In the age of Trump, headlines have become even more polarizing and, worse, the media has increasingly employed them with a deliberate intent to deceive. Many in the media are willing to present misleading or, at times, even objectively false information — while leaving out crucial counter-narrative details — to gaslight the public. Sometimes, the headlines even contradict the very content of the article. Due to our busy lives, many fail to get the full story and take the headlines for fact. Here are seven recent headlines from multiple mainstream outlets — including CNN, the Associated Press and The Washington Post — that attempted to mislead or misdirect on important issues, and always in ways that benefited leftist promoted narratives, including downplaying rioting, painting Trump&#8217;s actions as racist while lauding Democrats, and promoting leftwing talking points on &#8220;systemic racism&#8221; and the pandemic.
1. CNN: “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests After Police Shootings” 
While not quite a traditional headline, CNN’s risible title for an on-air graphic amid the Kenosha protests and riots seemed better suited for The Onion or The Babylon Bee. It’s as though CNN “out-spun” itself in its obvious and vain attempt to present the mayhem which continues to this day as “mostly peaceful.”
“CNN has been mocked on Twitter,” <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/cnn-mocked-calling-kenosha-riots-fiery-mostly-peaceful-protests-1527997">Newsweek</a> reported, “for displaying a chyron that said protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin were ‘fiery but mostly peaceful’ as its correspondent on the ground reported while standing in front of burning cars.”
2. Associated Press: “Trump downplays legacy of slavery in appeal to white voters”
<a href="https://apnews.com/afdfa0b3454d5a7fdf544158ee1f5e1f">The Associated Press</a> sought to repudiate President Trump’s assertion that “America’s founding ‘set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.’”
Such a statement is apparently rife with controversy, according to The Associated Press, because “he did not mention the 246 years of slavery in America, including the 89 years it was allowed to continue after the colonies declared independence from England. Nor did the president acknowledge the ongoing fight against racial injustice and police brutality, which has prompted months of protests this year.”
According to many in the media and elsewhere, any praise or homage to our nation, even with its complex history, ought to be immediately condemned as “racist” no matter what, especially if it’s coming from Trump. This is not reporting. This is manufacturing a false narrative out of thin air.
3. Washington Post: “Coronavirus kills far more Hispanic and Black children than white youths, CDC study finds”
The headline boldly states that a disproportionate number of minority children are dying from coronavirus. <a href="blank">The article</a> even opens with an equally alarming statement to reinforce the headline: 
“The coronavirus is killing Hispanic, Black and American Indian children at a much higher number than their White peers, according to federal statistics released Thursday.” 
When such sensationalism is removed from the actual data, the supposed evidence is not only suspect, it’s statistically meaningless. Here are the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937e4.htm?s_cid=mm6937e4_w">CDC’s findings,</a> cited in the Post’s piece: 
“Among 121 SARS-CoV-2–associated deaths among persons aged &lt;21 years reported to CDC by July 31, 2020, 12 (10%) were infants and 85 (70%) were aged 10–20 years. Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native persons accounted for 94 (78%) of these deaths; 33% of deaths occurred outside of a hospital.”
This piece attempts to present roughly .06% of reported fatalities attributed to the coronavirus as evidence of “systemic racism.” Basing such a provocative conclusion on such scarce data is nothing other than disingenuous journalism at play.
4. CNN: “Thank God for Andrew Cuomo”
In a now darkly ironic <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/opinions/thank-god-for-andrew-cuomo-filipovic/index.html">March editorial piece</a>, Jill Filipovic lionized Governor Cuomo in no uncertain terms, stating:
“In the midst of a pandemic, Americans need real leadership — and the New York governor has risen to the occasion. In the face of a feckless, reckless president spreading disinformation by the day, Cuomo has stepped up, using his platform to share accurate public health information and demand action. It makes him, disturbingly, an outlier. And it reveals how the growing right-wing cult of Trumpism is endangering all Americans.”
The fact is, Cuomo’s mishandling of the pandemic has directly lead to, at this moment, the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/">second-highest death toll among states</a>. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/20/andrew-cuomo-new-york-coronavirus-catastrophe">The Guardian</a> reported, Cuomo was “no hero” and “should be one of the most loathed officials in America right now.” 
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/cuomo-distorts-covid-record-at-dnc">City Journal</a> states Cuomo’s abysmal pandemic record quite succinctly: 
“New York State has seen about 34,000 Covid-related deaths, out of a national total of 170,000, which means that New Yorkers have died at a rate close to four times what would be expected based on their proportion of the U.S. population. Moreover, Cuomo bears considerable responsibility for at least 6,700 deaths in care facilities, and possibly many thousands more, because of his health commissioner’s mandate in March that nursing homes admit Covid patients after being discharged from hospital. It’s widely acknowledged that this was the catalyst of the spread of Covid-19 through facilities left under-equipped to deal with the disease. When the nursing homes begged Albany for masks, Cuomo dismissively remarked that &#8216;it’s not our job&#8217; to supply private facilities with protective equipment.”
<div id="attachment_115633" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-115633" class="wp-image-115633" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-300x169.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 26: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds his daily press briefing at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the first day that traders are allowed back onto the historic floor of the exchange on on May 26, 2020 in New York City. While only a small amount of traders will be returning at this time, those that do will have to take temperature checks and wear face masks at all times while on the floor. The Dow rose over 600 points in morning trading as investors see economic activity in America picking up" width="800" height="450" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Andrew-Cuomo-3-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Spencer Platt/Getty Images</div>
5. CNN: “Kansas City Chiefs fans booed players during a moment of unity against racism”
The intention of this title seems to indicate an attempt to malign an entire fan base solely along political lines. However, the content of the piece itself states that the intention of the booing was “unclear” and goes on to contradict the actual headline: 
“Boos, lasting about 5 to 10 seconds, could be heard from the crowd as the Chiefs linked arms and the Texans made their way to the middle of the field to join them. It&#8217;s unclear if the fans were booing the Texans for not being on the field for the National Anthem or if the boos were directed at the moment of unity. The crowd eventually applauded once the chain was formed, and the teams then broke apart to get ready for kickoff.”
In reality, fans began cheering during the climactic moment of unity. Beyond being a simple example of a sensationalized story, this is an inherently nonsensical report that appears to be fueled by political motives.
6. Bloomberg CityLab: “How Structural Racism is Linked to Higher Rates of Police Violence”
As <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/how-structural-racism-is-linked-to-police-violence">this particular title</a> suggests, the theory that implicit bias and racism are at the root of recent police shootings is now being presented as an assumed premise: 
“The question that typically pops up when black people are killed by police is whether racism had anything to do with it. Many studies do show that racism plays a part in causing police to <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/02/is-reverse-racism-among-police-real/513503/">pull the trigger more quickly on black suspects</a>. That’s usually because of the implicit racial biases of the individual police officer involved. Law enforcement officials often try to rule out racism by arguing that you can’t tell what’s in a officer’s heart when these killings happen.”
Such assertions remain rooted in the emotional, dogmatically assuming the novel psychological theory of implicit bias – a theory that still doesn’t hold up under critical scrutiny.  The implicit association test (IAT) used to gauge implicit bias is very much a pseudoscience, according to <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.html">The Cut</a>, but one that has become so pervasive and popular, it’s readily accepted as fact:  
“A pile of scholarly work, some of it published in top psychology journals and most of it ignored by the media, suggests that the IAT falls far short of the quality-control standards normally expected of psychological instruments. The IAT, this research suggests, is a noisy, unreliable measure that correlates far too weakly with any real-world outcomes to be used to predict individuals’ behavior — even the test’s creators have now admitted as such. The history of the test suggests it was released to the public and excitedly publicized long before it had been fully validated in the rigorous, careful way normally demanded by the field of psychology. In fact, there’s a case to be made that Harvard shouldn’t be administering the test in its current form, in light of its shortcomings and its potential to mislead people about their own biases. There’s also a case to be made that the IAT went viral not for solid scientific reasons, but simply because it tells us such a simple, pat story about how racism works and can be fixed: that deep down, we’re all a little — or a lot — racist, and that if we measure and study this individual-level racism enough, progress toward equality will ensue.”
If we consider the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/khan-in-so-many-instances-of-police-brutality-far-greater-complexities-are-at-play-than-racism">many recent white victims</a> of police brutality, it becomes nearly impossible to find a causal link between police brutality and racism. For example, Arizona officers responding to a call killed <a href="https://www.azfamily.com/news/phoenix-police-video-shows-officer-shooting-and-killing-ahwatukee-man/article_c22550a6-c6d7-11ea-a012-c7f514e61a50.html">Ryan Whitaker</a> in his home in May of 2020. His death was similar to the death of Breonna Taylor. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/salt-lake-city-police-shoot-boy-autism-trnd/index.html">Linden Cameron</a>, a 13-year-old autistic boy, was recently shot by police in Utah. Both shootings, however, have yet to receive any public outcry or protests. 
<div id="attachment_126857" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-126857" class="wp-image-126857" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-300x200.jpg" alt="MANHATTAN, NY - JUNE 30: Protesters signs hang on the gate in City Hall Park during the Occupy City Hall protests that say, &quot;Defund NYPD&quot; and &quot;BLM&quot; with NYPD police officers in the background. Earlier in the day, one of the members of Warriors in the Garden was beaten and arrested by police. This was part of the Occupy City Hall effort which has seen protesters camping out for days until today where New York City Council is to vote on the NYPD Budget. Protesters continue taking to the streets across America and around the world after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer Derek Chauvin that was kneeling on his neck during for eight minutes, was caught on video and went viral. During his arrest as Floyd pleaded, &quot;I Can't Breathe&quot;. The protest are attempting to give a voice to the need for human rights for African American's and to stop police brutality against people of color. They are also protesting deep-seated racism in America. Many people were wearing masks and observing social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Photographed in the Manhattan Borough of New York on June 30, 2020, USA. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images)" width="800" height="533" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/07/GettyImages-1253573277-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images</div>
7. Nature: “Stillbirth rate rises dramatically during pandemic”
The implication of this particular headline, published by one of our most esteemed scientific journals, is that COVID-19 may now be responsible for stillborn deaths. It brings to mind <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2017/12/14/zika-babies-two-years/">the Zika virus</a> that lead to all sorts of grave complications for newborns. In effect, it’s the kind of fear-mongering which continues to drive the pandemic narrative. 
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02618-5">The piece</a> opens with an alarming statement: 
“A slew of studies from around the world has reported a disturbing trend: since the coronavirus pandemic started, there has been a significant rise in the proportion of pregnancies ending in stillbirths, in which babies die in the womb.”
In fact, lockdowns and inadequate healthcare resulting from COVID-19 restrictions are leading to a rise in stillborn deaths, according to the piece itself: 
 “Researchers say that in some countries, pregnant women have received less care than they need because of lockdown restrictions and disruptions to health care. As a result, complications that can lead to stillbirths were probably missed, they say.”
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KHAN: 7 Misleading Headlines That Pushed Leftist Narratives

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In the age of Trump, headlines have become even more polarizing and, worse, the media has increasingly employed them with a deliberate intent to deceive.

