Patterico's Pontifications

2/2/2017

Big Media Falsely Reports Gorsuch Founded a “Fascism Forever” Club in High School

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:30 pm



Alana Goodman at the Daily Mail had a Big Scoop today: Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee founded a club in high school called “Fascism Forever!”

The only problem is, it’s not true.

Here are the introductory grafs from Goodman’s article:

Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch founded and led a student group called the ‘Fascism Forever Club’ at his elite high school, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The club was set up to rally against the ‘left-wing tendencies’ of his professors while attending a Jesuit all-boys preparatory high school near Washington D.C.

The name may be inconvenient for a Supreme Court nominee facing a tough confirmation battle. However it also shows the depth of Gorscuch’s right-wing credentials – and his penchant for mischief while attending his exclusive prep school in the 1980s.

Wow! That’s crazy! So . . . what’s her evidence for this?

A single entry in a high school yearbook.

He served as president until he graduated in 1985, according to his senior yearbook.

The yearbook described the ‘Fascism Forever Club’ as an anti-faculty student group that battled against the ‘liberal’ views of the school administration.

‘In political circles, our tireless President Gorsuch’s “Fascism Forever Club” happily jerked its knees against the increasingly “left-wing” tendencies of the faculty,’ said the yearbook.

Are there interviews with teachers to corroborate this? With former students? Photos of club meetings? Writings that set forth the club’s agenda?

Nope. That’s it. Just the yearbook entry. The End.

gorsuch-yearbook-entry
Above: the yearbook entry from the Daily Mail article

Ed Whelan wrote early today:

Earth to newpaper reporters: High-school yearbook editors sometimes have a sophomoric sense of humor. I am reliably informed that no such club ever existed and that there was instead an inside joke among friends in the senior class that parodied political debates happening at the school. A contemporary of Gorsuch’s at the school also tells me that yearbook editors added stuff to student blurbs without their permission. All of this also leads me to doubt the yearbook’s claim that Gorsuch was a “Believer in The World According to Ward.”

And at America Magazine, they have done the work Alana Goodman should have done, and tracked down a former teacher who has gone on the record to dispute the bogus story:

[Gorsuch] wrote that he founded and led the “Fascism Forever Club,” though those with knowledge of the school back in the 1980s say there was no such club. The mention of it in the yearbook was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to poke fun at liberal peers who teased him about his fierce conservatism.

It was “a total joke,” said Steve Ochs, a history teacher at Georgetown Prep who was the student government advisor during Mr. Gorsuch’s junior and senior years at the Bethesda, Md., school.

“There was no club at a Jesuit school about young fascists,” he told America. “The students would create fictitious clubs; they would have fictitious activities. They were all inside jokes on their senior pages.”

None of this kept the story from being reported all over Big Media. John Sexton notes stories at the New York Post, U.S. News and World Report, and the International Business Times.

And of course snarky lefties went nuts:

The story is garbage, and Alana Goodman and the editors at the Daily Mail should be ashamed of themselves.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

UPDATE: Dana spent a while writing up her own post on this at the same time I did. I am appending hers as an update so you can see how we independently approached this. She also adds a lot of material you’ll find interesting. I did.

Quick! To The Fainting Couches: Neil Gorsuch Started A “Fascism Forever” Club At His Jesuit High School!!!

[guest post by Dana]

It is expected that anyone nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump will be the subject of ongoing scrutiny, criticism, attacks, smears, and last but not least, fake news. But, c’mon, accusing him of having seriously started a club called Fascism Forever?? Oh, please.

Consider this obvious bit of ridiculousness from Salon:

Supreme Court nominee founded and led a student club called “Fascism Forever,” while attending a private prep school in suburban Washington in the 1980s.

The yearbook of Georgetown Prep described the club as an anti-faculty student group that battled against the “liberal” views of the school administration, according to the UK Daily Mail.

“In political circles, our tireless President Gorsuch’s ‘Fascism Forever Club’ happily jerked its knees against the increasingly ‘left-wing’ tendencies of the faculty,” said the yearbook. Gorsuch led the club all four years he attended the elite all-boys Jesuit school in Bethesda, Maryland.

Gorsuch’s willingness to flaunt anti-democratic ideas in service of his conservative politics continued through his four years at Columbia University in New York City where he founded a chapter of the Federal Society, the conservative law network. His senior photo was accompanied by a “joke” from Henry Kissinger: “The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

With a seriousness that requires a furrowed brow to fully appreciate the immensity of this potential problem for Gorsuch and his nomination, Salon scolds with feigned concern:

While Gorsuch’s teenage politics could—and no doubt will—be portrayed as “youthful indiscretion” or irreverence in the face of “political correctness,” they will certainly raise problems for Gorsuch’s nomination. Confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justices often focus on the elusive question of “temperament,” especially among Republic moderates in the Senate who will decide Gorsuch’s fate.

