman, said, “she just destroyed her political career. I don’t think there’s anybody on any side of the aisle, any human being that thinks it’s acceptable to go to a gravel pit and shoot a dog in the face and kill it when it’s 14 months old. That’s. I mean, that’s just hideous. So she’s done politically, and I’m a friend of hers. I served with her, but politically, there’s no recovering from this.”
Fox News media analyst Joe Concha said, “as a dog owner my whole life,” the story of Noem shooting her dog “absolutely makes my blood boil.”
RELATED: Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’
“How utterly heartless do you have to be to shoot a 14-month-old dog in the face? Because look, if it wasn’t doing its job on the farm, or is attacking chicken or people, okay, you’re a public figure, or at least you have a platform in some way, shape, or form. Even if you’re a private citizen, you very easily could have posted somewhere, ‘I’m putting my dog up for adoption because maybe it’s not working out here on the ranch,’ and I can guarantee you many people would have raised their hand to take that dog in,” Concha said, adding, “she just destroyed any chance she had of being Donald Trump’s vice president, if she had any chance at all. There’s no going back from this.”
Right wing talk show host Megyn Kelly said Trump is “too smart” to “pick somebody who’s managed to do the impossible and unite Democrats and Republicans alike in their anger for this woman who shot her puppy in the face.”
At the right wing National Review, Jeffrey Blehar writes: “Let’s Get a Warrant for Kristi Noem’s Backyard.”
“I guess I just don’t like people who boast about shooting puppies,” Blehar adds on social media. “And goats. And horses. And who knows what else, until cops have done an aerial scan of the property and gotten a backhoe out to excavate the suspicious piles of dirt.”
A far-right pro-Trump streaming media outlet has retracted what it now states was a “false” story alleging former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels had a sexual relationship for years and engaged in an “extortion” conspiracy plot against the ex-president.
The statement and apology from One America News Network (OAN) comes just one day before the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump is set to begin its third week. Cohen is one of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s top witnesses in the case. Defense attorneys are expected to try to attack Cohen’s credibility.
“OAN today has retracted its March 27 article entitled ‘Whistleblower: Avenatti Alleged Cohen Daniels Affair Since 2006, Pre-2016 Trump Extortion Plan,’ and is taking it down from all sites and removing it from all social media. This retraction is part of a settlement reached with Michael Cohen. Mr. Avenatti has denied making the allegations. OAN apologizes to Mr. Cohen for any harm the publication may have caused him,” a statement on OAN’s website reads.
It then states in all-caps: “NO PERSON SHOULD RELY ON THE MARCH 27 ARTICLE OR THE ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED THEREIN.”
READ MORE: Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
“The article, quoting a source, falsely claimed that Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels ‘were having an affair since 2006’ and that, according to a source, ‘the whole hush money scheme was cooked up by [Mr. Cohen] to extort the Trump Organization before the 2016 election.’ These statements were false. OAN regrets their publication.”
The New York Times reports there are “no monetary damages,” and adds one of Cohen’s attorneys, “Justin Nelson, had represented Dominion Voting Systems in a suit against Fox News that cost that network $787.5 million to settle. Mr. Nelson worked with Mr. Cohen’s longtime lawyer, Danya Perry, in what was a remarkably quick about-face by OAN.”
Danya Perry, also one of Cohen’s attorneys in this case, declared the settlement was “a total vindication for Mr. Cohen — and a warning: Mr. Cohen is telling the truth, and there will be legal consequences for those who lie about him.”
“Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked Mr. Cohen,” The Times adds, “despite a gag order issued by the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan, barring him from attacking witnesses and others. Justice Merchan is currently weighing whether Mr. Trump is in contempt of the gag order as a result of that invective.”
READ MORE: Noem Doubles Down With ‘Legal Cover’ For Shooting Her Puppy to Death
“In particular, Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Cohen’s credibility, which will also be how Mr. Trump’s lawyers approach his former fixer during trial. The story by OAN, which has been a consistent booster of Mr. Trump’s political agenda, bolstered that strategy.”