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The Associated Press has accused President Donald Trump of appealing to white voters and downplaying the legacy of slavery in the United States during his Constitution Day speech at the National Archives on Thursday.
Under the headline “Trump downplays legacy of slavery in appeal to white voters,” AP <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200918220526/https://apnews.com/afdfa0b3454d5a7fdf544158ee1f5e1f">reported</a> that the president’s speech Thursday amounted to “a defense of white culture and a denunciation of Democrats, the media and others who he accused of trying to indoctrinate school children and shame their parents’ ‘whiteness.’”
Furthermore, AP reported:
<blockquote>He also argued that America’s founding “set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.” But he did not mention the 246 years of slavery in America, including the 89 years it was allowed to continue after the colonies declared independence from England. Nor did the president acknowledge the ongoing fight against racial injustice and police brutality, which has prompted months of protests this year.</blockquote>
AP did not, however, report that Trump decried the effects of teaching minority children about Critical Race Theory  — an ideology that operates under a distinctly different definition of racism and contends that racism is a permanent feature of American society — as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-rips-into-critical-race-theory-says-teaching-it-to-kids-a-form-of-child-abuse">especially harmful and a form of child abuse</a>.
“This is offensive and outrageous to Americans of every ethnicity,” said Trump of a recent incident at the Smithsonian, which released a digital pamphlet calling “hard work” and “individualism” racially white concepts. He added: “It is especially harmful to children of minority backgrounds who should be uplifted, not disparaged. Teaching this horrible doctrine is a form of child abuse in the truest sense of those words.”
The Associated Press also reported that Trump “cracked down on anti-racism training sessions in the federal government.” What the Trump administration actually did was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-bans-federal-money-from-funding-far-left-anti-american-critical-race-theory">prohibit trainings that teach Critical Race Theory</a>, white privilege, that America is inherently racist or evil, or that “any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.”
The reporting echoes the newswire’s coverage of Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech, in which the president defended American values and principles. At the time, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and The New York Times all characterized Trump’s speech as divisive, with the Post and the Times both referring to it as “dark.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Breaking News: President Trump delivered a dark and divisive speech at Mount Rushmore, leaning into the culture wars and barely mentioning the pandemic.<a href="https://t.co/03WOgau4Zx">https://t.co/03WOgau4Zx</a>
— The New York Times (@nytimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1279262749265199104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-at-mount-rushmore-left-wing-cultural-revolution-is-designed-to-overthrow-the-american-revolution">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time, Trump’s speech featured, in part, an unapologetic defense of the presidents carved into Mount Rushmore, describing them as “American giants” whose “deeds unleashed the greatest leap in human advancement the world has ever known.”
Trump also called on Americans during the Rushmore speech to defend America from those who seek to destroy the country’s values, describing it as time “to speak up loudly and strongly and powerfully, and defend the integrity of our country.”
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President Trump Speaks At White House Conference On American History

Associated Press: Trump Downplayed ‘Legacy Of Slavery In Appeal To White Voters’ In Constitution Day Speech

Donald Trump

Slavery

The Associated Press has accused President Donald Trump of appealing to white voters and downplaying the legacy of slavery in the United States during his

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The Associated Press often sets the way people use language. For instance, the international wire service recently decided that the word &#8220;internet&#8221; would no longer be uppercase.
The news agency, which puts out an annual &#8220;style book&#8221; listing how words are to be used, also recently said that the word &#8220;black&#8221; should be written as &#8220;Black&#8221; when referring to African Americans. But on Monday, the AP said the word &#8220;white&#8221; should not be uppercased when referring to Caucasian people.
&#8220;The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color,&#8221; the <a href="https://apnews.com/7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f">AP reported</a>.
“We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president for standards, said in a memo to staff on Monday. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
The AP reported that publications like the Columbia Journalism Review, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune have recently said they would capitalize Black, but have not done so for white. “White doesn’t represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does,” The New York Times said on July 5.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) says &#8220;white&#8221; should be capitalized, too. &#8220;CNN, Fox News and The San Diego Union-Tribune said they will give white the uppercase, noting it was consistent with Black, Asian, Latino and other ethnic groups. Fox cited NABJ’s advice,&#8221; the AP wrote.
<blockquote>Some proponents believe that keeping white lowercase is actually anti-Black, saying it perpetuates the idea that whites are the default race.
“Whiteness remains invisible, and as is the case with all power structures, its invisibility does crucial work to maintain its power,” wrote Eve Ewing, a sociologist of race and education at the University of Chicago who said she’s changed her mind on the issue over the past two years.</blockquote>
Language has been a battleground of late. For instance, while the Oxford Dictionary defines the phrase “low-hanging fruit” as “a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort,&#8221; a college professor says the term is racist.
“For African-Americans, if you say ‘low-hanging fruit,’ we think lynching,” said Mae Hicks-Jones, an adjunct faculty member of Elgin Community College in Illinois.
“Grandfathered” is also racist, she said, according to a report this week in The College Fix. To Hicks-Jones, the phrase “grandfathered in” is reminiscent of a grandfather clause, which privileged white people’s right to vote over that of black people during the Jim Crow South.
Then there’s the “Masters” golf tournament. Rob Parker last month wrote a Deadline piece headlined “We’ve Lived with ‘The Masters’ Name Long Enough.”
“Augusta National was built on grounds that were once a slave plantation and was the property of a slave owner. And according to a 2019 New Yorker piece about the course, it’s believed that enslaved Blacks were housed on the property,” he wrote.
You’ll be surprised to hear there’s more.
Even food brands are being targeted. Quaker Oats announced last month that it would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/quaker-oats-announces-it-is-changing-name-of-aunt-jemima-due-to-racial-stereotype">remove Aunt Jemima</a> from its 133-year-old brand of syrup and pancake mix, while the company that makes Cream of Wheat said that it’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uncle-bens-rice-to-take-black-man-off-box-cream-of-wheat-mulls-removing-black-chef">reviewing its brand and packaging</a>, which features a black chef holding up a piping hot bowl of cereal.
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NCAA Men&#8217;s Final Four &#8211; Previews

The Associated Press Says It Will Capitalize ‘Black’ But Not ‘White’

Race

The Associated Press often sets the way people use language. For instance, the international wire service recently decided that the word &quot;internet&quot; would

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The 2020 Associated Press Stylebook is being published soon, and the AP is not humble about what it represents. &#8220;The style of The Associated Press is the gold standard for news writing,&#8221; they boast, and the book offers a sturdy path to the AP&#8217;s &#8220;famous&#8221; brand of &#8220;clarity and professionalism.&#8221;
In recent years, conservatives have seen the AP&#8217;s Stylebook squad tilt perilously to the left, forgoing clarity for politically correct muddiness. In 2017, they scrapped the &#8220;gender binary,&#8221; since male and female divisions are just too insensitive. &#8220;Not all people fall under one of two categories for sex or gender, according to leading medical organizations, so avoid references to both, either or opposite sexes or genders as a way to encompass all people.&#8221;
On May 8, they took their torches to the term &#8220;mistress&#8221; as hopelessly outdated. &#8220;We now say not to use the archaic and sexist term &#8216;mistress&#8217; for a woman in a long-term sexual relationship with, and financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else. Instead, use an alternative like companion or lover on first reference. Provide details later.”
Notice the AP&#8217;s linguistic leap to banish any troublesome moral aspersions on a woman for cheating with a married man. It&#8217;s &#8220;archaic&#8221; to lament breaking God&#8217;s commandments, but then, the AP would probably scold you for using your archaic Bible to describe God as a &#8220;he.&#8221;
Their assumption about sexism is that the cheating husband doesn&#8217;t get such a discouraging term. They forget terms like &#8220;womanizer,&#8221; or in the case of financial support, a &#8220;kept man.&#8221; But there are plenty of descriptors without gender — paramour, philanderer, cheater or just sinner.
In the real world, much more callous or loaded words are used, from &#8220;trollop&#8221; to &#8220;side piece.&#8221; You can&#8217;t say &#8220;whore&#8221; or &#8220;prostitute&#8221; because the left prefers the term &#8220;sex worker.&#8221; It&#8217;s as desperate as calling a smoker a &#8220;cigarette enthusiast.&#8221;
Using the word &#8220;lover&#8221; is too positive. Cheating men and women are certainly not demonstrating &#8220;love&#8221; to the spouses and children betrayed. &#8220;Love&#8221; should mean something more grounded and permanent than two hours in the back seat of a car or a motel room or under the president&#8217;s desk.
Some reporters prefer the term &#8220;romantically involved,&#8221; which connotes &#8220;romance&#8221; in betraying your marital vows. Adultery quite often leads to divorce and family breakdown, which means this kind of furtive &#8220;love&#8221; drags down the entire society.
A weasel word like &#8220;companion&#8221; is the opposite of the AP&#8217;s supposed clarity. Many &#8220;companions&#8221; aren&#8217;t sexual at all. One facetious Facebook commenter told the AP: &#8220;This is awesome. I&#8217;d never introduce my mistress to my wife, but I feel like she might be more accepting if I call her my companion.&#8221;
These guardians of style often reach for euphemisms when they feel like terms are dehumanizing. So, they joined the politically correct lobbies in demanding an end to the term &#8220;illegal immigrant,&#8221; and they lecture, &#8220;Avoid the dehumanizing collective noun &#8216;the homeless,&#8217; instead using constructions like homeless people, people without housing or people without homes.&#8221;
You can place them squarely on the left when they don&#8217;t mind socially distancing from unborn babies with the dehumanizing term &#8220;fetus,&#8221; which they teach is &#8220;preferred in many cases, including almost all scientific and medical uses,&#8221; not to mention the legislative uses.
The Stylebook cops may describe themselves as seeking &#8220;nonjudgmental&#8221; terms, but declaring things &#8220;archaic&#8221; or &#8220;sexist&#8221; is quite obviously judgmental. They seek to overthrow a dated orthodoxy only to impose a new one, which is just as rigid. They might interject that it&#8217;s &#8220;rigidly compassionate.&#8221; But &#8220;clarity&#8221; in writing is nowhere to be found.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Journalists.