Gorsuch will no doubt dismiss his youthful beliefs as the product of immaturity, not an unreasonable defense. (Democrats would defend a liberal nominee who had joined the Socialist Workers Party in high school or quoted a rapper with a criminal record in their yearbook photo.)

But Gorsuch now has the challenge of explaining away his immaturity while reaffirming his lifelong commitment to conservative politics, a tricky task especially in front of television cameras. His youthful antics open up a fertile field of inquiry for Democratic senators still bristling over the refusal of Senate Republicans to even consider Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court through the last ten months of Obama’s presidency.

And to make sure America understands just how very amusing serious this matter is and its negative implications for a nominee to the highest court in the land, Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center weighs in:

Apparently, the young Mr. Gorsuch felt that celebrating fascism was some sort of politically incorrect joke. Fascism is not a joke. There is nothing amusing about it. It has been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, the destruction of much of Europe, and the attempted genocide of the Jews. The idea that a potential Supreme Court justice may still harbor such notions is chilling, indeed.

Chilling…!!

Salon was in equally good intellectual company with other media outlets that picked up on the story, as well as noted social and political pundit, George Takei, who has 2.11 million Twitter followers:

Gorsuch1

gorsuch2

Thankfully, this ridiculousness was soundly debunked today by a teacher at Georgetown prep:

It was “a total joke,” said Steve Ochs, a history teacher at Georgetown Prep who was the student government advisor during Mr. Gorsuch’s junior and senior years at the Bethesda, Md., school.

“There was no club at a Jesuit school about young fascists,” he told America. “The students would create fictitious clubs; they would have fictitious activities. They were all inside jokes on their senior pages.”

As for concerns about Mr. Gorsuch’s purported early fascination with fascism, Dr. Ochs said the snippet in the yearbook—which he noted, for the record, he was not pleased that the yearbook editor let it be published—harkens back to a bygone era.

“There were some teachers who were ultra-liberal, and he would spar with them in class, like in religion class specifically, I remember, but always in good nature,” he recalled. “It sounds so strange today, when you can’t say boo without people going crazy, but it was all very good natured.

“There were some teachers who really didn’t like Reagan, and this is not appropriate, but they would challenge him and he’d come right back at them. He didn’t have any problem with that,” he continued. “He was an unassailably courteous kid, very popular with his class.”

This is what we are now conditioned to expect. Fake news from Big Media, it’s the new norm. Shame on the UK Daily Mail, Salon, SPLC and any other powerful entity that perpetuates and pushes these lies. And just think, it’s only going to get worse under President Trump.

When President Obama was in office, Big Media worked in a fast and furious fashion to make sure to provide him cover, and to shape stories to keep his carefully-tailored image in tact. Now, with a Republican in the White House, Big Media will be working overtime to make false allegations and accusations, no matter how ridiculous because they don’t want this administration to be seen as successful.

–Dana

86 Responses to “Big Media Falsely Reports Gorsuch Founded a “Fascism Forever” Club in High School”

  1. he’s adorbs like a whit stillman character

    him and Barron are sure to have many adventures

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  2. Too funny.

    At my high school, seniors were each allowed to have one staged, generally humorous, picture in the yearbook.

    My conservative political views and verbal sparring with some of the teachers about current events was so well known, that I decided to do my picture in a Mao hat, totally engrossed in reading a copy of the Little Red Book.

    Dave (711345)

  3. “In jest, there is truth.” – William Shakespeare, ‘King Lear’

    “Damage control, report!” – Capt. Lee Crane [David Hedison] almost any episode, ‘Voyage To the Bottom Of The Sea’ ABC TV, 1964-1968

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  4. Dave pretending to be conservative. Hilarious.

    NJRob (b2c888)

  5. Dave, at least you finally admit you have a Mao hat.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  6. Fascism Forever? Why would a conservative promote a radical leftist agenda?

    John Casor (08ad03)

  7. ==“There was no club at a Jesuit school about young fascists,” he told America. “The students would create fictitious clubs; they would have fictitious activities. They were all inside jokes on their senior pages.”==

    This fascism forever silliness Kinda reminds me of the ol’ “Sockpuppet Friday” threads. Except people then were smart enough to know it was all in fun.

    elissa (fb919d)

  8. I love the stuff from Dana’s post.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  9. Hey, did you guys hear the one about how President Mr Donald removed the MLK bust from the Oval Office?!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  10. Daily Mail is a tabloid on a par with the National Enquirer. Anyone taking it seriously is clearly an idiot, but it’s not “Big Media”. It’s also not “liberal media” as even a brief review of their headlines would reveal.

