The left-wing media learned a lot in 2022, even if it was all stuff the rest of us already knew.
Two years after local officials closed schools, grieving family members weren’t allowed to say goodbye to their loved ones at in-person funerals, businesses were forced to temporarily close their doors — many of them for good — and Americans were generally forbidden from congregating outside of large groups, the press in recent weeks has come to an unexpected conclusion: Fighting each other over COVID is probably counter-productive.
“<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty</a>” exhorted an October 31 headline in The Atlantic, a call whose temerity was only matched by the gall of its flipside from 2020. Back then, of course, the prevailing line from the mainstream media was that Dr. Fauci’s COVID pronouncements were to be followed to the letter and that there was no legitimate alternative path — until, that is, the doctor decides to change his mind, and woe betide the man or woman who asks to see the receipts.
It should come as no surprise that 2022, all things considered, was as chock-a-block as each year always is with examples of The Fourth Estate beclowning itself. Few if any of the year’s media fails, though, arguably came with a greater lack of self-awareness than that one from The Atlantic, calling on us all to basically hug out the COVID fights.
“Dwelling on the mistakes of history can lead to a repetitive doom loop,” the writer of the piece declared. “Let’s acknowledge that we made complicated choices in the face of deep uncertainty.”
Yes, of course: The mistakes of history. Deep uncertainty, and complicated choices — like the choice to use one’s position as a public health professional to declare on CNN that the unvaccinated <a href="http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2107/08/cnr.10.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">should not be allowed to leave their homes</a>. The idea of pandemic amnesty sounds straightforward enough, until you stop to remind yourself that “complicated choices” are one thing — but you unilaterally declaring my livelihood and personal liberty subservient to your real-time experiment amid all that uncertainty is something else entirely.
That kind of years-late turnabout, long after the damage has already been done, was just one in what’s been a lengthy series of gaffes, errors, and outright fails that characterize 2022’s Year in Media.
We also saw that same phenomenon, by the way, manifest itself in more than just coverage of the pandemic. Like in the way the mainstream media was glaringly late to the party regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop — long after widespread coverage of the story might have made a difference in the 2020 election.
Just ahead of the 2020 election, remember, Facebook throttled any and all mention of the laptop story across its social media empire. Outlets like CNN and The Washington Post either refused to cover the news or played it down, while Twitter went even farther — taking the extraordinary step of refusing to let users share any links to news coverage about the laptop at all, even within the confines of private messages from one user to another. Twitter also temporarily locked <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/kayleigh-mcenany-locked-out-of-twitter-for-sharing-posts-hunter-biden-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the then-White House press secretary</a> out of her account for trying to disseminate a news article about the laptop.
Fast-forward to 2022, with a brash and anti-woke new owner now in charge of Twitter — and Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth was now (surprise!) feeling compelled to declare Twitter’s ban on the laptop story <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yoel-roth-twitter-censor-hunter-biden-laptop-story-was-mistake-2022-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a mistake</a>. Indeed, what CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter panned at the time as a “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/10/18/new-york-post-hunter-biden-stelter-rs-sot-vpx-biz-dupe.cnn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manufactured crisis</a>” somehow — two years later, long after it mattered most — became “<a href="https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/cnns-brian-stelter-admits-hunter-biden-laptop-not-just-a-right-wing-media-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not just a right-wing media story</a>” anymore. Outlets like CBS News, The Washington Post, and The New York Times likewise, at various times this year, also finally <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/01/new-york-times-finally-admit-hunters-laptop-is-real-but-only-to-protect-joe-biden/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed on the legitimacy</a> of the so-called &#8216;laptop from hell.&#8217;
2022, it seems, has also been the year of national legacy media deciding to declare the Hunter Biden laptop story amnesty, too.
To put it simply, this has been not only a year of the news media getting things wrong, as usual. When it comes to some of the biggest stories of our time, the profession also has an increasingly frequent habit of fighting alternatives that don’t fit the master narrative by plugging its ears, waiting an extended period of time, and then begrudgingly acknowledging the obvious after a consequence-free pivot.
Of course, there were plenty of other clear-cut and outright fails, too. Among the most egregious of 2022:
1) Headline: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/senior-us-intelligence-official-russian-missiles-crossed-nato-93346632" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people</a>
What really happened: For many experts, this has been the nightmare scenario of the Ukraine war — A provocation against a third-party nation that requires a response from allies and pulls other nations around the world into the conflict. In this case, the truth was that an errant Ukrainian missile landed in Poland, the AP’s “anonymous sources” notwithstanding. WWIII averted, and the guilty reporter fired.
2) Headline: <a style="font-weight: 400;" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/business/media/cnn-plus-streaming-news.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Can CNN’s Hiring Spree Get People to Pay for Streaming News?</a>
What really happened: CNN’s delusion that a critical mass of subscribers would pay for its content in a standalone app a la Netflix went up in flames — and much faster than even the most negative critics anticipated. Moreover, the question in that NYT headline is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding about cable news audiences. They already are paying to get an extra fix of news and lifestyle content … from Fox, via its Fox Nation app. CNN’s troubles, meanwhile, are a formidable combination of secular decline and audiences not keen on buying what they’re selling. Go woke, and your streaming service goes broke.
3) Headline: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/03/musks-twitter-files-internal-hunter-biden-debate-revealed-with-much-hype-but-no-bombshells/?sh=2d63ff587ea6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’: Internal Hunter Biden Debate Revealed With Much Hype But No Bombshells</a>
What really happened: Are you kidding me? No bombshell revelations in the Twitter files? How about the then-head of Trust and Safety at Twitter meeting weekly with the FBI, DHS, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — as if Twitter was a subsidiary of the national security state? Or Twitter being paid millions of dollars by the FBI to suppress tweets and accounts at the bureau’s request? This is a company that espoused democratizing speech while policing it, that shadow-banned and suppressed conservatives — and straight-up kicked people off the service during the early days of COVID over statements that eventually become conventional wisdom. But, sure — no bombshells.
4) Headline: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/10/crime-rate-justice-republicans-2022-elections/671800/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What’s Really Going On With the Crime Rate?</a>
What really happened: There’s always been an obsession within the mainstream media to report on crime patterns with all the binary nuance of a sports match — the numbers are up, then they’re down. At the moment, the picture is especially dire out of cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, though the post-midterm coverage engaged in a bit of chest-thumping over it all: See? Republicans tried to make you think we’re in the midst of a crime wave, but they still lost — so they were obviously wrong!
The fact of the matter, though, is that the reality of crime has much less to do with statistics than the mainstream media would have you believe. If city leaders in Los Angeles took a victory lap over there being just one murder in the city over the course of the year, but that murder victim happened to be your grandmother, what do you care that crime is “down”?
This obsession over statistics to fit a narrative completely misses the reality that normal people live with in the country’s biggest crime-ridden cities. We all understand that crime will always be a part of life, but there is an increasing sense that leaders in a position to do something about it are exacerbating the evil that threatens lives and livelihoods.

Possible Merger Between CNN-ABC

Media Fails Of 2022: A Look Back At A Year’s Worth Of Gaffes And Flubs

Media

New York Times

Readers Pass

The Atlantic

U.S.