GRAHAM: AP Says Ditch The ‘Mistress’

Media

The 2020 Associated Press Stylebook is being published soon, and the AP is not humble about what it represents. &quot;The style of The Associated Press is the

GRAHAM: AP Says Ditch The ‘Mistress’ | The Daily Wire

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Last week, The Associated Press elicited mockery when it declared &#8220;mistress&#8221; to be a sexist, archaic term more deserving of dignified phrasing like &#8220;companion&#8221; or &#8220;lover.&#8221;
“We now say not to use the archaic and sexist term &#8220;mistress&#8221; for a woman in a long-term sexual relationship with, and financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else. Instead, use an alternative like companion or lover on first reference. Provide details later,” the AP Stylebook <a href="https://twitter.com/APStylebook/status/1258768634169757697" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tweeted</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We now say not to use the archaic and sexist term &quot;mistress&quot; for a woman in a long-term sexual relationship with, and financially supported by, a man who is married to someone else. Instead, use an alternative like companion or lover on first reference. Provide details later.
&mdash; APStylebook (@APStylebook) <a href="https://twitter.com/APStylebook/status/1258768634169757697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The debate over the word &#8220;mistress&#8221; has been circulating in the halls of left-wing conversation circles in recent years. In an article for HuffPost last year, Emily Peck <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mistress-is-a-sexist-word-stop-lauren-sanchez-jeff-bezos_n_5c644b72e4b07115222c6ad9">argued</a> that the word needs to die a natural death:
<div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec">
<blockquote>It’s a loaded term, meant to suggest that a woman is subordinate to the man with whom she’s having a relationship. The word also implies that her behavior is immoral.</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec">
“It is clearly a red-flag word,” said Soraya Chemaly, the director of the Women’s Media Center. “It implies this woman is operating outside the parameters of what is socially acceptable. That she might be morally questionable because she’s breaking the rules.”
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="7" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec">
<blockquote>Since there’s no male equivalent for mistress, the implication is it’s OK for the guy to go outside his marriage ― it’s normal, doesn’t even require a new term.
Mistress is one of a parcel of terms ― slut, spinster ― that serve to dehumanize, objectify and subjugate, notes Chemaly, who recently published “Rage Becomes Her,” an exploration of women’s anger throughout history.</blockquote>
</div>
As noted by Fox News, the suggestion that &#8220;Mistress&#8221; should be treated in a more dignified fashion was roundly trolled online as people suggested words to use in its place, such as &#8220;homewrecker&#8221; or &#8220;adulterer.&#8221;
&#8220;I think an alternative like Homewrecker fits quite nicely,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1258871286018846725?s=20">tweeted</a> Robby Starbuck.
&#8220;How about side piece, kept woman, concubine, shack job, goomah, homewrecker or Lisa Page for short?&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyBrunoShow/status/1258895747854077952?s=20">tweeted</a> Tony Bruno.
&#8220;Seems less accurate. Does someone at AP have a mistress who got huffy over the term?&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/johnhawkinsrwn/status/1258913804693487616?s=20">tweeted</a> John Hawkins.
&#8220;I didn’t realize we needed to consult [AP] for guidance on how we are allowed to speak. You’re kidding, right? This is some sort of a joke to lighten the mood after General Flynn was vindicated and the Russia hoax has been even more exposed?&#8221; said one Twitter user. 
&#8220;Mistress is used quite properly. It’s intended to be tied to gender. That’s the whole point of the word, it describes something in detail, so it can be differentiated from other phenomena. This is the foundation of words and language,&#8221; said another user.
&#8220;&#8216;Companion&#8217;? &#8216;Lover&#8217;? It isn&#8217;t sexist to say both parties involved in such an arrangement are skeevy moral cripples. Couples who publicly refer to each other as &#8216;lovers&#8217; weird me out. An acquaintance once introduced me to his girlfriend as his &#8216;lover&#8217;. I laughed at loud,&#8221; tweeted another.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Hackers Release Confidential Member Information From The Ashley Madison Infidelity Website

Associated Press Declares ‘Mistress’ A Sexist, Archaic Word, Gets Trolled Online.

Feminism

Last week, The Associated Press elicited mockery when it declared &quot;mistress&quot; to be a sexist, archaic term more deserving of dignified phrasing like

Associated Press Declares ‘Mistress’ A Sexist, Archaic Word, Gets Trolled Online. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-declares-mistress-a-sexist-archaic-word-gets-trolled-online/

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Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager who was sentenced to three years in prison for financial crimes, has been released from prison due to health concerns relating to the coronavirus.
The Associated Press <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/13/paul-manafort-released-from-prison-due-to-virus-concerns-254532">reported</a> that Manafort was released to home confinement due to his age – he’s 71 – and prior health conditions, which made him vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. Manafort was hospitalized in December for a heart-related condition, the AP reported.
The AP, however, ignored the real reason Manafort was in prison in the first place, connecting his conviction to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. The closest the AP came to admitting Manafort’s conviction had nothing to do with Russian collusion was a single sentence which read, “New York prosecutors have accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application.”
Instead, the AP repeatedly tied Manafort’s conviction to the Mueller investigation.
“Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s onetime presidential campaign chairman who was convicted as part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation, has been released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement due to concerns about the coronavirus, his lawyer said Wednesday,” read the articles lede.
The article then refers to his “conviction” without noting that it was for financial crimes that occurred before he was a member of Trump’s 2016 campaign and included defrauding banks and the government, as well as tax evasion.
Here’s the lengths to which the AP ignored the real reason behind Manafort’s conviction:
<blockquote>Manafort was among the first people to be charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which examined possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign.
Manafort, who was prosecuted in two federal courts, was convicted by a jury in federal court in Virginia in 2018 and later pleaded guilty in Washington. He was sentenced last March and was immediately hit with state charges in New York that could put him outside the president’s power to pardon. New York prosecutors have accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application.</blockquote>
Usually, news outlets report what crimes warranted the convictions. Manafort was charged with the financial crimes (he was accused of failing to pay millions of dollars of taxes on money he made overseas) as well as violations of foreign lobbying lies and tampering with a witness during Mueller’s investigation. He pleaded guilty to the tampering and foreign lobbying violations.
These aren’t mentioned in the AP report.
While Manafort was released, another former Trump associate who was charged during the Mueller investigation, Michael Cohen, had his release <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-thought-hed-be-released-early-over-coronavirus-fears-that-deal-has-been-rescinded">from prison rescinded</a>. Cohen was set to finish his sentence on home confinement, but that was denied at the last minute. Cohen pleaded guilty to numerous charges including violating campaign finance violations during his work for Trump’s 206 campaign and obstructing Congress’ investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election (a special counsel investigation found no collusion).
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort Released From Prison Amid Coronavirus Concerns, Associated Press Ignores Real Reason He Was Convicted

Coronavirus

Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager who was sentenced to three years in prison for financial crimes, has been released from

Paul Manafort Released From Prison Amid Coronavirus Concerns, Associated Press Ignores Real Reason He Was Convicted | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/paul-manafort-released-from-prison-amid-coronavirus-concerns-associated-press-ignores-real-reason-he-was-convicted/

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On Saturday, the Associated Press published an <a href="https://apnews.com/aec7beb03e9e0e0e6e3c58111293e0ea">article</a> on the Tara Reade sexual assault allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden. The headline read: “AP Exclusive: Harassment, assault absent in Biden complaint.”
The piece states that Reade’s alleged report to the congressional personnel office “did not explicitly accuse [Biden] of sexual assault or harassment.”
<div id="attachment_108773" style="width: 2508px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-108773" class="size-full wp-image-108773" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA.jpeg" alt="Associated Press headline." width="2498" height="389" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA.jpeg 2498w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA-300x47.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA-1024x159.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA-768x120.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA-1536x239.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/E6B2B5DB-B0BA-43E4-85C8-118A7E2F74AA-2048x319.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2498px) 100vw, 2498px" />Screenshot via Associated Press</div>
During an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, Reade reportedly said: “I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable. &#8230; I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”
The AP continues:
<blockquote>Reade said she described her issues with Biden but “the main word I used – and I know I didn’t use sexual harassment – I used ‘uncomfortable.’ And I remember ‘retaliation.’”</blockquote>
The article goes on to note an interview it conducted last year with Reade when she came forward to accuse Biden of inappropriate behavior: “Reade says she was reluctant to share details of the assault during her initial conversations with reporters over a year ago because she was scared of backlash, and was still coming to terms with what happened to her.”
The Associated Press also put out a tweet with the story, which reads: “Tara Reade says a Senate report she filed against Joe Biden didn’t refer to sexual harassment or assault.”
In response to the tweet, Reade sent out the following:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is false. <a href="https://t.co/w4yXGI1DQm">https://t.co/w4yXGI1DQm</a>
— taratweets ( Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReadeAlexandra/status/1256672559396864001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
The Daily Wire reached out to Reade for clarification, but we have not received a reply as of publication. However, in the hours after Reade’s tweet went live, the Associated Press changed the title of the article to: “Reade: ‘I didn’t use sexual harassment’ in Biden complaint.”
At the bottom of the newly-titled piece, an editor’s note states: “The headline of this story was changed for clarity and to incorporate a direct quote from Reade.”
<div id="attachment_108774" style="width: 1947px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-108774" class="size-full wp-image-108774" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210.jpeg" alt="Associated Press headline." width="1937" height="255" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210.jpeg 1937w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210-300x39.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210-1024x135.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210-768x101.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/5E672305-0098-4539-99FB-12B1F6607210-1536x202.jpeg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1937px) 100vw, 1937px" />Screenshot via Associated Press</div>
While it’s difficult to know without direct clarification what Reade was referring to when she sent out her tweet, it’s possible that she was troubled by the phrasing of the headline and tweet from the Associated Press, the language of which was vague in such a way as to potentially convey the idea that Reade didn’t actually accuse Biden of harassment or assault.
However, though Reade might not have used the words “harassment” or “assault” in her alleged complaint, what she described as Biden’s behavior during her interview with the Associated Press could be interpreted as harassment without the direct usage of the word itself.
As of publication, the AP Politics Twitter account hasn’t deleted the tweet, which still displays the original title of the piece, as well as the caption. The tweet has approximately 1,200 “likes,” and has been retweeted more than 760 times.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tara Reade says a Senate report she filed against Joe Biden didn’t refer to sexual harassment or assault. <a href="https://t.co/Z3W4yjjaTz">https://t.co/Z3W4yjjaTz</a>
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/1256646184178978816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
On March 25, journalist and podcaster Katie Halper released an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woman-accuses-joe-biden-of-sexual-assault">audio clip</a> in which Tara Reade, a former staffer to then-Senator Joe Biden, accused the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee of having sexually assaulted her in 1993.
The story initially gained little traction outside of right-leaning news outlets, but over time, the mainstream press slowly began to cover it. On Friday, more than a month after the Harper interview went live, Biden himself appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-52499900">personally address</a> the allegations for the first time.
Biden also published a statement on Medium in which he claimed that the allegations “aren’t true,” and that it “never happened.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-joe-biden-issues-first-statement-on-tara-reade-sexual-assault-allegation">READ: Joe Biden Issues First Statement On Tara Reade Sexual Assault Allegation</a>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Joe Biden