    Davethulhu (a6650a)

  11. It is schizophrenic, strongly populist where uk issues are concerned, but they bleed blue on questions regarding civil disturbances in this country.

    narciso (162b2f)

  12. Obama founded the pot smokers forever club in his prep school.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  13. @4 NJRob

    Dave pretending to be conservative. Hilarious.

    People who support a guy that endorsed Hillary Clinton and bankrolled Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Charlie Rangel and Anthony Weiner pretending to be conservative. Even more hilarious.

    Dave (711345)

  14. Here’s another one from the way back machine. Oh wait– this one’s real.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9dddcd24e606e9a172eb2fe947cf29f1fa2a16b5dbebc256146db84262b43b66.jpg?w=600&h=654

    elissa (fb919d)

  15. Well, it appears McClatchey is showing some desperation, and going after Gorsuch’s dead mother. Eye-catching, heart-stopping:

    His mother’s huge early ’80s EPA scandal taints Judge Neil Gorsuch’s name

    TAINTS!!

    From the report:

    Gorsuch hasn’t been a household name in the nation’s capital for more than 30 years, not since the late Anne Gorsuch Burford stood at the center of the worst scandal in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency.

    Now her son, appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch, is President Donald Trump’s choice to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

    She died of cancer in 2004 at age 62, leaving behind a bit of reputational baggage for her son.

    Interestingly, the report, which discusses the “worst scandal in the history of the EPA, doesn’t even mention Flint.

    Further, as we were scolded, ad nauseum during the election, that “Bill isn’t running,” then here’s the dealio now: Anne Gorsuch Burford hasn’t been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The desperation is showing.

    Dana (023079)

  16. Dave, Dave, Dave, you protest too much.
    Come on, bro.
    You’ve already admitted to wearing a Mao hat. And you’ve already admitted that Neil Gorsuch is no better than anyone that Hillary would have nominated.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  17. It’s a Borking. The GOP should move forward expeditiously.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  18. Dana, my mom died when I was a young adult. She did see me graduate college and get married. But there have been many times after that over these ensuing years where I know certain events in my life would have caused her great joy and pride–although obviously, nothing like the Supreme Court 🙂

    This article about his mom who was a public servant herself made me think how sad it is that she did not live to see his appointment to the high court and be able to share this incredible accomplishment with him.

    elissa (fb919d)

  19. And it’s obvious from the yearbook entry that it’s a joke–among other of his jokes.

    I bet the corrections, if any, were on page 102, as well.

    I bet he put a dog on top of his car, too.

    It’s just a full court press, isn’t it? I wonder what we will think one year from now…

    Patricia (5fc097)

  20. Well they haven’t reported finding any nasty hairs on coke cans yet –at least that we are aware of.

    elissa (fb919d)

  21. If only Neil Gorsuch had launched his first political campaign from the living room of a couple of anti-Semitic, anti-American terrorists, then he could become elected President!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  22. 🙂 elissa, cruz supporter. At least we can still laugh.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  23. The Democrats are busy tracking down Anita Hill.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  24. People who support a guy that endorsed Hillary Clinton and bankrolled Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Charlie Rangel and Anthony Weiner pretending to be conservative. Even more hilarious.

    Dave (711345) — 2/2/2017 @ 8:30 pm

    Yes yes, we know you are so concerned.

    We know that Hillary was far superior to the conservative movement than Trump. We can see that because Gorsuch is a leftist judge and worse than anything Hillary would have posted.

    You still sticking with that argument Dave? Dave “the conservative.”

    NJRob (43d957)

  25. Wait, the press can track down a yearbook from a nominee for Supreme Court – after 4 days – but in ten years were not able to get Obama’s college grades.

    lol, no bias here.

    Steven Malynn (d29fc3)

  26. It’s a mystery, Steven. *wink*

    Patricia (5fc097)

  27. We know that Hillary was far superior to the conservative movement than Trump. We can see that because Gorsuch is a leftist judge and worse than anything Hillary would have posted.

    You still sticking with that argument Dave? Dave “the conservative.”

    LOL. You have to lie and invent things I’ve never said out of whole cloth, rather than addressing anything I did say. So noble and morally superior!

    Bonus points for recycling the brain-dead fallacy that opposing Trump means supporting Hillary. One. More. Time.

    Your guy is the one who said Hillary would make a great president, not me.

    Dave (711345)

  28. Frank kinda relief.

    Just got done with George Will saying how excited he is that Gorsuch will put an end to all of Scalia’s mistakes and excesses.

    That leaves me with your endorsements, and the fact that the Judge has “Gore Sucks” built into his name.