If the pandemic police get “amnesty” for setting a generation of children back two grades and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lockdown-tyrants-want-pandemic-amnesty-conservatives-flood-social-media-with-reminders-of-what-they-did/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wishing unemployment and even death</a> on skeptics of a hastily formulated COVID vaccine, you can bet they’re going to seek a mulligan for another cause in a year or two: The systematic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-surgery-poised-to-become-a-5-billion-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maiming of thousands of kids</a> who became confused about their gender.
The Atlantic’s Emily Oster this week <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-a-chance-atlantic-writer-begs-for-pandemic-amnesty-forgiveness-for-pandemic-tyranny/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">floated the idea</a> of letting bygones be bygones over the pandemic lockdown madness. She wants amnesty from folks who weren’t allowed to hold hands with dying loved ones, schoolchildren abandoned to Zoom, normal people who were hounded and screamed at in supermarkets and department stores by mask Karens, and young, healthy workers who were fired because they didn’t want – and it turns out, probably didn’t need – a demonstrably flawed vaccination.
The debate about the COVID vaccines’ efficacy won’t be settled anytime soon, although there is strong evidence they may have saved the lives of many older recipients. But when it comes to the political reaction to the pandemic, Oster’s plea is a tacit admission that the science is settled: Masks were mostly useless, kids should have been in school, people had a right to decide whether they took the jab, and the finger-wagging yard-sign crowd behaved very, very badly.
The contempt with which the Atlantic’s proposal was met indicates no such détente will be forthcoming. And that’s a good thing, because if misinformed zealots backed by compromised scientists, social media performers, and a deeply politicized public health bureaucracy get their way, they’ll be back wanting off the hook for another case of mass psychosis.
More and more minors who once experienced gender dysphoria and &#8220;changed&#8221; their gender are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documentary-highlights-regret-for-three-detransitioned-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detransitioning</a>. Their stories all share a chilling sameness. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-sank-into-a-deep-depression-detransitioner-loses-natural-singing-voice-after-gender-affirming-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">They were alienated</a>. People they should have been able to trust encouraged them to believe they were trapped in the wrong body. They were subjected to treatments ranging from puberty blockers to breast surgeries that left them even more unhappy and permanently disfigured.
For now, “the science” seems to believe that an exploding percentage of people under 18 are transgender, and “helping” them requires affirming the warped idea incubated in their heads by counselors, activists, and social media charlatans. Once-credible medical associations and prestigious hospitals support removing the breasts of young girls, injecting minors with hormones and drugs that will change them forever, and endorsing a mental condition that should only be addressed with love and therapy.
When the number of detransitioners hits the inevitable critical mass, it will become crystal clear to everyone equipped with a heart and a brain that it was all a cruel and grotesque illusion. Sterile and disfigured, they will form a column of anger aimed at all those who participated in the monstrous experiment currently unfolding before our eyes. There will be nowhere to hide from their rage as they fully awaken to what has been done to them.
Those advocates of the hideously euphemistic “gender affirming care” will insist that they meant well. They will claim they were earnestly following “the science.” They’ll say no one could possibly have known that carving up confused adolescents would ruin their lives.
You can bet that they will once again ask for &#8220;amnesty.&#8221;
This time, it will be up to parents whose children were stolen by pronoun-obsessed groomers, boys whose journey to manhood will never be complete, and women who were born girls but will never be moms.
And they thought pandemic amnesty was a tough sell.
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

London Trans+ Pride London

Give Them ‘Pandemic Amnesty’ And Here’s What They’ll Beg For Next

Give Them 'Pandemic Amnesty' And Here's What They'll Beg For Next

COVID-19 Vaccine

Pandemic

Transgender

After a columnist writing for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/the-atlantic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Atlantic</a> on Monday asked for “pandemic amnesty,” receipts from mandate enthusiasts and videos of strict <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdown</a> policies circulated on social media as users balked at the suggestion.
Brown University economist Emily Oster penned an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> admitting that school closures and other government mandates were ultimately unnecessary, then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-a-chance-atlantic-writer-begs-for-pandemic-amnesty-forgiveness-for-pandemic-tyranny" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> that further discussions on the damage wrought to society by such policies are “heated, unpleasant and, ultimately, unproductive,” as well as fuel for “the culture wars.” Social media users <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-blows-up-at-professor-after-demanding-pandemic-amnesty-in-atlantic-op-ed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immediately rejected</a> her argument after the article began circulating online. On Tuesday, many popular accounts reposted videos of lockdown enforcement in action over the past two years.
Libs of TikTok shared footage of an indoor funeral where family members were positioned in socially distanced chairs. When two family members pulled their seats together to comfort a grieving loved one, a visibly upset individual interrupted the service to demand that the families pull their chairs apart once more.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The people who did this want “pandemic amnesty” now. Hard no <a href="https://t.co/5AGg2XrMlb">pic.twitter.com/5AGg2XrMlb</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1587449198743408640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Another video from Libs of TikTok showed a toddler being forcibly masked at a daycare. &#8220;They want us to forget about their school closures,&#8221; the account said. &#8220;They what us to forget what they did to children. Do not forget this. Do not forgive this.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Democrats ruined millions of lives with their Covid policies. Now <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheAtlantic</a> wants us to forget and move on.
They want us to forget about their school closures. They what us to forget what they did to children. Do not forget this. Do not forgive this.
Vote wisely <a href="https://t.co/hEwfI4xf5C">pic.twitter.com/hEwfI4xf5C</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1587149047634087936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek posted a video of law enforcement officers beating protesters with batons while a police dog aggressively bit a demonstrator’s arm. “You can put that pandemic amnesty where the sun don’t shine,” she remarked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You can put that pandemic amnesty where the sun don’t shine. <a href="https://t.co/NGIaMvLb5L">pic.twitter.com/NGIaMvLb5L</a>
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvaVlaar/status/1587417146237210624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for the re-election campaign of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, shared a picture of a Michigan store that had inexplicably barred customers from purchasing seeds. “Those who did this never apologized and in fact doubled down,” Pushaw said. “We cannot reward them by allowing them to remain in power.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Those who did this never apologized and in fact doubled down. We cannot reward them by allowing them to remain in power. No “pandemic amnesty” — ACCOUNTABILITY <a href="https://t.co/ckfG4BOHjT">https://t.co/ckfG4BOHjT</a>
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1587131567004176384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Daily Wire host Michael Knowles shared an <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-01-10/why-shouldnt-we-dance-on-the-graves-of-anti-vaxxers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> from Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik published in January, who contended that “mocking” the deaths of those who refused vaccination is “ghoulish” but “may be necessary.” The writer argued that “those who have deliberately flouted sober medical advice by refusing a vaccine known to reduce the risk of serious disease from the virus, including the risk to others, and end up in the hospital or the grave can be viewed as receiving their just deserts.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
libs now: &#8220;Let&#8217;s declare a pandemic amnesty&#8221;
libs then: <a href="https://t.co/vhWjFCyYZV">https://t.co/vhWjFCyYZV</a>
— Michael Knowles, Pandemic Amnesty Opposer (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1587186840800579585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Conservatives also rebuked individuals who supported the lockdown regime for praising Oster’s sentiments. David French, a fellow columnist at The Atlantic and a senior editor at The Dispatch, lauded the article as an “excellent piece” and said there should indeed be “grace” for those who pushed mandates. Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham shared several screenshots of French, a self-proclaimed Christian and conservative, claiming that “anti-masking” exposed “the darkness in parts of the right” and among those who “claim to be pro-life.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
David, you said it was a “moral crime” and evidence of the “darkness” on the right for people to question vaccines and masks. You mocked those who opposed mandates. You accused them of spreading disease and costing lives.
I’m not surprised you’re a fan of this article. <a href="https://t.co/wutS9pmWUr">pic.twitter.com/wutS9pmWUr</a>
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) <a href="https://twitter.com/megbasham/status/1587227426337263616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Social media users also rejected American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten&#8217;s plea for &#8220;pandemic amnesty,&#8221; noting that the teachers union boss was among the most prominent voices for school lockdowns.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Now Randi is saying, “please don’t blame me for shutting down schools for a year &amp; hurting tens of millions of kids. Just forget about it.”
Hell NO. <a href="https://t.co/oZtIdlMXNQ">https://t.co/oZtIdlMXNQ</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1587281352507916288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Among other costs from lockdown policies, nearly one-third of businesses in places such as New York and New Jersey closed their doors by the end of 2020, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nearly-a-third-of-small-businesses-in-new-york-and-new-jersey-have-shuttered" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> collected by Harvard University. The federal government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-6-trillion-in-covid-relief-the-government-could-have-given-every-taxpayer-41000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spent</a> nearly $6 trillion on stimulus packages as the economy crashed, leading to rapid <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/national-debt-surpasses-31-trillion-for-the-first-time-republicans-and-democrats-both-to-blame" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increases</a> in deficit spending and the national debt.
School lockdowns created the worst educational outcomes in decades. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-report-card-indicates-worst-decline-in-math-and-reading-scores-in-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> average reading scores for nine-year-olds plummeting by five points and average mathematics scores dropping seven points. The learning losses may cost the economy between $128 billion and $188 billion per year, according to an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-2020-school-shutdowns-to-cost-economy-up-to-188-billion-per-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimate</a> from consulting firm McKinsey &amp; Company.

mother with baby

Lockdown Tyrants Want ‘Pandemic Amnesty.’ Conservatives Flood Social Media With Reminders Of What They Did.