Biden Accuser Tara Reade On AP Headline And Tweet: ‘This Is False’

2020 Election

Sexual Assault

Tara Reade

On Saturday, the Associated Press published an article on the Tara Reade sexual assault allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden. The headline

Biden Accuser Tara Reade On AP Headline And Tweet: ‘This Is False’ | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-accuser-tara-reade-on-ap-headline-and-tweet-this-is-false/

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If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide or needs emotional support, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Someone is available 24/7 to take your call.
The Associated Press “fact checked” President Donald Trump after he said suicides rise during recessions. The fact check is wrong – but the truth is horribly depressing.
Trump said on Monday during one of his daily coronavirus press briefings that suicides may increase due to the economic hardships imposed on many by the coronavirus and the quarantine. It’s a tragic comment, and one that is hopefully wrong. The AP said Trump was wrong, but evidence suggests otherwise.
“People get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death. Probably and — I mean, definitely — would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about with regard to the virus,” Trump said at the briefing.
The AP said there was “no evidence that suicides will rise dramatically if nationwide social-distancing guidelines that have closed many businesses and are expected to trigger a spike in unemployment stay in place.” It spoke to a single expert at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Dr. Christine Moutier.
“It is not a foregone conclusion that we will see increased suicide rates,” Moutier said.
Of course, this is true, as one cannot fully predict the future. Moutier added that, historically, “we actually tend in most instances to see suicide rates diminish” during wars and natural disasters, the AP reported she said, suggesting it is due to society pulling “together during duress.”
But the coronavirus quarantine is not like a war or a natural disaster, it is more like the Great Depression and Great Recession. The AP acknowledge the Great Depression had an “even higher suicide rate” but said it “fell sharply with the onset of World War II.” We are in the Great Depression analogy, not the World War II analogy. The AP also pointed to – but didn’t link to – a study from 2017 purportedly finding “fewer suicides than had been expected during the Great Recession of 2007-2009.”
Reporter Giancarlo Sopo found multiple sources that show the opposite of what the AP claimed. A 2003 <a href="https://t.co/Hs3EfeUzCh?amp=1">study</a> found that the unemployed were two to three times more likely to commit suicide than the employed. A study from 2014 by researchers from the University of Oxford linked a “dramatic spike in suicides between 2008 and 2010” to the Great Recession, Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2014/06/12/more-than-10000-suicides-tied-to-economic-crisis-study-says/amp/?__twitter_impression=true">reported</a> at the time. Another <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/02/foreclosures-related-suicides-doubled-during-the-housing-crisis/385608/">study</a>, in 2015, found that suicides related to foreclosure and evictions doubled between 2005 and 2010 – during the housing crisit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/p0414_suiciderates.html">reported</a> in 2011 that suicide rates rose during recessions but fell during World War II and when the economy grew rapidly throughout the 90s, thanks largely to the onset of new technologies:
<ul>
<li>The overall suicide rate generally rose in recessions like the Great Depression (1929-1933), the end of the New Deal (1937-1938), the Oil Crisis (1973-1975), and the Double-Dip Recession (1980-1982) and fell in expansions like the WWII period (1939-1945) and the longest expansion period (1991-2001) in which the economy experienced fast growth and low unemployment.</li>
<li>The largest increase in the overall suicide rate occurred in the Great Depression (1929-1933)—it surged from 18.0 in 1928 to 22.1 (all-time high) in 1932 (the last full year in the Great Depression)—a record increase of 22.8% in any four-year period in history. It fell to the lowest point in 2000.</li>
<li>Suicide rates of two elderly groups (65-74 years and 75 years and older) and the oldest middle-age group (55-64) experienced the most significant decline from 1928 to 2007.</li>
</ul>
This is not just about pointing out that the AP was wrong to say Trump was incorrect. Suicide is a huge problem and must be considered as we continue to keep our economy shut down.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide or needs emotional support, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Someone is available 24/7 to take your call.

Trump

AP ‘Fact Check’ Knocks Trump For Accurately Saying Suicides Increase During Economic Hardships

Suicide

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide or needs emotional support, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

AP ‘Fact Check’ Knocks Trump For Accurately Saying Suicides Increase During Economic Hardships | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ap-fact-check-knocks-trump-for-accurately-saying-suicides-increase-during-economic-hardships/

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On Thursday, The Associated Press ran a story titled, “Most coronavirus patients recover, still anxiety, fear loom,” that <a href="https://apnews.com/926d2cb378b1aa00a56b93cf58b6ab54?utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">offered some comfort</a> to people who are terrified about the coronavirus, noting, “more than 60,000 people have recovered from the coronavirus spreading around the globe.”
AP acknowledged the virus “is especially troublesome for older adults and people with existing health problems … but for most of those affected, coronavirus creates only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with the vast majority recovering from the virus.&#8221;
AP noted, “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe ailments may take three to six weeks to rebound.”
AP spoke to various people who had suffered from the virus, including 89-year-old Eugene Campbell, who had been living at the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland where a number of people died. His son told AP that his father’s vital signs and heart rate are good, adding, “He may be the oldest person to recover from coronavirus.”
AP interviewed a few passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off Japan who said their symptoms were no worse than a regular cold or flu. One man said, “If I was home, I would be out doing everything I normally do.”
AP pointed out, “For some who’ve been quarantined, anxiety and dread that they will become stigmatized by friends, neighbors and co-workers have made them reluctant to acknowledge even the most modest health impact.”
On Thursday, the director of the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-mission-briefing-on-covid-19---12-march-2020">stated the organization’s reason for declaring a pandemic</a>:
<blockquote>We have made this assessment for two main reasons: first, because of the speed and scale of transmission. Almost 125,000 cases have now been reported to WHO, from 118 countries and territories. In the past two weeks, the number of cases reported outside China has increased almost 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has almost tripled.
The second reason is that despite our frequent warnings, we are deeply concerned that some countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it.
Let me be clear: describing this as a pandemic does not mean that countries should give up. The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous. On the contrary, we have to double down.</blockquote>
He noted, “This is a controllable pandemic. Countries that decide to give up on fundamental public health measures may end up with a larger problem, and a heavier burden on the health system that requires more severe measures to control.”
He added, “We’re working with the World Economic Forum and the International Chambers of Commerce to engage the private sector. We’re also working with FIFA. We’re working with our colleagues across the UN system to support countries to develop their preparedness and response plans, according to the 8 pillars. And more than 440 million U.S. dollars has now been pledged to WHO’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.”

Logos Of The World

Associated Press Points Out One Positive Note Amid Coronavirus Fears

On Thursday, The Associated Press ran a story titled, “Most coronavirus patients recover, still anxiety, fear loom,” that offered some comfort to people

Associated Press Points Out One Positive Note Amid Coronavirus Fears | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-points-out-one-positive-note-amid-coronavirus-fears/