    While you guys have been screwing the pooch picking horses, I can’t pass up the opportunity to site legal rulings from Justice Goresucks for my remaining years.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  29. lol, no bias here.

    Were Obama’s grades on the shelf in the school library, and distributed to all his classmates, like Gorsuch’s yearbook?

    Dave (711345)

  30. Never thought it’d get to this point but with the media simultaneously crapping the bed, foaming at the mouth and performing self-immolation I’m now waiting for the flip to complete and Patterico to start posting about the mainstream media saying something about Gorsuch and getting it right.

    Major props to the new journalism, from “all the news that fits” to “screw it, print it”.

    Harkin (470cbb)

  31. Dave, for a “conservative,” you sure do an awful lot of defending of Barack.
    … and an awful lot of assailing of Republicans.
    Just sayin’.

    David Brooks?

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  32. Did I spell that right?

    Gorsucks.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  33. “Were Obama’s grades on the shelf in the school library, and distributed to all his classmates, like Gorsuch’s yearbook?”

    No, but the flyers from his lit. agent claiming he was born in Kenya got much larger distribution. Those agents sure have a wacky sense of humor.

    Harkin (470cbb)

  34. Harkin, I had seen those publicity flyers, too.
    Strange how Barack told his publisher to assert that he’d been born in Kenya even though he’d actually been born in Hawaii.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  35. It’s a Borking. The GOP should move forward expeditiously.

    Kevin M

    Hey, they said it was an urgent duty to fill this vacancy ASAP last year. I don’t see why they can’t have the hearings and vote on this fellow in the next week.

    Who knows what he’s going to be like as a justice. We know as much as we have about the others. Some were Souters some were Scalias. Seems like he’s as qualified and recommended as we could hope for so what’s the hold up?

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  36. I do love all the references to Hillary and Obama. I thought Trump was doing very poorly but his fans seem to really know it, by how low they wish the bar to be set for him.

    ‘better than Hillary’. Not much of a conservative argument, especially now that the election is over. It’s also an argument most voters did not agree with. Pretty amusing though.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  37. ah contrair . Hillary would sell her vote to anybody with a big enough bankbook (much like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski} without consideration of loyalty favoritism or moralizing.

    Isn’t that the quintessential naked free market capitalism which defines conservative thought?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  38. Trump is the swampiest of the swampy. Indeed, one of the customers of Hillary’s corruption was Trump. He has a cabinet of ultimate insiders. This is kinda the opposite sort of Tea Party.

    but indeed, Trump does make that playbook seem conservative. A whole lot of things are now GOP values. Disrespecting POWs, bragging about groping at women, kissing Putin’s ass… that’s the GOP.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  39. Yeah, it hasn’t been all that long ago that they were telling us that conservatism is dead, that ideology is dead, and Trumppolitik is the new realpolitik. But you can’t be a Trump supporter if you don’t have Alternate Facts for every occasion hanging in your closet.

    nk (dbc370)

  40. Trump is being treated almost as evil incarnate, which is an exaggeration and is not good, and better applies to Hillary but nobody would have done it. The election is, in some ways, not over. They want not only to defeat Trump for re-election, but treat him as an anti-president, and later try to pretend it never happened, and maybe even strike him off the list of presidents, if their imaagination extends so far.

    Now the head of Uber has been persuaded to withdraw from a meeting with Trump (he was to meet along with some other Silicon Valley executives) because he said it would be misinterpreted as support for other things Trump is doing. Uber got criticized by the left because when taxi drivers in New York City staged a strike at Kennedy Airport in order to create trouble for travelers after the sudden issuance of that exeective order that cancelled visas and banned citizens of 7 countries from entering the United States, Uber did not participate, although they did turn off surge pricing. But implementing surge pricing to take advantage of shortages caused by emergency conditions was yesterday’s criticism.

    The fight to maintain the integrity of the bubble is very, very, fierce.

    Sammy Finkelman (9974e8)

  41. “But you can’t be a Trump supporter if you don’t have Alternate Facts for every occasion hanging in your closet.”
    *****

    “If you like your plan, you can keep it”

    “A family of four will save $2,500 a year”

    “It was all because of a video”

    “There are more young black men in prison than in college”

    “90 percent of the deficit is from GWB’s policies”

    “It was only a couple of IRS staffers in Cincinnati”

    “I never called ISIS the JV team”

    “The Keystone Pipeline is for oil that will all bypass the United States”

    “We never sent any cash secretly to Iran”

    “OK we sent cash secretly to Iran but that was only because of wire transfer restrictions”

    “OK we also sent billions more in wire transfers to Iran but that was because LOOK SQUIRREL!”