COVID-19

Lockdowns

Mask Mandate

Vaccine Mandate

Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mitt-romney">Mitt Romney</a> praised ‘genunely good man&#8217; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> &#8212; who once accused him of plotting to put black people &#8216;back in chains&#8217; &#8212; in an Independence Day column for the far-left online magazine <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/the-atlantic">The Atlantic</a>.
The failed 2012 presidential candidate and Utah Republican&#8217;s &#8220;pox on both their houses&#8221; approach blasted Democrats for blowing out the national debt and opening the border and ripped Republicans for downplaying the January 6 Capitol riots and climate change. The nation needs a true leader, Romney wrote in the magazine owned by late Apple founder Steve Jobs&#8217; widow, billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs.
&#8220;President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust,&#8221; Romney wrote. &#8220;A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable.&#8221;
Romney&#8217;s basic premise was that Americans on both sides of the aisle are in denial an ill-prepared to confront the challenges that confront us. But while his over-the-top praise for Biden might surprise some, his scathing attack on Trump shouldn&#8217;t.
Romney has never made a secret of his dislike for Trump. During the 2016 presidential race, he called Trump a &#8220;phony&#8221; and a &#8220;fraud.&#8221; After he was elected to the Senate in 2018, Romney twice voted to impeach Trump, first for allegedly withholding aid from Ukraine in order to pressure Kyiv into investigating the Biden family&#8217;s deals there and then over Trump&#8217;s alleged role in the January 6 riots.
Twitter users noted that Biden is not likely to return Romney&#8217;s kind words. In 2012, then-Vice President Biden accused Romney of wanting to enslave black Americans.
&#8220;Romney wants to let the—he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules –unchain Wall Street,&#8221; Biden told a mostly minority crowd in Danville, Virginia. &#8220;They’re going to put y’all back in chains!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joe Biden said during a campaign speech that Mitt Romney would re-enslave African Americans. <a href="https://t.co/1hIbxy97ky">https://t.co/1hIbxy97ky</a>
&mdash; Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1544023197036810242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;This is why most Republicans can&#8217;t stand Mitt Romney,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1543984575336046593?s=20&amp;t=4Bs0R7Phbf0eATzUXwb4Zg">tweeted BonchieRedState</a>. &#8220;Forget the predictable hysteria about Donald Trump for a moment. Presenting Biden as some kind of innocent bystander who just hasn&#8217;t been able to &#8220;break through&#8221; is nuts. Absolutely nuts.&#8221;
Romney described the kind of president he hopes wins the White House in 2024, but didn&#8217;t name names.
&#8220;I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality.&#8221;

COMBO-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-ROMNEY

Mitt Romney Praises ‘Genuinely Good Man’ Biden, Who Once Accused Him Of Wanting To Enslave Blacks

Mitt Romney Praises 'Genuinely Good Man' Biden, Rips Trump In Column For The Atlantic

Joe Biden

Mitt Romney

President Trump

Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin slammed her former employer in an op-ed published this week at The Atlantic, claiming that they blew off a live interview from a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the wake of the tragedy that occurred at the school in 2018 so that the far-Left network could cover Trump news.
&#8220;One of my producers interrupted our broadcast from Florida and spoke into my earpiece. News was breaking about President Donald Trump and the FBI. My producer assured me that we’d return to coverage in Parkland, but that right then—I’ll never forget it—&#8217;we have to break away to go live to Washington&#8217;,&#8221; Baldwin <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/brooke-baldwin-dont-let-the-cameras-turn-away/661142/">wrote</a>. &#8220;But. But. But. Fourteen students were dead. I stood there dumbfounded. A teacher from the school was just out of camera range, waiting to join me for a five-minute live interview. I used the pause in coverage to tell her what was happening and told her that we’d get to her, that her story mattered. But I already knew then that they weren’t coming back to us.&#8221;
&#8220;Outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I waited to reappear on my own show, furiously emailing my producers back at CNN headquarters to fight for more airtime on what was happening at Parkland: Come back to me. The teacher!&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Soon after, I got my marching orders: Come back to New York. I knew what that meant. We were done.&#8221;
Baldwin took a shot at the network on her way out the door last year by suggesting that the network was rife with sexism, saying that all the highest paid people there and all her bosses were men. &#8220;So I’ve been surrounded by a lot of men,&#8221; she said. “I was surrounded by a lot of dudes.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire has previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/propaganda-cnn-spreads-false-info-destroy-2nd-ryan-saavedra">reported</a>, Baldwin has a history of being an anti-Second Amendment activist and using deceptive tactics to push her agenda.
Baldwin ran a segment the day after a school shooting in Colorado back in 2019, which left one dead and several injured, that featured extremely deceptive statistics and provided no source for the information.
The video, which was over three minutes long, showed the following numbers appearing on the screen as Baldwin sat silently looking at the camera:
<ul>
<li>“35 U.S. School Shootings Since The Fall”</li>
<li>“336 School Shootings Since 2008”</li>
<li>“373,663 Killed By Gun Violence From 2007-2017”</li>
</ul>
The presentation then stated: “If words aren’t changing anything, then what about these images?”
CNN cut to photos of children and mothers crying. “Parents waiting to hear their child’s name called… or not,” the graphic continued. “Children with their hands up… at school. Or clenched… to pray.”
“If this isn’t a crisis now… when will it be?” the graphic concluded. “ENOUGH.”
Every statistic that Baldwin used in her presentation was deceptive or completely false. The Daily Wire reached out to CNN multiple times over a period of two days to seek the sources of the information used in the segment and received no response.
The New York Times, which is a Left-leaning publication, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/11/us/school-shootings-united-states.html">reported</a> at the time that there have been 111 school shootings in the U.S. since 1970, which met the F.B.I.’s definition for an active-shooter scenario, whereas CNN claimed without evidence that there have been 336 school shootings since 2008.
At the time, CNN also provided no evidence for their claim about the number of school shootings.
The only statistic that CNN used that could be traced to a legitimate source was their claim that there have been 373,663 people killed by firearms in the U.S. from 2007-2017. However, this statistic is very misleading.
The 373,663 number includes firearm deaths that break down into the following five categories:
<ul>
<li>Unintentional</li>
<li>Suicide</li>
<li>Homicide</li>
<li>Undetermined</li>
<li>Legal intervention/operations of war</li>
</ul>
The only category that is relevant when looking at “gun violence” is the homicide number, which, for the 11-year span, is 134,224 deaths. The majority of the deaths, well over 225,000, were suicides.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), which is part of the Office of Justice Programs, <a href="https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/gun-violence/pages/welcome.aspx">reported</a> back in 2019 that “gun-related homicide is most prevalent among gangs and during the commission of felony crimes.”
Baldwin failed to inform her audience of any of these facts and instead combined the misleading statistics with sad images to emotionally manipulate her audience.

Tuesday’s Children Celebrating 20 Years Of Service

Ex-CNN Anchor Brooke Baldwin Levels Accusation Against The Network About School Shooting Coverage

Brooke Baldwin

Guns

Parkland Shooting

Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman said in a recent interview that the Kingdom does not want to see a weak Iran nuclear deal from the Democrat Biden administration because its going to &#8220;end up with the same conclusion&#8221; as the previous deal, which he said would lead to Iran getting a nuclear weapon.
&#8220;On March 3, 2022, the U.S. monthly The Atlantic published a lengthy article by Graeme Wood on Saudi Arabia, which included excerpts from two interviews he had held with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman,&#8221; the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/saudi-dailies-publish-full-transcript-saudi-crown-prince-bin-salmans-interview-atlantic">reported</a>. &#8220;A full transcript of the interviews published in Saudi papers reveals that The Atlantic had reported only a small part of the statements made by Bin Salman in the interviews, making no mention at all of his comments on several topics.&#8221;
The news comes as Iran nuclear talks <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-nuclear-talks-break-off-without-a-deal-11646997132">broke down</a> on Friday with no agreement, throwing the future of the talks into uncertainty as Russia is demanding that the West soften sanctions that have been enacted against it due to its invasion of Ukraine.
The full transcript was published by the English-language daily Saudi Gazette, which included Salman&#8217;s remarks about the Iran nuclear deal that the Biden administration is working on.
Salman had the following exchange with The Atlantic:
<blockquote>The Atlantic: Some Saudi citizens think this was a kind of Cold War between the countries. They were afraid of what might happen to them, or their families, if they spoke in favor of Qatar. How do you think it feels to them to suddenly see this warmth, as if the relationship is fixed? It seems like a big change.
The Crown Prince I don’t want to talk about negative things. We are over it. Today we have unbelievable, amazing relations with Qatar. Sheikh Tamimi&#8217;s an amazing person, an amazing leader. Same goes for the other GCC leaders. Our aim and focus is on how to build a great future. we are very, very close. And it&#8217;s like, we are better than ever in history.
The Atlantic: The other big question, obviously, is whether you think you have a more positive relationship with Iran. That&#8217;s not a family fight. They&#8217;re not in the GCC.
The Crown Prince: They are neighbors. Neighbors forever. We cannot get rid of them, and they can&#8217;t get rid of us. So it&#8217;s better for both of us to work it out and to look for ways in which we can coexist. And we had a four-rounds of negotiation. We heard statements from Iranian leaders which we welcome in Saudi Arabia. And we are going to continue through the details of the negotiation. Hopefully, we can reach a position that&#8217;s good for both countries and is going to create a brighter future for this country and Iran.
The Atlantic: But you’d rather have a nuclear deal than no nuclear deal?
The Crown Prince: Well, I believe any country around the world that has a nuclear bomb—that&#8217;s dangerous, regardless if it&#8217;s Iran or any other country. So we don&#8217;t want to see that. And also, we don’t want to see a weak nuclear deal, because that&#8217;s going to end up with the same conclusion.</blockquote>