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The days-long Democratic debacle in Iowa has forced the Associated Press to throw in the towel Thursday and declare no official winner in what was likely the state&#8217;s last first-in-the-nation caucuses. In some of his trademark presidential trolling, a newly &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-trump-takes-aim-at-romney-pelosi-at-national-prayer-breakfast">ACQUITTED</a>&#8221; Trump offered some trolling advice for the Democrats about who to blame.
&#8220;The Associated Press is unable to declare a winner of Iowa’s Democratic caucuses because of irregularities in this year&#8217;s process and the tight margin between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders,&#8221; AP announced on social media Thursday.
&#8220;Following the Iowa Democratic Party’s release of new results late Thursday night, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by two state delegate equivalents out of 2,152 counted. That is a margin of 0.09 percentage points,&#8221; <a href="https://apnews.com/4f9044fe46f551d397d48dd8ca3d58db?utm_medium=AP_Politics&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter">AP</a> explained in its &#8220;no winner&#8221;-announcing report. &#8220;However, there is evidence the party has not accurately tabulated some of its results, including those released late Thursday that the party reported as complete. The AP’s tabulation of the party’s results are at 99% of precincts reporting, with data missing from one of 1,765 precincts, among other issues.&#8221;
And that&#8217;s not all, AP explains. The Democratic National Committee has now ordered Iowa to recanvass the results, requiring them to recount and recalculate all the votes. Whether state Democratic officials choose to do so remains to be seen.
As a result, AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Sally Buzbee issued a statement Thursday announcing the it is simply &#8220;not possible&#8221; to determine a Democratic winner in Iowa. &#8220;The Associated Press calls a race when there is a clear indication of a winner. Because of a tight margin between former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders and the irregularities in this year’s caucus process, it is not possible to determine a winner at this point,&#8221; said Buzbee.
In response, Trump trollingly tweeted, &#8220;I think they should blame RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA again!&#8221;
&#8220;If they can’t count votes properly, how are they going to run U.S. HealthCare?&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I think they should blame RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA again! If they can’t count votes properly, how are they going to run U.S. HealthCare? <a href="https://t.co/JsNB8jvKoo">https://t.co/JsNB8jvKoo</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1225766149473947651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As AP notes, DNC Chairman Tom Perez issued a blistering statement on Thursday ordering the Iowa Democratic Party to clean up their mess.
&#8220;Enough is enough,&#8221; a frustrated Perez tweeted. &#8220;In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.
&mdash; Tom Perez (@TomPerez) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomPerez/status/1225468833458245632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Perez&#8217;s demand followed a party-embarrassing New York Times analysis finding that &#8220;more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses.&#8221;
&#8220;In some cases, vote tallies do not add up,&#8221; the Times reported on Thursday. &#8220;In others, precincts are shown allotting the wrong number of delegates to certain candidates. And in at least a few cases, the Iowa Democratic Party’s reported results do not match those reported by the precincts.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-poll-buttigieg-rockets-to-near-tie-with-sanders-in-new-hampshire-biden-plummets">NEW POLL: Buttigieg Rockets To Near-Tie With Sanders In New Hampshire; Biden Plummets</a>

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SOTU

AP Declares No Official Democrat Winner In Iowa; Trump Has Advice On Who To Blame

Democratic Party

Iowa

The days-long Democratic debacle in Iowa has forced the Associated Press to throw in the towel Thursday and declare no official winner in what was likely

AP Declares No Official Democrat Winner In Iowa; Trump Has Advice On Who To Blame | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ap-declares-no-official-democrat-winner-in-iowa-trump-has-advice-on-who-to-blame/

https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/02/Trump-2-scaled.jpg

The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/10/20/us/ap-us-trump-jr.html">Associated Press</a> stealthily edited an article on Sunday that defended Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, from attacks leveled against them from President Donald Trump&#8217;s son, Donald Trump Jr.
&#8220;You know what the difference between the Bidens and us are?&#8221; Trump Jr. said last week on Fox News. &#8220;We were international business people before politics and we gave up doing all new deals going forward. We didn&#8217;t become, magically, international business people because of our political position. We put that all aside. For years –&#8221;
The Associated Press highlighted other criticisms that Trump Jr. has launched against Biden and his son before writing:
<blockquote>Trump Jr. has pushed back, suggesting that his criticism of Hunter Biden was not for having a famous father, but rather for trading access to his father’s office to enrich himself. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.</blockquote>
A short time later, the Associated Press edited the report, without adding an update or correction on the article, writing [emphasis added]:
<blockquote>Trump Jr. has pushed back, suggesting that his criticism of Hunter Biden was not for having a famous father, but rather for trading access to his father’s office to enrich himself. Neither Biden has been charged with wrongdoing.</blockquote>
Biden&#8217;s presidential campaign has been on a downward trend over the past couple of months as questions about his fitness for office have increased and as Trump has rapidly escalated attacks on him over allegations of corruption surrounding his involvement with a Ukrainian gas company that employed his son, Hunter.
In 2018, &#8220;with video cameras rolling, Biden described how he threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin,&#8221; The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived">reported</a>. &#8220;The prosecutor he got fired was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into the natural gas firm Burisma Holdings that employed Biden’s younger son, Hunter, as a board member.&#8221;
“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours,&#8221; Biden recalled telling Poroshenko. &#8220;I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’”
“Well, son of a bitch, he got fired,&#8221; Biden continued.
Hunter Biden admitted during an interview last week that he has benefited from his father being vice president.
&#8220;If your last name wasn&#8217;t Biden, do you think you would&#8217;ve been asked to be on the board of Burisma?&#8221; Hunter Biden was asked during an interview with ABC News.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. I don&#8217;t know. Probably not,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that there&#8217;s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn&#8217;t Biden.&#8221;
&#8220;It is impossible for me to be on any boards without saying that I’m the son of the vice president of the United States — lots of things would not happen in my life if my name wasn’t Biden,&#8221; Hunter Biden added.

Associated Press Secretly Edits Article Defending Bidens From Trump Jr. Criticism

Hunter Biden

Ukraine

The Associated Press stealthily edited an article on Sunday that defended Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, from attacks

Associated Press Secretly Edits Article Defending Bidens From Trump Jr. Criticism | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-secretly-edits-article-defending-bidens-from-trump-jr-criticism/

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The Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday contained a whole lotta falsehoods, so many that the Associated Press decided to do a &#8220;fact check&#8221; on the numerous claims spouted by White House wannabes.
It wasn&#8217;t pretty.
There were claims that America has among the worst child poverty rates in the world, that the Obama-Biden administration didn&#8217;t &#8220;lock people up in cages&#8221; at the border, and that &#8220;every study&#8221; shows Medicare-for-all is &#8220;the most cost effective approach.&#8221;
Yeah, not so much, said the AP.
But the most egregious claim was that President Trump &#8220;inspired&#8221; — nay, &#8220;directed&#8221; — the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. The shooting at a Walmart happened on August 3, killing 22 people and wounding 24. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a possible hate crime.
Robert &#8220;Beto&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke, who is barely a blip on most polls, sought to tie Trump directly to the shooting.
“Everything that I’ve learned about resilience, I’ve learned from my hometown of El Paso, Texas, in the face of this act of terror, that was directed at our community, in large part by the president of the United States. It killed 22 people, and injured many more, we were not defeated by that. Nor were we defined by that,&#8221; the former Texas congressman said.
Julian Castro, another candidate who is far behind the field, went even further.
“Look, a few weeks ago a shooter drove 10 hours inspired by this president to kill people who look like me and people who look like my family,&#8221; the former U.S. housing secretary said.
&#8220;THE FACTS: Nobody has claimed that Trump &#8216;directed&#8217; the shooting, as O’Rourke suggested,&#8221; <a href="https://www.apnews.com/93c4326ad44843978ec761a9fbb10f60">the AP wrote</a>.
&#8220;It is difficult to know for sure what led the gunman to open fire inside a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. The suspect posted a manifesto online before the shooting that echoed Trump’s comments on immigration,&#8221; said the fact check. &#8220;The screed spoke of what the suspect called a &#8216;Hispanic invasion of Texas,&#8217; railed against immigrants and warned of an imminent attack. Nearly all of the victims had Latino last names.&#8221;
But then the AP wrote that the shooter &#8220;said his own views &#8216;predate Trump and his campaign for president.&#8217;”
That&#8217;s about as big a &#8220;false&#8221; as you&#8217;ll get from the left-leaning wire service.
On other whoppers told at the debate, the AP shot down Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; claim that “We have the highest child poverty rate of almost any country on Earth.” The AP said the U.S. &#8220;fared better than Russia, Chile, Spain, India, Turkey, Israel, Costa Rica, Brazil, South Africa and China,&#8221; then gave Sanders a primer on what poverty is, saying it is a &#8220;relative measure in which someone who is poor in one nation might look rather prosperous in another.&#8221;
Sanders made another iffy claim: “Every study done shows that ‘Medicare for All’ is the most cost-effective approach to providing health care to every man, woman and child in this country.”
&#8220;THE FACTS: Not exactly,&#8221; said the AP.
<blockquote>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report earlier this year that total spending under a single-payer system, such as the one proposed by Sanders, “might be higher or lower than under the current system depending on the key features of the new system.”</blockquote>
Those pesky details.
And on Joe Biden&#8217;s claim that the Obama-Biden administration &#8220;didn’t lock people up in cages, we didn’t separate families,&#8221; the AP was brutal.
&#8220;THE FACTS: His comment about cages is wrong,&#8221; said the wire service, adding that at the southern border, &#8220;the same enclosures were employed when Biden was vice president.&#8221;

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AP Grudgingly Admits That Despite Dem Claims, Trump Didn’t ‘Inspire’ El Paso Mass Shooting

Bernie Sanders

Beto O'Rourke

El Paso Shooting

Julian Castro

Medicare

The Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday contained a whole lotta falsehoods, so many that the Associated Press decided to do a &quot;fact check&quot; on the

AP Grudgingly Admits That Despite Dem Claims, Trump Didn&#039;t &#039;Inspire&#039; El Paso Mass Shooting | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ap-grudgingly-admits-despite-dem-claims-trump-joseph-curl/

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In a unanimous ruling that the <a href="https://apnews.com/7eef738596e9458eacb9f9015d7fd7fe">Associated Press</a> reports many people in the courtroom found &#8220;surprising,&#8221; a nine-member jury concluded on Monday that Katy Perry&#8217;s 2013 Grammy-winning song &#8220;Dark Horse&#8221; — which reached number one on Billboard&#8217;s Hot 100 in 2014 — improperly copied a Christian rap song produced four years earlier.
Marcus Gray and two co-authors, Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwu, first filed a complaint against Perry in 2014 alleging that &#8220;Dark Horse&#8221; borrowed substantially from the Christian rap song &#8220;Joyful Noise,&#8221; which Gray released in 2009 under his stage name &#8220;Flame.&#8221; In a Los Angeles courtroom Monday, the jury ruled unanimously in Gray&#8217;s favor.
The jury had signaled during its two days of deliberations that it might only find the defendants partly liable for copyright infringement, asking questions focused on &#8220;the notes and beats of the song, not its lyrics or recording,&#8221; AP notes. The jury&#8217;s questions also pointed to Perry personally avoiding any liability.
&#8220;But in a decision that left many in the courtroom surprised, jurors found all six songwriters and all four corporations that released and distributed the songs were liable, including Perry and Sarah Hudson, who wrote only the song’s words, and Juicy J, who only wrote the rap he provided for the song,&#8221; AP reports. Producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut were also found liable for their role in producing the beat of the song.
The jury agreed with the prosecution that almost half of Perry&#8217;s hit song featured both a beat and instrumental lines that were &#8220;substantially similar&#8221; to Gray&#8217;s rap song. Perry&#8217;s attorneys countered that the elements in question are too rudimentary to single out as copyright violations, and stressed that doing so will put other artists at risk.
In her closing arguments noted by AP, the singer&#8217;s lawyer stated, &#8220;They’re trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone.&#8221; The defense called a musical expert to testify to the simplicity of the musical patterns in the song.
But in the end, the arguments presented on behalf of Gray and his co-plaintiffs won the day. The jury determined that the beat and instrumental lines were complex and original enough to merit copyright protections.
&#8220;The case now goes to a penalty phase, where the jury will decide how much Perry and other defendants owe for copyright infringement,&#8221; AP reports.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/23766/katy-perry-indefinitely-banned-china-heres-why-amanda-prestigiacomo">Katy Perry Indefinitely Banned From China. Here&#8217;s Why.</a>