    “This nuclear technology we are giving to the mullahs will never be used for weapons, just like the nuke tech we gave N Korea”

    ****

    Just a small sample from a time when the media didn’t give a rat’s…

    Harkin (470cbb)

  42. And what’s that got to do with the price of iPhones in China?

    Dustin said it. Are Obama and Hillary the standard against which you want to measure Trump? If you do, fine. But don’t go lecturing us about who’s a conservative.

    nk (dbc370)

  43. Hey Nevertrumpers this is a thread about a great Jurist who deserves our support, get over your bad selves.

    If Trump steps on his crank, go ahead and dump an I told you so on us, but when he steps up and delivers real conservative goods, have the same integrity you demand of Trump.

    Steven Malynn (d29fc3)

  44. Dafuq? Dave was defending Gorsuch. Then some jackanapes told him he had no right to because he (Dave) was not a conservative. Gratuitously, because of Dave’s criticisms of Trump on other issues. And others piled on. And the reason that they piled on is that you can’t be a Trump supporter and not have a cognitive disconnect about what is and is not a conservative.

    Find me a #NeverTrumper who is against Gorsuch. Patterico is deliriously happy with Gorsuch. I am pleased as punch to have had Trump keep his promise about the kind of justices he would appoint. Who’s said anything against Gorsuch here? Even happyfeet who hates Harvard has come around, for crying out loud.

    nk (dbc370)

  45. Looking back, yea #4 was gratuitous – but #13 was a threadjack, and #16 a legit rejoinder.

    Not sure why Dave took a shot at me on #29 – kind of reduces his cred, favoring Obama excuses – then Dustin doubled down on Trump hate later in #36 and #38.

    But your jumping in just continued the threadjack.

    Steven Malynn (d29fc3)

  46. The person with the yearbook wouldn’t have sent the yearbook quote to a UK paper so that means the US msm has reached their quota for fake news on either just Gorsuch news or maybe all Trump nominee news so they have to farm it out to overseas fake news outlets.

    Jcurtis (eef750)

  47. nk, you can always tell which Trump critic has made the right people mad. Today it’s Dave. Sincere congratulations, Dave.

    Steven, it’s not hate, it’s criticism. Trump is president and he’s going to get criticism. Nothing I said wasn’t true or valid criticism from a point of view of ethics or conservatism. Crying that I ‘hate’ your poor politician is simply being weak. If you want a look at hatred, watch Trump respond to a female journalist asking a real question.

    I wonder if you guys who want everything to be super easy for Trump, who passes the lowest bar imaginable, are the same guys who give participation ribbons to brats.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  48. Mr. Gorsuch has been anointed by President Trump

    he is reborn!

    Reborn into a life of service to constitutional justice!

    This is a sacred moment.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  49. Forget these pitiful distractions, here’s what must be stamped out…

    http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/homeland-security/317604-the-alt-lefts-cyber-jihad-against-trump-and-his#.WJOfNglI5gw.twitter

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  50. John McCain is a living testament that enhanced interrogation techniques not only work for real time intel extraction, but flashbacks of the event can even recruit the weak minded into a lifetime of service.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  51. “The message this establishment is sending to Trump? Conform or be destroyed. The outrage at the president’s executive order on refugees and travel was a sample of what is coming. Trump is used to fighting the media and campaign opponents, but he has little experience with the professional and supposedly nonpartisan bureaucracy. That is why his firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates was so important. She ordered her department not to defend an executive order that had been cleared by the White House counsel and her own Office of Legal Counsel. For Trump to have delayed or done nothing would have been an invitation to further subversion. He let Yates go within hours.

    The blasé manner in which the media describes opposition to Trump from within the bureaucracy is stunning. “Federal workers turn to encryption to thwart Trump,” read one Politico headline. “An anti-Trump resistance movement is growing within the U.S. government,” says Vanity Fair. “Federal workers are in regular consultation with recently departed Obama-era political appointees about what they can do to push back against the new president’s initiatives,” reports the Washington Post. No one who professes support for democracy and the rule of law can read these words without feeling alarmed. The civil service exists to support the chief executive—not the other way around. And yet, when White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that career officials who disagree with White House policy are free to resign, the collective response in Washington was outrage—at Spicer!

    Not only are there two Americas. There are two governments: one elected and one not, one that alternates between Republicans and Democrats and one that remains, decade after decade, stubbornly liberal, contemptuous of Congress, and resistant to change. It is this second government and its allies in the media and the Democratic Party that are after President Trump, that want him driven from office before his term is complete…”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/256324/

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  52. Dustin would have been out there throwing bricks through windows in Berkeley, except he’s 106 years old, and his Uber driver though the oxygen tank was a pipe bomb.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  53. Dustin, you have not made a substantive point in this thread, don’t pat yourself on your back too hard.