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman

Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman’s Full Remarks On Iran Revealed After The Atlantic Edited Interview

Iran Nuclear Deal

Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday night, CNN’s Jim Acosta said that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has turned his state into “a Soviet-style police state” by ending the teaching of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-is-critical-race-theory-breaking-down-the-ideology-thats-hitting-schools-across-the-country">Critical Race Theory</a>.
Acosta told his guest, Molly Jong-Fast of The Atlantic, “I seem to remember Glenn Youngkin campaigning, in a fleece vest in Virginia. He was running as a different kind of Republican. I was told there was going to be a vest, not a Soviet-style police state across the Potomac from Washington.”
The state’s newly imposed Critical Race Theory (CRT) ban shows how “the culture wars are also contributing to the erosion of democracy,” said Acosta during the special “Democracy In Peril,” which aired at 7 p.m. “The new culture wars are impacting our laws. And some experts fear, they could be weakening our democracy, just as badly as the Big Lie,” the Nazi-era slogan that CNN applies to questioning the 2020 presidential election.
Acosta accused Youngkin of “pitting citizen against citizen” immediately after playing a clip of the governor promising to remove “inherently divisive teaching practices out of the schools.” Acosta seemed outraged by removing the racially polarizing CRT curriculum from taxpayer-funded schools — the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-virginia-governors-race-was-won">chief campaign promise</a> made by Youngkin and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/winsome-sears-calls-out-joy-reid-over-msnbc-analysts-rant">Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears</a> — which Acosta said violates “the traditional conservative tenets of liberty, anti-censorship and freedom.”
Acosta also slammed Youngkin for setting up a process for parents to complain if public school teachers violate the law by teaching racially divisive concepts, such as claiming all members of one race inherently oppress all members of other races. Acosta likened the measure to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-6-biggest-lies-youve-been-told-about-the-texas-abortion-law">Texas Heartbeat law</a>, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-bias-101-pro-life-restrictions-vs-pro-abortion-protections">pro-life protection</a> that allows citizens to sue abortionists who perform an abortion after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-cuomo-suggests-babies-dont-have-a-heartbeat-at-6-weeks-heres-what-science-says">fetal heartbeat</a> can be detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy. “How concerned should we be, about these laws that seem to be catching on of, citizens ratting each other out?” he asked Jong-Fast, adding they encourage “canceling your neighbor across the street or next door.”
A search of CNN transcripts did not uncover a single instance in which Acosta condemned Democrats who encouraged citizens to report their neighbors for violating COVID-19 lockdown orders. “You know the old expression about snitches. Well, in this case, snitches get rewards,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Fyg4maLWg">said</a> Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) in March 2020. “We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.” (Emphases added.) Such measures were often imposed by gubernatorial or mayoral executive decrees, without any voter input.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="&#039;Snitches Get Rewards&#039;: Garcetti Encourages Community To Report Businesses Violating Safer At Home O" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/06Fyg4maLWg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Acosta’s comments about the Old Dominion brought swift backlash. “I’m a Virginia resident and am a daughter of folks who *actually* lived under a Soviet police state. I can assure you @GovernorVA isn’t Stalin or remotely Sovietesque,” <a href="https://twitter.com/gabby_hoffman/status/1486369590913343488">wrote</a> conservative author Gabriella Hoffman on Twitter. “Shame on you, @Acosta. Don’t invoke Soviet horrors that hurt many of our families.” She went on to call Jim Acosta’s comparison “evil.”
Another Twitter user <a href="https://twitter.com/ginana13/status/1486371899672338432">remarked</a> facetiously, “The freedom to make individual choices was a hallmark of the Soviet-style police state.” Others said the over-the-top hyperbole seemed in line with the legacy media’s standards. “This coming [from] the Pravda network,” <a href="https://twitter.com/Freway01/status/1486361891056152578">said</a> one response. “We just laugh at him, just like” The Washington Post “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin, <a href="https://twitter.com/lallen100279/status/1486360358193348613">wrote</a> another.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I’m a Virginia resident and am a daughter of folks who *actually* lived under a Soviet police state. I can assure you <a href="https://twitter.com/GovernorVA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovernorVA</a> isn’t Stalin or remotely Sovietesque. Actually, the opposite. Shame on you, <a href="https://twitter.com/Acosta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Acosta</a>. Don’t invoke Soviet horrors that hurt many of our families…Evil. <a href="https://t.co/J4ZYZBSX2y">https://t.co/J4ZYZBSX2y</a>
&mdash; Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gabby_Hoffman/status/1486369590913343488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The freedom to make individual choices was a hallmark of the Soviet-style police state.
&mdash; Gina (@ginana13) <a href="https://twitter.com/ginana13/status/1486371899672338432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This coming form the Pravda network.
&mdash; Tom (@Freway01) <a href="https://twitter.com/Freway01/status/1486361891056152578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
For her part, Jong-Fast agreed with Acosta’s sentiments that Youngkin “pretended to be this kind of non-Trumpy Trump. And then, as soon as he got in there, he started taking away masking in Virginia public schools. He started with these teacher hotlines, where you can rat out your teacher.”
“I mean, he&#8217;s really gone full Ron DeSantis, right away,” she stated.
She forecast that, in the future, “Blue states and Red states are going to be very, very different, because these Red states have no incentive to stop being Trumpy. They&#8217;re just going to race and become Trumpier and Trumpier.”
She also claimed the Supreme Court had declared the ends justify the means in allowing the Texas Heartbeat law to stand, asserting that the justices ruled, “If we agree with the principle of the law, we don&#8217;t care how crazy it is.”
Some believe the media seek to take out Youngkin and DeSantis, Republican governors of swing states, before their policies could reap electoral benefits. “Virginia, like Florida, is a threat to the narrative, especially when it comes to kids,” <a href="https://twitter.com/Jerry__Grey/status/1486360959228784651">said</a> one Twitter user. “History will not be kind to the COVIDians.”