Jury: Katy Perry Copied Christian Song

Katy Perry

In a unanimous ruling that the Associated Press reports many people in the courtroom found &quot;surprising,&quot; a nine-member jury concluded on Monday that Katy

Jury: Katy Perry Copied Christian Song | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/jury-katy-perry-copied-christian-song-james-barrett/

New York Democrats kicked off 2019 by passing the most radical abortion bill in U.S. history, which erased the state&#8217;s limitation on abortion of 24 weeks, allowing abortion up until birth to protect the mother&#8217;s health, including mental health, and entirely removed abortion from the penal code. Other blue states are now following suit with their own aggresively &#8220;pro-choice&#8221; bills, citing the chance of the repeal of Roe v. Wade as the impetus.
On Wednesday, Rhode Island joined New York as another blue state that allows abortion up until birth if deemed &#8220;necessary for the health or life of the mother,&#8221; <a href="https://www.apnews.com/8158e5100cf94542b98215a3a58bc32b">The Associated Press</a> reports.
&#8220;The new law says the state will not restrict the right to an abortion prior to fetal viability or afterward if an abortion is necessary for the health or life of the mother,&#8221; AP reports. &#8220;It repeals older state abortion laws deemed unconstitutional by the courts. The bill was approved Wednesday in the Senate 21 to 17 after two hours of debate, then in the House 45 to 29 after a half hour debate.&#8221;
&#8220;Fundamentally this bill is about health care,&#8221; Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo said Wednesday when she signed the abortion bill into law. &#8220;It&#8217;s about protecting and providing access to health care for all the women of Rhode<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rhode-island"> </a>Island.&#8221;
Despite the significant impact of the bill&#8217;s legalization of abortion until birth if the &#8220;health&#8221; of the mother is deemed at risk, Rhode Island Democrats have played down the law, insisting it simply &#8220;preserves the status quo&#8221; by &#8220;codifying Roe v. Wade.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a difficult issue and there are good and principled people on both sides of the issue,&#8221; said Raimondo, the <a href="https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190619/governor-signs-abortion-rights-bill-into-law-following-house-senate-approval">Providence Journal</a> reports. &#8220;But in light of all the uncertainty in Washington, and frankly, around the country in many other states, there is great deal of anxiety that &#8230; a woman&#8217;s right to access reproductive health care is in danger. &#8230; The bill I am about to sign codifies Roe v. Wade. It preserves the status quo &#8230; that has existed in this state for [close to] 50 years.&#8221;
Democratic Sen. Erin Lynch Prata stressed that the bill is intended to &#8220;protect&#8221; the citizens of the state and echoed the governor&#8217;s talking point on Roe v. Wade. &#8220;This bill is this chamber and this legislature performing our responsibility to the citizens of the state of Rhode Island. It is our responsibility to protect our citizens. We are not putting our citizens in the hands of a changing Supreme Court,&#8221; said Lynch, in comments reported by AP.
Democrat Bridget Valverde defended the stripping away of protections for unborn children by stressing that birth can be a &#8220;traumatic experience&#8221; in addition to one of &#8220;beauty.&#8221; In the end, she maintained, abortion is really just about &#8220;health care&#8221; and being able to make choices about one&#8217;s own health.
Not all Democrats were on board with the abortion bill, however, including Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Crowley, Harold Metts, Frank Lombardo and Dominick Ruggerio, President of the Senate. Lombardo pleaded with his fellow Democrats to vote against the bill because &#8220;we are all children of God and I tell you, we will all be accountable to God for the position of influence that he has given to all of us,&#8221; the Providence Journal notes.
Republicans, meanwhile, attempted to amend the bill multiple times, but Democrats blocked their proposals, including a provision that triggered the bill only if Roe v. Wade is actually repealed and one requiring the administering of anesthesia to unborn children before ending their lives.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48545/nyc-make-history-abortion-funding-james-barrett">NYC To Be &#8216;First City In The Nation To Directly Fund Abortion&#8217;</a>

Rhode Island Passes ‘Abortion Until Birth’ Bill; Senator: ‘We Will All Be Accountable To God’

Abortion

New York Democrats kicked off 2019 by passing the most radical abortion bill in U.S. history, which erased the state&#039;s limitation on abortion of 24 weeks,

Rhode Island Passes &#039;Abortion Until Birth&#039; Bill; Senator: &#039;We Will All Be Accountable To God&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/rhode-island-passes-abortion-until-birth-bill-james-barrett/

On Thursday, the <a href="https://www.cjr.org/watchdog/doj-ap-phone-records.php">Columbia Journalism Review</a> reported on the results of a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Obama Justice Department&#8217;s attempts to crack down on leaks to reporters which reveal that the Obama administration&#8217;s actions against the press &#8220;were broader than previously known.&#8221;
The report &#8212; which begins by warning against the threat the Trump administration poses to the freedom of the press &#8212; presents an alarming picture of the previous administration&#8217;s efforts to surveil the press and track down sources of leaks (h/t <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/2019/05/23/cjr-obama-admin-surveillance-reporters-far-extensive-previously-known/">Ed Morrissey</a>).
CJR&#8217;s report, authored by Ramya Krishnan and Trevor Timm, is based on a highly redacted 59-page <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6023116-DOJ-Report-on-AP-Subpoenas-Controversy.html">report</a> &#8203;by the Justice Department&#8217;s Office of Professional Responsibility completed Dec. 9, 2014 and obtained via FOIA request by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Freedom of the Press Foundation (where Krishnan and Timm work, respectively).
&#8220;In 2013, the Justice Department launched a brazen attack on press freedom, issuing sweeping subpoenas for the phone records of the Associated Press and several of its reporters and editors as part of a leak investigation,&#8221; the authors report. While those subpoenas have long been understood as &#8220;a massive intrusion into newsgathering operations,&#8221; they note, the recently unearthed 2014 report reveals that the subpoenas targeting AP &#8220;told only part of the story.&#8221;
The Office of Professional Responsibility&#8217;s report on the Obama Justice Department&#8217;s subpoenas of AP phone records reveals that &#8220;the DOJ&#8217;s actions against the AP were broader than previously known, and that the DOJ considered subpoenaing the phone records of other news organizations, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and ABC News,&#8221; the authors explain. The report also reveals &#8220;how narrowly the DOJ interprets the Media Guidelines, the agency&#8217;s internal rules for obtaining reporters&#8217; data.&#8221;
The Obama DOJ&#8217;s targeting of the AP came in response to May 2012 reports containing classified information about the CIA&#8217;s thwarting of a Yemen-based bomb plot. In early 2013, the Deputy Attorney General approved requests by the DOJ to subpoena AP telephone records in an attempt to uncover reporters&#8217; sources, prompting AP to complain that the DOJ had violated the Media Guidelines about how narrowly subpoenas for reporters&#8217; phone records should be drawn.
Though the DOJ defended its broad subpoenas, the Office of Professional Responsibility&#8217;s report reveals that ethics lawyers were troubled enough by the sequence of events to look into it and found that the department&#8217;s handling of the investigation was more expansive than previously known. CJR reports:
<blockquote>
The report, which was submitted to then&#8211;Attorney General Eric Holder in 2013, reveals that the leak probe was broader than previously understood. It reveals, for example, that, while the Justice Department obtained telephone toll records for 21 telephone numbers, the agency in fact issued &#8220;30 subpoenas to obtain telephone toll records for 30 unique telephone numbers.&#8221; The report reveals that those 30 subpoenas were intended to target seven reporters and editors, and covered a period of six weeks spanning April 1, 2012 to May 10, 2012.
The report also shows that, at least at one stage of their investigation, Justice Department attorneys considered subpoenaing the records of The Washington Post, The New York Times, and ABC News. What&#8217;s more, the report strongly suggests that the attorneys went so far as to obtain &#8220;telephone numbers and other contact information&#8221; for reporters and editors at those organizations who had worked on articles about the Yemen bomb plot. The report records, however, that the attorneys ultimately decided against issuing additional subpoenas.
</blockquote>
The Office of Professional Responsibility ultimately attempts to downplay the DOJ&#8217;s actions in ways Krishnan and Timm describe as &#8220;disturbing.&#8221; &#8220;Disturbingly, the report does not come close to explaining why the subpoenas targeted the trunk lines of major AP offices&#8212;lines which could potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the AP&#8217;s newsgathering activities,&#8221; they stress. Instead, the report simply concludes by arguing that even though the DOJ targeted phone records that turned out to be unrelated to their investigation, &#8220;at the time when the subpoenas were sought, investigators had a factual basis for believing that those telephone numbers did relate to [AP] personnel.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.cjr.org/watchdog/doj-ap-phone-records.php">Read the Columbia Journalism Review&#8217;s full report here</a>.