Cohen called it, “The first apology in a long line of lies about me by media outlets.”
Professor of law, MSNBC legal analyst, and former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann called the settlement a “big win” for the attorneys and Cohen.
Attorneys for Hunter Biden have notified Fox News he plans to sue the right-wing cable TV network and its digital entities, after lawyers for the President’s son spent more than a year investigating. Among other issues the letter reportedly mentions Fox News citing a now-indicted former FBI informant, and points to “revenge porn” laws.
The letter, NBC News reports, is dated last week and specifically points to alleged bribery allegations as well as “Fox’s airing of ‘intimate images’ belonging to Hunter Biden that his lawyers claim were ‘hacked, stolen, and/or manipulated’,” that they say violate “Biden’s civil rights as well as copyright law.”
CNN, focusing in the intimate images, reports that “Hunter Biden is demanding that Fox News remove from its platforms sexually explicit images that President Joe Biden’s son says are private, according to a letter obtained by CNN, as part of his strategy to publicly fight back against conservative media.”
“The media outlet aired a mock trial of Hunter Biden on the streaming platform Fox Nation in 2022,” CNN also reports, “focused on the unproven bribery allegations, and published ‘intimate images of Mr. Biden depicting him in the nude as well as engaged in sex acts,’ according to the letter, which demands that Fox immediately remove the series from all streaming platforms.”
READ MORE: Noem Doubles Down With ‘Legal Cover’ For Shooting Her Puppy to Death
“’FOX knows that these private and confidential images were hacked, stolen, and/or manipulated digital material,’ Hunter Biden’s attorneys wrote in the letter, which contained several of the explicit images, some of which were blurred,” CNN adds. “Publishing these images, the attorneys said, violated ‘the majority of states’ laws against the nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and videos, sometimes referred to as ‘revenge porn’ laws.’ ”
In a statement Hunter Biden’s attorney, Mark Geragos, expanded on the apparently pending lawsuit.
“For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain,” Geragos stated. “The recent indictment of FBI informant Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable.”
Media Matters last week reported, “Fox News has mentioned Hunter Biden at least 13,440 times since January 3, 2023, when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives after promising to use their power to investigate the business interests of President Joe Biden’s son, according to a Media Matters review.”
“Fox’s on-air coverage of Hunter Biden has … plummeted in recent months,” Media Matters added. “Mentions of the president’s son on the network peaked at 2,356 in July, when his federal plea deal on two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes fell apart, and mentions exceeded 1,300 in four other months, most recently in December.”
READ MORE: Peter Navarro’s Latest Attempt to Get Out of Jail Smacked Down by SCOTUS
Mentions of Hunter Biden on Fox News, by month
December: 1,307
January: 786
February: 512
March: 347
April: 60 thus far. https://t.co/pC87CQdz8G pic.twitter.com/CUW0qn4gQx— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) April 25, 2024
Watch CNN’s report below or at this link.
First on CNN: Hunter Biden’s attorneys are telling Fox News to stop claiming Hunter Biden and his father took bribes from Alexander Smirnov. His attorneys also accuse Fox of violating revenge porn laws. @evanperez joined me on @InsidePolitics to discuss the new legal strategy. pic.twitter.com/sN0Qeb6QOs
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) April 29, 2024
Noem Doubles Down With ‘Legal Cover’ For Shooting Her Puppy to Death
Peter Navarro’s Latest Attempt to Get Out of Jail Smacked Down by SCOTUS
Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say
Far Right Media Outlet Retracts ‘False’ Story About Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels
‘Let’s Get a Warrant for Her Backyard’: Noem ‘Done Politically’ Right Wing Pundits Say
Far Right Media Outlet Retracts ‘False’ Story About Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels
Hunter Biden Plans Lawsuit Against Fox News Amid ‘Conspiracy of Disinformation’
Peter Navarro’s Latest Attempt to Get Out of Jail Smacked Down by SCOTUS
Noem Doubles Down With ‘Legal Cover’ For Shooting Her Puppy to Death
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