Jim Acosta

Jim Acosta: Virginia Is ‘A Soviet-Style Police State’ Under Gov. Youngkin

Critical Race Theory

Glenn Youngkin

The media are on the verge of declaring smash-and-grab robberies “mostly peaceful looting.”
In response to viral video footage of mobs demolishing store display cases and calmly walking out with armloads of merchandise, a growing number of media outlets claim the whole phenomenon has been exaggerated by “right-wing media” looking to create a “moral panic,” retailers angling to hoodwink the public, and “law enforcement lobbyists” desperate for an excuse to increase police funding. But these conspiratorial allegations are often refuted by the stories’ own reporting — not to mention numerous independent sources.
In recent weeks, the media seem to have created a new genre of coverage: smash-and-grab denialism. Outlets from The Atlantic, to NBC News, to the Los Angeles Times have dabbled in the narrative, which MSNBC’s Chris Hayes tied together during a December 29 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crAEOKfV1P0">segment</a> titled “Debunking The Right-Wing’s Shoplifting Freak-Out.” Hayes admitted the nation’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twelve-major-cities-with-new-homicide-records-in-2021-all-led-by-democrats">skyrocketing homicide rate</a> is “real, and really bad.” But he claimed without proof that “right-wing media is [sic] constantly peddling … a completely propagandistic story, specifically about out-of-control retail theft,” which has “basically no evidence to actually support it.” Hayes also, predictably, played the race card. “Like, there is nothing that Fox [News] loves more than surveillance footage of, particularly, black people stealing a thing, and they will run that 24/7 if they can,” Hayes asserted.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Debunking The Right-Wing’s Shoplifting Freak-Out" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/crAEOKfV1P0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Coverage of smash-and-grab crimes is far from limited to “right-wing” sources. Last November 24, CNN ran a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/23/us/smash-and-grab-thefts-explainer-cec/index.html">story</a> by Faith Karimi titled “Why some US cities are facing a spree of &#8216;smash-and-grab&#8217; crimes.” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/business/theft-retail-crime-robbery.html">followed suit</a> two days later. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/03/retail-theft-organized-crime/">reported</a> in December that “large-scale ‘smash-and-grabs’ have been on the rise this year.” Even Hayes noted the “narrative that America is awash in crime” has appeared in “a lot” of “local news, as well,” although he ignored the fact that coverage of the same story across media outlets from every part of the political spectrum — conservative (Fox News, Newsmax), liberal (CNN, NYT, WaPo), and nonpartisan (local news) — increases the likelihood that the story is true.
That is the problem. Few things destroy a politician’s chances at reelection like a crime surge, especially one spread throughout cities controlled by the same party — so the same media that spent 2020 whitewashing “mostly peaceful protests” and 2021 denying the existence of CRT in public school curricula must now insist that spooked consumers collectively hallucinated a crime spree.
One of Hayes’ guests, Amanda Mull, got the revisionist ball rolling with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/12/shoplifting-holiday-theft-panic/621108/">an essay</a> in The Atlantic accusing stores and retailers of fomenting a “moral panic” and of backing measures that “encourage people to see even the pettiest property crime as a mortal sin.” (<a href="https://stjohndc.org/en/orthodoxy-foundation/thou-shalt-not-steal">Deliberate</a> <a href="http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm">theft</a> is a <a href="//3278F4FC-404C-4F4B-9C84-0A92E90D0713/encourage%20people%20to%20see%20even%20the%20pettiest%20property%20crime%20as%20a%20mortal%20sin,">mortal sin</a>; Mull should mull over staying in her own lane.) But she admitted that in San Francisco’s “central district, where expensive fashion boutiques and other kinds of retail outlets are clustered together, larceny theft was up 88 percent from 2020 as of early December.”
Mull essentially makes two arguments: She rightly notes the difficulty of finding accurate crime statistics about smash-and-grab crimes; and she claims, while shoplifting may be up from 2020, it is down long-term. Unfortunately, numerous measures say otherwise. New York City had seen “more than 26,000 shoplifting cases through September alone, the most to that point in the 26 years the numbers have been tracked,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/25/spike-in-smash-and-grab-attacks-means-bad-news-for-shoppers/">according</a> to the New York Post. On the other side of the continent, the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-12-15/organized-retail-theft-crime-rate?_ga=2.165026233.70388755.1641382615-1964586632.1641382615">admitted</a> that statistics show a 56% increase in organized retail crime nationwide between 2015 and 2020, with store owners experiencing “losses to organized retail crime at $2.1 billion nationwide.”
Hayes diverted his viewers’ attention to a December 27 NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lapd-warn-crime-wave-data-show-theft-robberies-rcna9236">report</a> that tried to downplay the reality of smash-and-grab robberies in Los Angeles: “LAPD warn of crime wave, but data shows theft, robberies down.” Yet 20 paragraphs into the story, NBC admitted, “Robbery is up 5.2 percent this year compared to this point in 2020 … and theft is up 0.7 percent, recent LAPD data shows.” The story added, “the department says coordinated thefts are on the rise … the recent wave has been unprecedented and overwhelmed retail workers and shoppers with a sense of helplessness.”
Much of the problem in finding accurate statistics stems from the fact that too many perpetrators are never arrested in the first place. (More on this later.) Thus, the only statistics available are those collected by the shopkeepers and their representatives. The National Retail Federation noted in its <a href="https://cdn.nrf.com/sites/default/files/2021-08/2021%20National%20Retail%20Security%20Survey%20updated.pdf">annual report</a> that their respondents’ biggest complaint since 2015 is the increase in “store-related violence” and organized retail crime. Half of all stores suffered more shoplifting in 2020 than in 2019, and 57% of stores said they experienced more organized retail crime during the pandemic, with 22% calling it a “significant increase.” Despite the spike, shoplifting prosecutions fell by 22% between 2019 and 2020 — and 83% since 2015. Meanwhile, the robberies have become more costly. “The average retail robbery netted more than $7,500,” an increase of more than $4,700, or 163%, since 2019.
Not only are organized attacks on businesses increasing, but criminals appear to be becoming more violent. A gang of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/03/retail-theft-organized-crime/">80 people</a> mobbed shoppers, spraying bear spray on one victim inside a Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, California, on November 20. Four days later, the perpetrators of another smash-and-grab <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-mall-guard-spray">used bear spray</a> on a security guard in Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles before making off with $25,000 worth of goods. A robber <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/25/smash-grab-robbers-strike-in-takoma-park/">used a firearm</a> to shoot open a display case during a Christmas Eve robbery in Takoma Park, Maryland. The escalation goes both ways. Last Thursday, four men tried to use bear spray on a jewelry store owner in Upland, California, but he banished the robbers by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/legally-armed-citizen-thwarts-california-smash-and-grab-attempted-robbery">pulling a gun</a>.
Yet the Los Angeles Times tried to call the retailers liars. A December 15 story titled “Retailers say thefts are at crisis level. The numbers say otherwise” blamed the perception of increased smash-and-grab robberies on “retail and law enforcement lobbyists” and asserted “there is reason to doubt the problem is anywhere near as large or widespread as they say.” Then, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-blames-retailers-smash-grab-thefts">like</a> Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Times essentially blamed the victims. The increase in mass shoplifting “is, in some part, traceable to decisions made by the retailers themselves,” it said, citing an industry analyst’s statement that security guards can no longer aggressively pursue shoplifters, “because of safety concerns and liability issues.” That is, storeowners fear they will be sued if anyone is injured in the chase and, absent <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/tort-reform-the-right-way">tort reform</a>, the legal process could cost them more than the illegal robbery.
The Los Angeles Times also attempted to dismiss the allegations by citing the FBI’s national statistics, which show a decline in shoplifting arrests nationwide — but the problem is not a national problem. It’s very much one focused in certain cities suffering the malign neglect of a certain breed of district attorney. For instance, Chicago-area State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s “policy to prosecute felony shoplifting only for thefts of more than $1,000 led to a steep decline in charges, from 300 per month to about 70,” <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/10/24/the-kim-foxx-effect-how-prosecutions-have-changed-in-cook-county">according</a> to The Marshall Project. “Not only is Foxx charging a smaller share of shoplifting cases, but police are bringing fewer arrests for felony review.” George Gascon of Los Angeles, and Chesa Boudin of San Francisco implemented similar policies — with similar results. Fewer arrests lead to a decrease in crime on paper, even as the problem worsens.
That lends more credence to besieged storeowners, who argue precisely that this is not a problem captured by arrest and prosecution statistics. They specifically state that district attorneys refuse to prosecute crimes, leading police to shrug their shoulders and wonder why they should make an arrest — leaving stores, and the customers inside them, on their own. Liberal DAs’ obsession with theoretical concerns about how prosecuting lawbreakers of color might impact “equity” has left law-abiding people of all races abandoned, unprotected, and at the mercy of gangs with crowbars and bear spray.
Mull insinuated that all of this is OK, because a professor told her so:
<blockquote>[A]ccording to Jay Kennedy, a criminologist at Michigan State University, police declining to get involved in low-level offenses doesn’t necessarily signal a crisis. Kennedy echoed Hayes’s explanation for the sometimes scant police response to small thefts, but told me that his research has found that people tend to be fine with police and prosecutors prioritizing more serious or violent crimes over petty offenses.</blockquote>
Neither Mull nor Kennedy appeared to consult the American people: 80% of Americans see this form of theft as a national problem; 63% think sentencing guidelines are too lax; and 79% say prosecutors should stop releasing smash-and-grab perpetrators without bail. These organized crime events terrorize ordinary shoppers: 48% of Americans said they now feel less safe shopping in person, according to <a href="https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/holiday-smash-and-grabs-fuel-anxiety-among-americans-poll-finds/">a poll</a> commissioned by NewsNation.
“There&#8217;s no political will to prosecute the people in this climate. Why should a police officer waste time getting into an altercation when the person is not going to jail?” asked Pete Eliadis, a former law enforcement officer who founded a security company, Intelligence Consulting Partners. “The takeaway is we need the political will, more prosecution and backing of law enforcement.” At a time when criminals have shot and killed more police officers than any time in U.S. history, and <a href="https://fop.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/study-2017-FBI-Assailant-Mindset-Behavior.pdf">the FBI</a> acknowledges many of these shootings <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-stories-the-legacy-media-ignored-last-week">stem from</a> “what they heard and read in the media,” a change in media focus would seem to be in order. Yet rather than goad prosecutors into doing their jobs, some in the legacy media have now decided to close out 2021 by covering  up their nonfeasance and accusing police and crime victims of pulling America’s collective leg.
The legacy media has spent much of the last year accusing conservatives of enabling an insurrection by trying to downplay or “erase” the harms of the one-day riot last January 6. What should we make of liberal media outlets that deny, minimize, and obfuscate the impact of daily assaults — perpetrated, not against the most elite elements of society, but in middle- and working-class neighborhoods — especially when they seem willing to lie in the process?
The media’s crime advocacy posing as journalism puts every American in greater danger.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers-Pass—Johnson—Media-Say-Conservatives-Invented-‘Right-Wing-Shoplifting-Freak-Out.’-Here-Are-The-Facts