Report: Obama Administration’s Actions Against Press Worse Than Previously Known

Barack Obama

Department of Justice

Eric Holder

Freedom of the Press

Obama Administration

On Thursday, the Columbia Journalism Review reported on the results of a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Obama Justice

Report: Obama Administration&#039;s Actions Against Press Worse Than Previously Known | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-obama-administrations-actions-against-press-james-barrett/

The left-leaning media realized, over the weekend, that it made an error in not being more skeptical of &#8220;Empire&#8221; star Jussie Smollett&#8217;s claim that he was attacked by two anti-gay, racist, Trump-supporting Chicago-dwellers back in late January. But instead of taking responsibility, journalists with high profile outlets like CNN and the Associated Press flipped the script, blaming conservatives for &#8220;pouncing&#8221; and &#8220;seizing&#8221; on Smollett&#8217;s misdeeds.
CNN&#8217;s Brian Stetler was the first to suggest that mainstream media approached the Smollett case with skepticism, telling viewers on Monday that it was &#8220;entertainment media&#8221; and other online blogs that ran with Smollett&#8217;s story of being attacked, not reputable sources like, say, CNN.
&#8220;I think it was mostly in the celebrity press and among activists and among Twitter people. I think it was a really careful reporting by news organizations. But it all gets lumped in together at the end of the day,&#8221; Stetler said.
Stetler was echoing <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/white-vox-writer-sneers-at-black-cnn-panelist-youre-an-expert-on-hate-crimes/">a similar point made on his &#8220;Reliable Sources&#8221; program Sunday</a>, captured by Mediaite, where he and guests claimed that no mainstream media sources fell for Smollett&#8217;s evidence-free, unqualified claims. Stetler seemed reticent to acknowledge that few media sources pursued the obvious flaws in Smollett&#8217;s original story, and that local Chicago media was left to pick up the case, pursuing Smollett&#8217;s claims and the Chicago Police Department&#8217;s response for weeks until the story blew wide open last Saturday.
&#8220;On CNN&#8217;s Reliable Sources, Vox&#8217;s Liz Plank emphatically made this point, saying she couldn&#8217;t find &#8216;a real reputable media outlet reporting&#8217; that the attack was motivated by MAGA or included a statement about &#8216;MAGA country,'&#8221; Mediaite discovered. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t find one,&#8221; Plank said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t confuse celebrity tweets with the media and the press.&#8221;
But Mediaite&#8217;s Caleb Howe, who captured Plank&#8217;s quote, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/online/did-the-media-jump-the-gun-on-the-jussie-smollett-story/">ultimately compiled a neat list</a> of mainstream media sources that adopted Smollett&#8217;s version of events, using terms like &#8220;attacked&#8221; and &#8220;beaten&#8221; without qualifying them with terms like &#8220;allegedly&#8221; or &#8220;claims.&#8221;
From Newsweek, for example:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8216;EMPIRE&#8217; STAR JUSSIE SMOLLETT VICTIM OF HOMOPHOBIC ATTACK 
By MAGA Supporters: &#8220;We&#8217;re told when he walked out, someone yelled, &#8216;Aren&#8217;t you that f***ot &#8216;Empire&#8217; n*****?'&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/k7wWrh3H86">https://t.co/k7wWrh3H86</a>
&#8212; Jason Lemon (@JasonLemon) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonLemon/status/1090288311824982016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
And Reuters.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This is heartbreaking &#8212; &#8216;Empire&#8217; Star Jussie Smollett Beaten in Homophobic Attack By MAGA Supporters <a href="https://t.co/ruP5fwD5Qz">https://t.co/ruP5fwD5Qz</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/TMZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TMZ</a>
&#8212; gina (@jeanuh_) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeanuh_/status/1090288249837404160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
The list, of course, includes CNN, which reported that Smollett had been &#8220;attacked,&#8221; and The Washington Post, where &#8220;Democracy Dies in Darkness.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Today, <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brianstelter</a>: &#8220;There was a rush to judgment&#8230; mostly in the celebrity press&#8230; activists&#8230; Twitter people. I think it was a really careful reporting by news organizations.&#8221; 
CNN, January 29: &#8220;Empire&#8221; actor victim of racist and homophobic assault&#8221;<a href="https://t.co/43cvuA5QZC">https://t.co/43cvuA5QZC</a> <a href="https://t.co/Hrar2tXWzI">pic.twitter.com/Hrar2tXWzI</a>
&#8212; Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerylBier/status/1097503016247267328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Right, <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brianstelter</a>, it&#8217;s not about the media.
Washington Post reported 3 times the attack happened without using allegedly. Great super bowl ad tho. <a href="https://t.co/tsznW28QL9">pic.twitter.com/tsznW28QL9</a>
&#8212; Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1097176305001525248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
The Associated Press jumped on the &#8220;conservatives pounce&#8221; bandwagon Monday morning wth a story of their own, acknowledging that Smollett&#8217;s story was quickly unraveling, but noting that while the developments left some &#8220;baffled&#8221; and &#8220;outraged,&#8221; conservatives &#8220;seized&#8221; on the moment to &#8230; well &#8230; the Associated Press doesn&#8217;t make that particularly clear.
&#8220;Skeptics, including conservative pundits Dinesh D&#8217;Souza and Tomi Lahren, seized on the doubts that have arisen,&#8221; the AP reported. &#8220;&#8216;And Libs wonder why we don&#8217;t believe their BS stories,&#8217; Lahren tweeted Saturday. On Sunday, she criticized those who used social media after the attack to push &#8216;the narrative (that) Trump supporters are racist homophobes.'&#8221;
So far, though, Smollett&#8217;s case seems to be falling apart faster than conservatives can adequately &#8220;seize&#8221; the moment, leaving it difficult to blame right-leaning media for the full affair. By Monday afternoon, new reports emerged, noting Smollett&#8217;s potential motive in staging the attack, and claiming that Smollett is now refusing to speak to Chicago police.

Conservatives SEIZED? Left-Leaning Media Runs Interference For Jussie Smollett

Brian Stelter

The left-leaning media realized, over the weekend, that it made an error in not being more skeptical of &quot;Empire&quot; star Jussie Smollett&#039;s claim that he was

Conservatives SEIZED? Left-Leaning Media Runs Interference For Jussie Smollett | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservatives-seized-left-leaning-media-runs-emily-zanotti/

The Associated Press was once one of the most venerated news services on the planet.
Not anymore.
On Halloween, the AP ran a story with this headline (screen grab below): &#8220;President Trump&#8217;s first 3 children received birthright citizenship.&#8221;
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In the original story, the first paragraph said this: &#8220;CLAIM: Ivana Trump wasn&#8217;t a citizen until 1988. She gave birth to Don Jr. in 1977, Ivanka in 1981 and Eric in 1984. Therefore they received birthright citizenship, which Trump wants to end.&#8221;
As background, Trump has announced he plans to end the &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; policy that grants automatic citizenship rights to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants or non-citizens. In an interview with Axios, Trump said &#8220;We&#8217;re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States&#8230; with all of those benefits. It&#8217;s ridiculous. It&#8217;s ridiculous. And it has to end.&#8221;
Almost immediately, the claim that some of his children were granted birthright citizenship emerged on social media.
The AP piece was part of a new program the wire service is doing jointly with Facebook. &#8220;The Associated Press reviewed this story after it was surfaced to third-party fact checkers as part of an initiative with Facebook to assess the accuracy of news content.&#8221;
Yes, the fact-checkers got the facts wrong.
At some later point, the AP changed the headline. &#8220;President Trump&#8217;s first 3 children did not receive birthright citizenship,&#8221; read the new headline. And the AP added this: &#8220;CORRECTION: The headline on this story has been corrected to show that Trump&#8217;s first three children did not receive birthright citizenship.&#8221;
But even in the corrected version, the AP deems the claim is a &#8220;mixture&#8221; of fact and fiction.
<blockquote>
AP&#8217;S ASSESSMENT: Mixture. It&#8217;s true that Ivana Trump was not a citizen until 1988, but the father of her children was a U.S. citizen and there would have been no special status needed to make them citizens.
</blockquote>
Now, if you can understand how this is a &#8220;mixture&#8221; you&#8217;re much smarter than we are. It says very clearly that there was &#8220;no special status needed to make them citizens,&#8221; so how is that a mixture? The AP went on to say:
<blockquote>
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a person can gain citizenship if &#8220;at least one parent, including an adoptive parent, is a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization.&#8221; If Trump were to take away birthright citizenship, the Trump children would still be citizens because their father is a U.S. citizen.
</blockquote>
The article &#8212; with the original headline &#8212; was posted on reddit.com and remains on the site. A site moderator said: &#8220;AP originally published this article with the title seen in this post. They&#8217;ve since edited the title, which now contradicts the original. The mod team is electing to leave the article up, as we always do when the poster uses the correct title at the time of submission. Please read the article for the most complete information.&#8221;
When someone clicks on the article, the headline says the opposite, that the Trump children did not receive birthright citizenship. Go figure.
The AP has lately been running fast and loose with facts. Just this week, the wire service wrote this headline: &#8220;Trump says media is &#8216;Enemy&#8217; after shooting, bomb plot.&#8221;
Here&#8217;s what Trump said:
&#8220;There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open &amp; obvious hostility &amp; report the news accurately &amp; fairly. That will do much to put out the flame&#8230;&#8221; the first tweet said. The second finished the thought: &#8220;&#8230;.of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!&#8221;
So Trump never &#8220;accused the media of being &#8216;the true Enemy of the People.&#8221; Instead, he said, &#8220;The Fake News Media&#8221; is &#8220;the true Enemy of the People.&#8221; There&#8217;s a big, big difference. But for some reason, the AP decided to omit that and instead claim that Trump said all media are the enemy.
And once again, the &#8220;fake news&#8221; media is simply proving Trump&#8217;s point.