    Steven Malynn (d29fc3)

  54. I’m thrilled that President Mr Donald didn’t nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
    And I thank God that nasty Hillary woman wasn’t afforded the opportunity to nominate a left wing wacko from the 9th Circuit to become Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s new best friend.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  55. Easy with the oxygen tank jokes. Remember, if I was a Democrat I’d be a victim.

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  56. The Fascism Forever Club had a field day in Berkeley on Thursday. Too bad Judge Gorsuch missed it.

    The poster-boy for the alt-Right, Milo Yiannopoulos, has done a masterful job showing us all who the fascists really are. It is a shame that so many who should know better have bought into the Leftist canard about the alt-Right. Oh, how they project.

    Here’s a heartening story about the riot that ran on the local Fox affiliate.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  57. Pro-Choice forever! It’s not “personal.”

    nn (63b344)

  58. Pro-Life forever! It’s not “a choice”.

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  59. Nk – “Dustin said it. Are Obama and Hillary the standard against which you want to measure Trump?”

    That thing sailing over your head and clearing the left field wall is the point.

    We HAVE to measure media response to Trump because of complete dereliction of duty by the media for everything Obama and Hillary treated with lies, corruption and incompetence.

    Watching the media turn themselves into Fake News Central for the entire country to distrust is (so far) Trump’s second greatest achievement.

    Harkin (470cbb)

  60. “Old and busted: Mainstream media’s war on “fake news.” New hotness: Airing baseless rumors on air in order to feed the narrative. Mediate’s Alex Griswold highlights this bizarre exchange between former Clinton Cabinet member Robert Reich and CNN’s Don Lemon, in which Reich explains away the riots in Berkeley that prevented Milo Yiannopoulos’ speech at the university as a false flag by … Breitbart?

    This isn’t the first time that Robert Reich has rejected your reality and substituted his own. Exit quote: “I claim no higher truth than my own perceptions. This is how I lived it.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/256359/

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  61. Spicer calls on Glen Thrush today and the cur can’t even look Spicer in the eye as he’s asking his predictable assertion question.

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  62. “When Barack Obama was president, most members of the media apparently believed in a fluid interpretation of the Constitution. Constitutional sticklers were dismissed as dinosaurs or worse—especially if they identified themselves with the Tea Party movement. Except for Glenn Greenwald and the occasional lonely voice or two, the ladies and gentlemen of the press raised barely a peep about the administration’s drone killings, even of U.S. citizens. Executive-branch rewrites of health, immigration and environmental law were met with a collective yawn in the Fourth Estate.

    That attitude certainly changed quickly. Donald Trump has turned the mainstream media into strict constructionists, or so they would have us believe. The Constitution they sternly invoke against the new president’s moves is now one carved in granite with words bearing unimpeachably plain meaning in their favor.

    This is happening even as Trump – whom they routinely cast as a Constitution-destroying authoritarian – puts forth a Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, who is notably skeptical of expanding presidential power and by most accounts really thinks the document ought to mean what it says…

    ‘The media’s new enthusiasm does not require a lot of close reading. Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who lost a son in the Iraq War, waved the Constitution at the Democratic convention last summer and invited Trump to read the text, evidently hoping that the mogul would find immigration wisdom within.’

    “…I don’t know if Trump ever took him up on the offer, but I did. I didn’t see the words “foreigner” or “non-citizen” or “immigrant” or “refugee” anywhere in the document, nor mention of any right to enter the country.

    It may be that policy or legislation or court precedents have created or divined such rights, but those are not what Khan waved at the podium. And, more to my point, that’s not something the media have bothered to explain in their copious sympathetic coverage of Khan – whose law practice includes securing visas for immigrants — and others who pummel Trump as a constitutional transgressor.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/constitution/

    Colonel Haiku (5b7649)

  63. We’re on the same page on the media. I’ve defended prostitutes, male and female, whom I respected more than the pervy poofter boys and frustrated strippers who call themselves journalists.

    I never liked Trump more than when he told the CNN twit “You’re fake news”, unless it was the time he threw the Univision jerk out of his press conference way back in the primaries.

    nk (dbc370)

  64. The college yearbook for President Clinton’s (the elected President Clinton that is) graduating class (1968) at Georgetown is filled with racist and sexist jokes. I have no reason to believe that he had any role in editing the yearbook (he was a political animal even then) but it just demonstrates how juvenile yearbooks were and are.

    I find it shocking that anyone – much less a reporter – would not have sought to confirm the existence of such a club. For example, simply seeing whether or not there was a club picture in the yearbook!