Media Say Conservatives Invented ‘Right-Wing Shoplifting Freak-Out.’ Here Are The Facts

Chris Hayes

Crime

Media Bias

shoplifting

Theft

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, who continuously accuses Fox News of promoting “misinformation,” repeated three widely discredited stories about former President Donald Trump during a single, 13-minute segment of Tuesday’s “Deadline: White House” — two of them within one minute of each other. One of the stories directly contradicted video footage she had just shown.
Claim #1: Lafayette Square redux
Wallace devoted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybxddn3dk4I">full segment</a> to criticizing the Trump family for its alleged disdain of the Bible. “Hyper-masculine, real men,” she said, “show their faith by gassing protesters in Lafayette Square in order to — for the sole purpose of — being able to hoist a Bible above Trump’s head as a photo prop, upside-down I believe, in front of St. John’s church.” (Emphasis in original.)
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Deadline WhiteHouse| The former president&#039;s son told a crowd that Jesus&#039; teachings &quot;didn&#039;t help us&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybxddn3dk4I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last June 1, President Trump visited the St. John’s Episcopal Church, often called “the church of presidents,” which rioters set fire to during arson-tinged unrest. Although the legacy media — and <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1267634400080117761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267634400080117761%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Finspector-general-debunks-claims-made-by-biden-harris-left-wing-media-against-trump">candidate Joe Biden</a> — accused the president of ordering the U.S. Park Police to spray people with tear gas in order to stage a “photo op,” an official government report released under the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inspector-general-debunks-claims-made-by-biden-harris-left-wing-media-against-trump">cleared</a> Trump of those charges.
“The evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow a contractor to safely install antiscale fencing in response to destruction of [f]ederal property and injury to officers that occurred on May 30 and May 31,” the <a href="https://doioig.opengov.ibmcloud.com/sites/doioig.gov/files/Final%20Statement_0.pdf">report</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inspector-general-debunks-claims-made-by-biden-harris-left-wing-media-against-trump">said</a>. USPP officials “made those decisions” and began clearing the area “several hours before they knew of a potential [p]residential visit to the park, which occurred later that day.”
Claim #2: Trump said ‘The Art of the Deal’ is better than the Bible
That lie came less than 60 seconds after Wallace played a clip of an interview with then-candidate Trump saying he would not name his favorite Bible passage, because his faith was “very personal.”
“The Bible clearly is so special to Donald Trump that in that moment, he couldn’t think of a single passage that he liked, and it was second only to The Art of the Deal,” Wallace said, citing the president’s book.
But in the video she had just played, the future president told Bloomberg News that he considered the Bible his favorite book, not his own bestseller. When people at his campaign rallies “hold up The Art of the Deal, I say, ‘My second favorite book of all time.’ But I just think the Bible is just something very special,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/briantashman/status/1267599254325014531">said</a>.
“The whole Bible is incredible,” he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Donald Trump unable to name one verse from &quot;favorite book,&quot; The Bible <a href="https://t.co/x9CBK51Fj5">pic.twitter.com/x9CBK51Fj5</a>
&mdash; Brian Tashman (@briantashman) <a href="https://twitter.com/briantashman/status/1267599254325014531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Claim #3: Trump called people who serve in the military “losers”
Later in the segment, Wallace repeated another long-discredited, anti-Trump canard: that Donald Trump refused to visit a military cemetery and called fallen U.S. soldiers “losers.”
Wallace said Trump&#8217;s alleged hostility to the Bible sounded like “a direct echo” of “an earlier Atlantic [magazine] piece about Donald Trump calling those who served our country in the military suckers. … He had horrible things to say about anyone who had been injured or lost their life serving this country. So if you serve your country, you’re a sucker. If you read and adhere to the teachings of the Bible, you’re a sucker.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;That stoking of anger is so deliberate&#8230; Anger is a very powerful force in politics. I went to Trump rallies often during the campaigns in 2016 and 2020, and there&#39;s a deliberate stoking of anger&#8230;&quot; &#8211; <a href="https://twitter.com/KattyKay_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KattyKay_</a> w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolleDWallace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NicolleDWallace</a> <a href="https://t.co/djaxbyMQ7w">pic.twitter.com/djaxbyMQ7w</a>
&mdash; Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeadlineWH/status/1475980342217555972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
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An article published in The Atlantic in September 2020 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anonymous-sources-tell-mag-trump-called-dead-troops-losers-5-witnesses-go-on-record-to-dispute">asserted</a> that President Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris “because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead.” It went on to cite anonymous sources who claimed President Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
But no fewer than <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/10-witnesses-go-on-the-record-stating-atlantic-report-on-trump-denigrating-troops-is-a-lie-2">10 people</a> — including former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-bolton-already-debunked-key-claim-in-atlantic-report-on-trumps-alleged-comments-on-dead-soldiers">National Security Adviser John Bolton</a>, who became an indefatigable Trump foe — went on the record to say The Atlantic’s story wasn&#8217;t true. “It was entirely a weather-related decision, and I thought the proper thing to do. I never heard he made that kind of comment about another country’s forces either, no,” said Bolton.
Former presidential counselor Johnny DeStefano said plainly, “I was on this trip. The Atlantic bit is not true. Period.” Former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump “was outwardly in awe of the accomplishments of the Allied Forces, and the sacrifices they paid,” as he surveyed the battlefield on the 75thanniversary of D-Day.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I was on this trip. The Atlantic bit is not true. Period. <a href="https://t.co/gf88OoRYla">https://t.co/gf88OoRYla</a>
&mdash; Johnny DeStefano (@johnnydestefano) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnnydestefano/status/1301885340345565186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Atlantic’s owner, Laurene Powell Jobs, has donated more than <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atlantic-owner-is-biden-megadonor-close-to-storys-author-sixth-witness-trump-opponent-disputes-story">$1.2 million to Democratic candidates</a> since 2019.
Wallace has repeatedly accused Fox News and other conservative news outlets of spreading “misinformation.”
Last January, Wallace — a former campaign strategist to John McCain — said only people who share &#8220;the truth” should be able to speak on the air, especially about the 2020 presidential election. “It would be my policy that a Republican must assert the truth before they’re allowed to share any other views,” she <a href="https://redstate.com/mike_miller/2021/01/21/msnbcs-nicolle-wallace-republicans-must-assert-the-truth-before-theyre-allowed-to-share-any-other-views-n313903">said</a>.
“If we can protect against counterfeit dollar bills, we should be able to protect against fake news that we now know has the potential to kill people,” <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1352009478544224265">concluded</a> Wallace.
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/NicolleDWallace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NicolleDWallace</a> calls for the permanent expulsion and punishment for any and all forms of conservative media that run counter to her political views. She says Republicans should be BANNED from speaking unless they first speak &quot;the truth.&quot;
So, what camp am I going to, Nicolle? <a href="https://t.co/h0cpvxitKd">pic.twitter.com/h0cpvxitKd</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1352009478544224265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Will Wallace follow her own standard and step down from her show — or even issue a correction?
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