The Associated Press Makes Another Colossal Error — And This One’s Really Embarrassing

The Associated Press was once one of the most venerated news services on the planet. Not anymore. On Halloween, the AP ran a story with this headline

The Associated Press Makes Another Colossal Error -- And This One&#039;s Really Embarrassing | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-makes-another-colossal-error-joseph-curl/

The headline was a grabber.
&#8220;Trump says media is &#8216;Enemy&#8217; after shooting, bomb plot,&#8221; the Associated Press reported around 9 a.m. Monday morning. The article said:
<blockquote>
President Donald Trump on Monday accused the media of being &#8220;the true Enemy of People&#8221; in the wake of a mass shooting and a mail bomb plot.
Trump tweeted: &#8220;There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news.&#8221; He added that the media &#8220;must stop the open &amp; obvious hostility &amp; report the news accurately &amp; fairly.&#8221;
</blockquote>
But something jumped out right away. Why the partial quote? Why did the AP edit Trump&#8217;s posts on Twitter? And why didn&#8217;t the news service include the tweet itself?
The answers were quite simple: Because what Trump said and what the AP wanted to say Trump said were two completely different things.
Here&#8217;s what Trump said (and we&#8217;ll run the two tweets he posted, too):
&#8220;There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open &amp; obvious hostility &amp; report the news accurately &amp; fairly. That will do much to put out the flame&#8230;&#8221; the first tweet said. The second finished the thought: &#8220;&#8230;.of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open &amp; obvious hostility &amp; report the news accurately &amp; fairly. That will do much to put out the flame&#8230;
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1056879122348195841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8230;.of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1056880287974649856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
So Trump never &#8220;accused the media of being &#8216;the true Enemy of the People.&#8221; Instead, he said, &#8220;The Fake News Media&#8221; is &#8220;the true Enemy of the People.&#8221; There&#8217;s a big, big difference. But for some reason, the AP decided to omit that and instead claim that Trump said all media are the enemy.
In the piece, the Associated Press never runs the full tweets from Trump, but does, at the end of the article, seek to connect the president to a bomb mailed to the liberal news network CNN.
<blockquote>
Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has been an unrelenting critic of the media. Last week, the New York offices of CNN, the cable network frequently attacked by Trump and his supporters, was evacuated after receiving an explosive device and an envelope containing white powder.
While stopping short of blaming Trump&#8217;s rhetoric for inspiring the attacks, Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN Worldwide, contended there was a &#8220;total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Mark Twain once said, &#8220;There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe &#8230; the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.&#8221;
But those days are long gone. And to badly misquote Twain, the death of the unbiased Associated Press is not greatly exaggerated.
Late Monday evening, Trump said as much.
&#8220;CNN and others in the Fake News Business keep purposely and inaccurately reporting that I said the &#8216;Media is the Enemy of the People.&#8217; Wrong! I said that the &#8220;Fake News (Media) is the Enemy of the People,&#8221; a very big difference. When you give out false information &#8211; not good!&#8221; Trump wrote on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
CNN and others in the Fake News Business keep purposely and inaccurately reporting that I said the &#8220;Media is the Enemy of the People.&#8221; Wrong! I said that the &#8220;Fake News (Media) is the Enemy of the People,&#8221; a very big difference. When you give out false information &#8211; not good!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1057059603605831680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Then he said:
&#8220;Check out tweets from last two days. I refer to Fake News Media when mentioning Enemy of the People &#8211; but dishonest reporters use only the word &#8216;Media.&#8217; The people of our Great Country are angry and disillusioned at receiving so much Fake News. They get it, and fully understand!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Check out tweets from last two days. I refer to Fake News Media when mentioning Enemy of the People &#8211; but dishonest reporters use only the word &#8220;Media.&#8221; The people of our Great Country are angry and disillusioned at receiving so much Fake News. They get it, and fully understand!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1057063101189836801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Thanks for filling out my story, Mr. President!

Associated Press Says Trump Calls All Media ‘Enemy Of The People.’ It’s A Lie, He Didn’t.

Fake News

The headline was a grabber. &quot;Trump says media is ‘Enemy’ after shooting, bomb plot,&quot; the Associated Press reported around 9 a.m. Monday

Associated Press Says Trump Calls All Media &#039;Enemy Of The People.&#039; It&#039;s A Lie, He Didn&#039;t. | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/associated-press-says-trump-calls-media-enemy-joseph-curl/

All politics, all the time.
In an article dripping with condescension, the Associated Press decided to include a bit of politics in a story about fake Dead Sea Scrolls fooling Christians.
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. opened its doors in November 2017. The centerpiece of the museum was a collection of 16 Dead Sea Scroll fragments. Unfortunately for the museum, at least five of those scrolls were discovered to have been forgeries.
Make no mistake, this appears to be &#8220;<a href="https://apnews.com/b5cfe168fb004f229634ebe6f3fe57ac?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">a massive case of archaeological fraud</a>,&#8221; the AP reports.
&#8220;The scrolls are a collection of ancient Jewish religious texts first discovered in the mid-1940s in caves on the western shore of the Dead Sea in what is now Israel,&#8221; AP explains. &#8220;The massive cache of Hebrew documents is believed to date back to the days of Jesus. With more than 9,000 documents and 50,000 fragments, the entire collection took decades to fully excavate.&#8221;
But in 2002, new scroll fragments suddenly went up for sale, and evangelical Christians have apparently paid millions of dollars for what are likely fakes.
Some of those who appear to have purchased forged scrolls are the billionaire Green family, which founded Hobby Lobby. And here&#8217;s where the AP gets really nasty. The author couldn&#8217;t just leave it at Hobby Lobby, they had to include a dig at the family over its religious opposition to Obamacare&#8217;s contraceptive mandate.
&#8220;Also eagerly buying up fragments was the Green family &#8212; evangelical Oklahoma billionaires who run the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores and who famously sued the Obama administration on religious grounds, saying they didn&#8217;t want to pay to provide their employees access to the morning-after pill or intrauterine devices.&#8220; (Emphasis added.)
The Greens readily provided their employees with access to most of the popular forms of birth control, but did not want to pay for insurance that allowed for the morning-after pill or intrauterine devices without a copay, because the employers see those as abortion-inducing drugs. They never banned their employees from seeking these options, or threatened to fire anyone who did &#8211; they just didn&#8217;t want to pay for them.
None of this even matters in a story about the Dead Sea Scrolls. The AP goes on to mention another controversy related to the Green family, who are the primary backers of the Bible Museum. The family had previously purchased Iraqi artifacts from dealers over warnings that the artifacts may have been looted. The family returned the artifacts and paid a $3 million fine after being ordered to by the Department of Justice.
That&#8217;s relevant to the story. The Greens had another misstep when it comes to artifacts. But including the part about Obamacare just makes the story petty and shows the author&#8217;s &#8211; and the outlet&#8217;s &#8211; Left-leaning bias.
In a statement to the AP, the chief curator for the Bible Museum, Jeffrey Kloha, said the discovery of the fake Dead Sea Scrolls was &#8220;an opportunity to educate the public on the importance of verifying the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the elaborate testing process undertaken and our commitment to transparency.&#8221;

SERIOUSLY? AP Inserts Politics Into Article About Dead Sea Scrolls

Bible

Christianity

All politics, all the time. In an article dripping with condescension, the Associated Press decided to include a bit of politics in a story about fake

SERIOUSLY? AP Inserts Politics Into Article About Dead Sea Scrolls | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/seriously-ap-inserts-politics-article-about-dead-ashe-schow/

In what can only be truthfully described as a &#8220;shocking development,&#8221; the Associated Press has issued a fact check on former President Barack Obama&#8217;s claim that he &#8220;never threatened to shut&#8221; down media outlets or &#8220;call them enemies of the people.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.apnews.com/ffc60235c26c470c9047e0da6ff19f95/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Obama-doesn%2527t-always-tell-the-straight-story">The AP concludes</a> &#8212; shockingly &#8212; that Barack Obama &#8220;doesn&#8217;t always tell the straight story.&#8221;
The fact check specifically concerns comments Obama made while accepting an award in his home state of Illinois last week, where the former president compared his treatment of press outlets he didn&#8217;t quite care for, like Fox News, to current President Donald Trump&#8217;s feud with CNN.
&#8220;It shouldn&#8217;t be Democratic or Republican to say that we don&#8217;t threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish stories we don&#8217;t like,&#8221; Obama quipped. &#8220;I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people.&#8221;
Even the Associated Press, which is no right-leaning news outlet, was left scratching it&#8217;s head. Although President Donald Trump does have a very publicly contentious relationship with &#8220;biased&#8221; media outlets, the Obama administration targeted journalists and others with an ancient espionage act that allowed them to monitor and prosecute &#8220;leakers&#8221; &#8212; and they did both with gusto.
&#8220;The Obama administration used the 1917 Espionage Act with unprecedented vigor, prosecuting more people under that law for leaking sensitive information to the public than all previous administrations combined. Obama&#8217;s Justice Department dug into confidential communications between news organizations and their sources as part of that effort,&#8221; the Associated Press reports.
Included in at least one Obama-era espionage dragnet were 20 AP reporters who were investigated for receiving classified information on a foiled Al Qaeda plot.
And then there&#8217;s the matter of a Fox News reporter who ran afoul of the Obama administration.
&#8220;Obama&#8217;s Justice Department also secretly dogged Fox News journalist James Rosen, getting his phone records, tracking his arrivals and departures at the State Department through his security-badge use, obtaining a search warrant to see his personal emails and naming him as a possible criminal conspirator in the investigation of a news leak,&#8221; the AP said.
The AP even gently reminds Obama that The New York Times thought that was a little much.
The fact check goes on, taking Obama to task for his claims on presiding over economic growth (questionable) and on President Donald Trump ripping health insurance away from 4 million Americans (the CDC notes that the number of uninsured remains essentially unchanged, even though there is no longer a Federal mandate to carry health insurance).
The AP also skewers the former president for claiming middle class families experienced growth in household income (they didn&#8217;t) and that Trump&#8217;s jobless rate is the result of his economic policies (fair, but experts do credit Trump&#8217;s economic policies with continued growth in hiring).
Maybe Obama shouldn&#8217;t be so eager to get back on the campaign trail if he&#8217;s lost even his friends in the media.

AP Fact Checks Obama: He ‘Doesn’t Always Tell A Straight Story’

Fox News

In what can only be truthfully described as a &quot;shocking development,&quot; the Associated Press has issued a fact check on former President Barack Obama&#039;s

AP Fact Checks Obama: He &#039;Doesn&#039;t Always Tell A Straight Story&#039; | The Daily Wire

https://www.dailywire.com/news/ap-fact-checks-obama-he-doesnt-always-tell-emily-zanotti/

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