    Paige Jackson (12c077)

  65. Most journalists need to be put on a ship with middle managers and telephone sanitizers and get shot into deep space.

    And speaking of immigration, if I had a time machine and a gun with two bullets I’d go back in time and shoot Emma Lazarus twice.

    Pinandpuller (f88b8c)

  66. Emma Lazarus’ Give me your tired your poor poem was the catalyst to get Americans, both natural born and immigrant, to pitch in their pennies and dimes to pay for the elements and construction of the stand on which the Statue of Liberty rises in New York Harbor. Do not fault her that her inspiring words are being misused today for political purposes in a different era.

    elissa (692a2c)

  67. “I find it shocking that anyone – much less a reporter – would not have sought to confirm the existence of such a club.”

    – Paige Jackson

    At this late date, you find it shocking?

    It seems more like the same old, same old to me.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  68. The MSM are too eager to jump to conclusions that Trump removed the MLK bust from the Oval Office due to racism, or that Judge Gorsuch has been fascist since high school, so they report without confirmation.
    On the other hand, when a jihadist shoots up a nightclub, or blows up this or that, we’re told by these same journalists (as well as the Barack Administration) that we can’t conclude that he was motivated by religion just because he was a Muslim who yelled Allahu Akbar!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  69. What appear to be “errors” of omission or commission are nothing of the sort. They are the result of a politically motivated double standard. What’s the value of the Fourth Estate when they are nothing more than political operatives hiding behind a facade of neutrality? If anything, they are worse than the Sid Blumenthals of this world who are, at least, honest about their motives.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  70. Harkin (470cbb) — 2/3/2017 @ 6:04 am

    Some caveats:

    “It was all because of a video”

    I don’t think Obama actually said that. The CIA really did say that but denied that it did. “We never mentioned avideo” The claim was taht the attack was spontaneous and inspired by the evenst in Caito, and the events in Cairowere supposed to have been set off by avideo.

    It was the attackers themselvesm by the way, who blamed a video.

    The New York Times had a stringer in Benghazi. They spresd rumors that the Americans had shot at eaceful demonstrators, and gathered a crowd. Meanwhile they posted guards. And the guarded harranged people about the video. That was the first this New York Times stroonger had ever heard of a video. The attackers were lying. It was one of the cover stories. (The Islamicists, probably associated with the Moslem Brotehrhood in Egypt – but they all are – of course had arranged for the video to be made and uploaded – there’s no other way to explain this) That way they could claim it was unplanned because nobody knew anytjing about a video more than a few days before.

    “There are more young black men in prison than in college”

    Sounds true, but not actually true. It might have been true 15 to 20 years ago, but since then more back men attend college. (double the number) But even back then a lot of colleges didn’treport their numbers, including some historically black colleges and some state universities, o this never rreally was true.

    http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/178601467/are-there-really-more-black-men-in-prison-than-college

    The bigger lie is that there would be something sinister with that statistic, like as if theer isn’t actually a higher crime rate. You’re also mostly comparing a 4-6 year long cohort with a larger cohort extending over 10-15 years.

    “I never called ISIS the JV team”

    Did he deny that? The key point is that he did say it. Now maybe hs said he wasn’t specifically referring to ISIS, but had other terrorists in mind. Which could be true. We need to check the context.

    “We never sent any cash secretly to Iran”

    No, the matter in dispute is whether the cash was ransom.

    They say it wasn’t because they were settling a claim – and what that they don’t say but s true is taht they paying Iran not to drop out of the nuclear agreement. But they insisted on abonus – prisoners, too.

    “OK we sent cash secretly to Iran but that was only because of wire transfer restrictions”

    Which was half true. It needed to be sent in cash to Switzerland, but could have been wired by third parties the rest of the way)

    “OK we also sent billions more in wire transfers to Iran but that was because LOOK SQUIRREL!”

    The argument was that they got a good deal and settled the matter of the money Iran had paid for fighter jets during the time of the Shah but Jimmy Carter impounded. The claim is we settled it at at a lower rate of interest than Iran was claiming. They did it to stop Iran from backing out of the nuclear deal and disable their heavy water reactor. This was leverage – and theer was no reason to give Iran the money now.

    Sammy Finkelman (9974e8)

  71. @nk:Dave was defending Gorsuch.

    In another thread he said very nasty things about Gorsuch, because (he said) if Trump nominated him he must be a bad person. Maybe’s he’s backing away from that now. I hope so.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  72. “(he said) if Trump nominated him he must be a bad person.”

    – Gabriel Hanna

    Yeah, he didn’t actually say that. By retailing this stuff, you insulate Dave against true charges.