nicolle_wallace.jpg

MSNBC Host Repeats 3 Discredited Claims — 2 In Less Than A Minute

Bible

Lafayette Park

MSNBC

Nicolle Wallace

A national correspondent for Yahoo News compared journalists covering the Trump presidency to soldiers fighting on D-Day in a recent article for The Atlantic.
Alexander Nazaryan, who has worked for Yahoo News since 2018, made the comparison in a Thursday <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/i-miss-thrill-trump/617993/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">article</a> originally titled &#8220;I Miss the Thrill of Trump,&#8221; which was later changed to &#8220;I Was an Enemy of the People.&#8221; The lengthy piece, which details his time covering Trump, claims the past four years reminded journalists of their need to maintain an &#8220;adversarial&#8221; position toward those in power.
What earned him the most attention, however, was his mention of the Allied invasion of Normandy.
&#8220;Covering the administration was thrilling for many journalists, in the way that I imagine storming Omaha Beach must have been for a 20-year-old fresh from the plains of Kansas,&#8221; Nazaryan wrote. &#8220;He hadn’t signed up for battle, but there he was, liberating France.&#8221;
Nazaryan then segued from his analogy to hit at Trump, writing, &#8220;France, by the way, is where Trump called American soldiers who’d fallen in combat &#8216;suckers&#8217; and &#8216;losers.&#8217; When <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/" data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'5',r'None'">this magazine</a> first reported those comments, Trump’s supporters denounced the Atlantic story as preposterous and offensive, even as outlet after outlet confirmed the reporting. They failed to realize that the preposterous and the offensive were the twin beacons of the Trump presidency. Journalists were merely going where he led. This was our Omaha Beach. I, for one, would have rather been in Hawaii.&#8221;
The Atlantic&#8217;s story alleging that Trump scoffed at World War I soldiers buried in France was based on anonymous sources and has since been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-bolton-already-debunked-key-claim-in-atlantic-report-on-trumps-alleged-comments-on-dead-soldiers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">disputed</a> by former national security adviser John Bolton, who is no fan of the former president.
Nazaryan&#8217;s article was met with scorn on Twitter.
&#8220;Storming Omaha Beach was not &#8216;thrilling,'&#8221; wrote Townhall journalist Katie Pavlich. &#8220;It was terrifying and a death sentence for thousands. How despicable this description is for endless reasons. Incredible ignorance and arrogance.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Storming Omaha Beach was not “thrilling.” It was terrifying and a death sentence for thousands. How despicable this description is for endless reasons. Incredible ignorance and arrogance. <a href="https://t.co/TyvpFdFRl6">https://t.co/TyvpFdFRl6</a>
&mdash; Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatiePavlich/status/1359888884612661248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;When you accidentally publish your journal in the Atlantic,&#8221; mocked journalist Katie Herzog, who also pointed out the headline change.
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Note the headline change <a href="https://t.co/3U0HO88ux9">https://t.co/3U0HO88ux9</a>
&mdash; Katie Herzog (@kittypurrzog) <a href="https://twitter.com/kittypurrzog/status/1359900618446409728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon also excoriated the piece, writing, &#8220;It’s amazing, and also wrong from the display type on. Journalists’ should not necessarily have an adversarial relationship with power. They’re not supposed to be the opposition. Their governing relationship should be with the truth.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It’s amazing, and also wrong from the display type on. Journalists’ should not necessarily have an adversarial relationship with power. They’re not supposed to be the opposition. Their governing relationship should be with the truth.
&mdash; Hugo Gurdon (@hgurdon) <a href="https://twitter.com/hgurdon/status/1359865469470199808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Jeff Blehar, a journalist and cohost of a podcast for National Review, described Nazaryan&#8217;s Omaha Beach comparison as &#8220;just an utterly breathtaking paragraph.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just an utterly breathtaking paragraph. <a href="https://t.co/A2W9j7Pc2d">pic.twitter.com/A2W9j7Pc2d</a>
&mdash; Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) <a href="https://twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/1359859288123047938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;If you imagine that storming Omaha Beach was &#8216;thrilling&#8217; for a young kid watching his friend&#8217;s heads exploding to his left &amp; right while taking hails of machine gun fire, then you might want to reevaluate your imaginative capacities. Also, comparing that to covering Trump&#8230;&#8221; Blehar continued.
&#8220;These people really are our best and bravest,&#8221; added sarcastically. &#8220;I thank God there&#8217;s someone like this man, willing to go out there on the firing line in mortal danger every morning and risk it all.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
These people really are our best and bravest. I thank God there&#39;s someone like this man, willing to go out there on the firing line in mortal danger every morning and risk it all.
&mdash; Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) <a href="https://twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/1359860087637094408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-bolton-already-debunked-key-claim-in-atlantic-report-on-trumps-alleged-comments-on-dead-soldiers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John Bolton Already Debunked Key Claim In Atlantic Report On Trump’s Alleged Comments On Dead Soldiers</a>

Ships At Omaha Beach

‘Utterly Breathtaking’: Yahoo News Reporter Compares Covering Trump To Fighting D-Day

Journalism

World War II

Anne Applebaum, a staff writer for The Atlantic, claimed on Sunday that businesses in major cities across the U.S. are boarding up their windows ahead of election days because of President Donald Trump.
Applebaum fired off her take on Twitter and garnered more than 32,000 likes and nearly 10,000 retweets on the post within 24 hours.
“When conservatives celebrated Trump&#8217;s election 4 years ago, did they know that in 2020 we would board up shops, prepare for riots and the arrival of militias, game out ways he might steal the election, protest aggressive vote suppression? This is what he has done to America,” Applebaum said. “Plus gum up the US postal service, incite supporters to violence &#8230;”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
When conservatives celebrated Trump&#39;s election 4 years ago, did they know that in 2020 we would board up shops, prepare for riots and the arrival of militias, game out ways he might steal the election, protest aggressive vote suppression? This is what he has done to America.
&mdash; Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1323015533684543489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Many of the users interacting with Applebaum’s tweet pointed out that despite her claim, the vast majority of mob violence over the summer and leading up to the election has been associated with left-wing groups such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
“(1) Shops are being boarded up in preparation for Democrats rioting; (2) Democrats are gaming out ways of taking the White House (see John Podesta); (3) Democrats are already claiming if he wins, it&#8217;s because of phantom voter suppression,” The Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
(1) Shops are being boarded up in preparation for Democrats rioting; (2) Democrats are gaming out ways of taking the White House (see John Podesta); (3) Democrats are already claiming if he wins, it&#39;s because of phantom voter suppression. <a href="https://t.co/WSxSGKZiZW">https://t.co/WSxSGKZiZW</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1323272211973787648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“A good example of how elites on the left have normalized political violence from others on the left — and the resultant destruction of property and peace, and possibly the republic itself,” The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A good example of how elites on the left have normalized political violence from others on the left — and the resultant destruction of property and peace, and possibly the republic itself. <a href="https://t.co/PoipbmeJUu">https://t.co/PoipbmeJUu</a>
&mdash; Mollie (@MZHemingway) <a href="https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1323275476610240523?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“Yes. Those of us who have watched the left march far leftward over the past 10 years could have predicted that by 2020 you guys would have become full-on violent communist revolutionaries — and that has nothing to do with Trump,” Allie Beth Stuckey, host of “Relatable,” said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Yes. Those of us who have watched the left march far leftward over the past 10 years could have predicted that by 2020 you guys would have become full-on violent communist revolutionaries—and that has nothing to do with Trump. <a href="https://t.co/vlnIA7GAJt">https://t.co/vlnIA7GAJt</a>
&mdash; Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) <a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/1323271615447212032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Business owners in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and other locales have covered their windows and storefronts with boards ahead of election day expecting riots and looting to break out pending the outcome of the election. Over the summer, hundreds of riots ravaged the United States’ largest cities after the death of George Floyd, a black man, while he was in police custody in Minneapolis.
The riots almost entirely <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-ill-end-trumps-chaos-crenshaw-businesses-werent-boarding-up-their-windows-because-they-were-afraid-of-trump-supporters">spawned</a> from Black Lives Matter marches, often with the encouragement of members of Antifa, a decentralized anarchic group. At times, violence between left-wing demonstrators and right-wing counter protesters has broken out, though the clashes have made up a small part of the violence.
During the summer riots, which some termed the “1619 Riots” after The New York Times’ “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/profoundly-flawed-group-of-scholars-call-for-pulitzer-prize-to-be-revoked-from-1619-project-author">1619 Project</a>,” Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, who led the creation of the project, defended the rampant looting and property destruction that was ripping apart U.S. cities. Hannah-Jones&#8217; project was criticized as ahistorical and flawed by a number of historians.
“Destroying property, which can be replaced, is not violence … I think any reasonable person would say we shouldn’t be destroying other people’s property, but these are not reasonable times,” Hannah-Jones said.

New York City

‘The Atlantic’ Writer Claims Shops Are Boarding Up Ahead Of Election Because Of Trump

2020 Election

Donald Trump

The Atlantic was forced to issue a major correction to a report late on Friday night, admitting that an author lied to them and their readers, after a media critic at The Washington Post dug into the report and found numerous issues with it.
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/30/atlantics-troubled-niche-sports-story/">dismantled</a> a piece authored by Ruth Shalit Barrett, who allegedly has a checkered past including &#8220;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/24/ruth-shalit-just-wrote-atlantic-would-readers-know-it-byline/">a trail of journalistic scandal.</a>&#8221;
The story that Wemple picked apart led readers to believe that fencing was a dangerous, bloody sport. Barrett wrote about two injuries allegedly sustained by a young girl in Connecticut last year. The Atlantic article claimed that the girl was &#8220;stabbed in the jugular&#8221; right &#8220;next to the carotid artery.&#8221; The article also claimed that the 12-year-old girl, Sloane, had previously been &#8220;gashed so deeply in the thigh that blood seeped through her pants.&#8221;
Wemple began:
<blockquote>The Erik Wemple Blog <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/24/ruth-shalit-just-wrote-atlantic-would-readers-know-it-byline/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote last week</a> that these counted as freakish events in one of the world’s safest sports. The Atlantic has already issued one correction on the story — a claim about Olympic-size backyard hockey rinks — prompted by this blog’s questions. Now there appear to be yet more problems.</blockquote>
Wemple noted that there were problems with the way that the girl&#8217;s injuries were portrayed in the article. Wemple outlined the following additional problems that he found with the report, which he noted slipped past The Atlantic&#8217;s &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; team:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Sloane’s middle name. The story relies on anonymized parents to provide quotes depicting them as unaware tyrants. “Sloane&#8221; is the alleged middle name of the mother guiding her athletic daughters through Fairfield’s cutthroat sporting world, an allowance designed to protect her privacy and her kids’ &#8220;college-recruitment chances.” Except public records searches for the mother’s real name show no “Sloane” whatsoever, which would make it a pseudonym.</li>
<li>Where’s the son? The Atlantic reports that Sloane’s husband took the “couple’s two younger girls and son” to Ohio. Sources close to the family say there is no son. The marquee photo on the father’s Facebook page shows three smiling girls.</li>
<li>An improbable phone call. At the top of the article, Barrett writes that during the July 4 weekend last year, Sloane &#8220;was crouched in the vestibule of the Bay Club in Redwood City, strategizing on the phone with her husband about a ‘malicious refereeing’ dispute that had victimized her daughter at the California Summer Gold tournament. He had his own problem. In Columbus, Ohio, at the junior-fencing nationals with the couple’s two younger girls and son, he reported that their middle daughter, a 12-year-old saber fencer, had been stabbed.”  The text gives the impression that the two crises were overlapping. But the California Summer Gold tournament in Redwood City <a href="https://clublocker.com/tournaments/10352/info" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">took place from June 28 to 30</a>, a week before the “massacre” in Columbus on July 7. Could Sloane have alighted on the squash-tourney vestibule a full week after the competition concluded? That’s possible, but US Squash, which accredits the tournament, confirms that all on-site tournament business had concluded the week prior.</li>
<li>Lacrosse weirdness: Bates College of Lewiston, Maine, ducks into the Atlantic story just long enough to become party to a misimpression: “Alpha sports parents followed the rules,&#8221; writes Barrett, &#8220;only to discover that they’d built the 80th- or 90th-best lacrosse midfielder in the country. Which, it turns out, barely qualifies you for a spot at the bottom of the roster at Bates.” Arithmetic exposes the distortion here. There are about 400 collegiate lacrosse programs in the United States — 70-plus in Division I, with top contenders including several Ivy League schools. All of them need to recruit several midfielders per year. Casey D’Annolfo, head lacrosse coach at Tufts University, which has won three national championships in the past decade and competes in the same conference as Bates, says, “If we got the 80th-best midfielder in the class, he would make the team without question, and if he continued on that trajectory, he would most likely be a starter for us and have the potential to be an All-American for us.” Speaking of the Atlantic’s lacrosse-recruiting assessment, D’Annolfo said, “We got a good laugh out of it at Bates’s expense, but we all know what a ridiculous and inaccurate statement it is.&#8221;</li>
<li>Nonsensical quotes: In a scene from a squash tournament at Chelsea Piers in Stamford in January, Barrett reports overhearing a parent saying, “Georgetown has gone cold. But he may get the last spot at Columbia.” But Georgetown University offers only a club squash team, meaning that it does not recruit and does not go “cold” on anyone. “We cross our fingers,” says Georgetown club team captain Luca Perper. Columbia University, by contrast, has one of the <a href="https://csasquash.com/rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">most competitive varsity squash programs in the United States</a>. Another quote from the same scene: “Did you see that kid Mohammed? … No, the other Mohammed. His academics aren’t strong, but his squash is unbelievable.” No one with the name Mohammed was <a href="https://clublocker.com/tournaments/10487/entrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">registered to compete in that tournament</a>.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Late on Friday night, The Atlantic was forced to issue a major correction to the piece and stated that it was not done investigating the article.
The Atlantic&#8217;s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/squash-lacrosse-niche-sports-ivy-league-admissions/616474/">correction</a> stated:
<blockquote>After The Atlantic published this article, new information emerged that has raised serious concerns about its accuracy, and about the credibility of the author, Ruth Shalit Barrett.
We have established that Barrett deceived The Atlantic and its readers about a section of the story that concerns a person referred to as “Sloane.” We are sharing with our readers what we have learned so far.
The original version of this article stated that Sloane has a son. Before publication, Sloane confirmed this detail to be true to The Atlantic’s fact-checking department. After publication, when a Washington Post media critic asked us about the accuracy of portions of the article, our fact-checking department reached out to Sloane to recheck certain details. Through her attorney, Sloane informed us that she does not, in fact, have a son. We have independently corroborated that Sloane does not have a son, and we have corrected the story to remove the reference to her having a son.
In explaining Sloane’s reasoning for telling our fact-checker she had a son, Sloane’s attorney told The Atlantic that she wanted to make herself less readily identifiable. Her attorney also said that according to Sloane, Barrett had first proposed the invention of a son, and encouraged Sloane to deceive The Atlantic as a way to protect her anonymity.
When we asked Barrett about these allegations, she initially denied them, saying that Sloane had told her she had a son, and that she had believed Sloane. The next day, when we questioned her again, she admitted that she was “complicit” in “compounding the deception” and that “it would not be fair to Sloane” to blame her alone for deceiving The Atlantic. Barrett denies that the invention of a son was her idea, and denies advising Sloane to mislead The Atlantic’s fact-checkers, but told us that “on some level I did know that it was BS” and “I do take responsibility.”
Sloane’s attorney claimed that there are several other errors about Sloane in the article but declined to provide The Atlantic with examples. Barrett says that the fabricated son is the only detail about which she deceived our fact-checkers and editors. Our fact-checking department is continuing to thoroughly recheck the article.
We have already corrected and clarified other details in the story. During the initial fact-checking process, we corroborated many details of Sloane’s story with sources other than Sloane. But the checking of some details of Sloane’s story relied solely on interviews and other communications with Sloane or her husband or both of them.
We have clarified a detail about a neck injury sustained by Sloane’s middle daughter, to be more precise about its severity. We have corrected a detail about a thigh injury, originally described as a deep gash but more accurately described as a skin rupture that bled through a fencing uniform. And we’ve corrected the location of a lacrosse family mentioned in the article: They do not live in Greenwich, Connecticut, but in another town in Fairfield County.
On October 22, we noted and corrected another error in the story: The article originally referenced Olympic-size backyard hockey rinks, but although the private rinks are large and equipped with floodlights and generators, they are not Olympic-size.
We are also updating Barrett’s byline. Originally, we referred to her as Ruth S. Barrett. When writing recently for other magazines, Barrett was identified by her full name, Ruth Shalit Barrett. (Barrett is her married name.) In 1999, when she was known by Ruth Shalit, she left The New Republic, where she was an associate editor, after plagiarism and inaccurate reporting were discovered in her work. We typically defer to authors on how their byline appears—some authors use middle initials, for example, or shorter versions of their given name. We referred to Barrett as Ruth S. Barrett at her request, but in the interest of transparency, we should have included the name that she used as her byline in the 1990s, when the plagiarism incidents occurred. We have changed the byline on this article to Ruth Shalit Barrett.
We decided to assign Barrett this freelance story in part because more than two decades separated her from her journalistic malpractice at The New Republic and because in recent years her work has appeared in reputable magazines. We took into consideration the argument that Barrett deserved a second chance to write feature stories such as this one. We were wrong to make this assignment, however. It reflects poor judgment on our part, and we regret our decision.
We are continuing to review this article. We will correct any errors we find, and we will communicate our findings to our readers as speedily as possible.</blockquote>
News of the correction sent shockwaves throughout the media and political world late on Friday night and into the early morning hours on Saturday.
The Atlantic has come under fire in recent weeks over an article that it wrote that claimed, based solely on anonymous sources, that President Donald Trump called fallen U.S. soldiers &#8220;suckers&#8221; and &#8220;losers.&#8221; Fourteen people who were with Trump on the trip went on <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/wtas-officials-say-the-atlantic-story-is-false">record</a> and stated The Atlantic&#8217;s reporting was not true.

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The Atlantic Forced To Issue Major Correction To Report After Admitting Author ‘Deceived’ Readers

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