    You can’t keep the double-standards dialed to 11 without making yourself look like a crazy person who should just be ignored.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  73. Here’s the other thread that Gabriel Hanna is referencing, for the record.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  74. @Leviticus: No, I paraphrased him.

    I’ll give you the direct quote so everyone can decide if I am trying to mislead anyone:

    “..accepting a nomination from him raise grave doubts about Gorsuch’s judgment and ethical standards.”

    That’s some pretty weak sauce you’re serving there, my friend. Like trying to claim that “women” means little girls and little boys.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  75. @Leviticus: So did I summarize Dave accurately, that if Trump nominated Gorsuch then Gorsuch must be a bad person?

    Yes or no?

    Very, very few people would take what I said about Dave, just now, and describe it as “double-standards dialed to 11”, but you just keep on posting things that are self-evidently false and I’m sure it is eventually bound to discredit something I said that everyone can see was quite accurate.

    Yeah, you keep that up.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  76. Gabriel Hanna’s correct; Dave flew off the handle the other day in another thread, saying that if Gorsuch accepted a nomination by someone as evil as Trump, then there’s something wrong with Gorsuch.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  77. “Confession #1

    The words you used were self-proclaimed sexual predator and your quote does not say that. Lie #1.

    Confession #2:

    The words you used were bragged about peeping at naked little girls (or boys) and your quote does not say that.
    Lie #2.”

    – Gabriel Hanna

    The words you used were “bad person” and your quote does not say that.

    (I’m not gonna call you a liar, though. I think that’s pretty tacky).

    Leviticus (efada1)

  78. We can debate whether you summarized Dave accurately, or whether Dave summarized Trump accurately, but a disagreement about the accuracy of summaries doesn’t mean that one party or the other is “lying.”

    Leviticus (efada1)

  79. @Leviticus: a disagreement about the accuracy of summaries doesn’t mean that one party or the other is “lying.”

    You are correct about that–a disagreement does not in itself support the charge of lying. But in Dave’s case he did lie. It wasn’t a quibble over his exact words, but over the substance–Donald Trump never bragged about peeping at little naked boys and girls.

    You are quibbling with my accurate paraphrase of Dave, and making yourself look quite small.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  80. @Leviticus:(I’m not gonna call you a liar, though. I think that’s pretty tacky).

    As a rhetorical device, apophasis can serve a number of purposes.

    It can be employed to raise an ad hominem or otherwise controversial attack while disclaiming responsibility for it, as in, “I refuse to discuss the rumor that my opponent is a drunk.” This can make it a favored tactic in politics.

    Apophasis can be used passive-aggressively, as in, “I forgive you for your jealousy, so I won’t even mention what a betrayal it was.”

    I’m not talking further to you, Leviticus, unless it’s on the topic of the thread.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  81. Donald Trump bragged about walking into changing rooms at his pageants. One of his pageants was the Miss Teen USA pageant. Some of those contestants were little girls. Some of those contestants (Mariah Billado and three others) remember Trump coming into the Miss Teen USA dressing room and stating something like “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.”

    You’re quibbling about Dave’s accurate paraphrase of Trump. I don’t know how you’re making yourself look, but at least we’re debating what makes a consistent standard, right?

    Leviticus (efada1)

  82. What’s worse – apophasis, or outright ad hominem?

    Anyway, I’m not engaging in apophasis. I’m pointing out that you inappropriately call people liars because their reasonable interpretation of a phrase differs from yours. I don’t think you’re a liar, I just think you’re a dick.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  83. Oddly enough, Mr Sulu was the only character on the original Star Trek who was noted as having children, as his daughter, Ensign Demora Sulu, served as the helmsman on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B, in the movie Star Trek: Generations. One wonders if the irony was intentional.

    The wryly amused Dana (1b79fa)

  84. Leviticus, I’m not sure that calling our friend Gabriel Hanna a “dick” is in accordance with the civility which Patterico has asked for.

    Anyhow, if you’re going to stake your claim on “definitions,” then let’s be honest in our “definitions.”
    Any female under the age of 18 is a minor.
    But not every minor is “a little girl.”
    Puberty is considered the line of demarcation where a minor is no longer considered “a little girl.”

    A 16 or 17 year old female who is obviously post-pubescent is clearly not a little girl. She’s still a minor in the eyes of the law, but she’s not a little girl.
    And so to claim that a man admiring the physical attributes of a post-pubescent 17 year old is equivalent to ogling a pre-pubescent little girl is really wrong.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  85. Levi, you are a liar and a dick.

    You are intentionally conflating two different instances: a brag about event a, and allegations about event b – and concluding Trump has admitted event b, and is therefor guilty of your hyperbolic expansion of what the accusers in event b themselves raised.

    You are intentionally dishonest here.

    Steven Malynn (d29fc3)


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