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CNN Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 14, 2017 7 Comments
I came across this CNN article that Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder faced many hurdles before his Thursday confirmation hearing because four GOP senators decided to withhold their support. The fast food executive will face the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Thursday. These anonymous sources pointed their fingers at Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK), Sen. Susan Collins (ME), Sem Johnny Isakson (GA), and Sen. Tim Scott (SC). Reading through the article, I saw that CNN only cited Sen. Collins. So I decided to actually do some journalism and reach out to the offices for confirmation on the material provided by the sources.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 01, 2017 17 Comments
Did Joe Manchin just open the door for Republicans to invoke the nuclear option if necessary to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court? In appearances on CNN and MSNBC this morning, Dem Senator Manchin blasted his fellow Dems for having invoked the nuclear option in the first place. Said Manchin on Morning Joe: "I've been opposed to the nuclear option. I thought Harry Reid was dead wrong when he did it. I voted against that. My dear beloved senator, prior to my coming here, was Robert C. Byrd and he would be rolling over in his grave knowing what we have done." That could be understood to mean: Dems, if the Republicans now use the nuclear option to confirm Gorsuch, you've got no one to blame but yourselves for having opened Pandora's Box.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 26, 2017 22 Comments
If this weren't so infuriating, it might be funny . . . Appearing on CNN this morning to discuss President Trump's plan to cut funds to sanctuary cities, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio implied that the city will not cooperate in the deportation of thieves who don't use violence because they might be the "breadwinners" of their families. Message to the mayor: thieves aren't bread "winners." They are bread stealers. They're taking bread from the mouths of children whose family earned it legally. In this theater of the absurd, de Blasio held up a list of crimes for which NYC would cooperate with immigration authorities. And non-violent theft is apparently not on the list.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 17, 2017 13 Comments
Mika Brzezinski is an unabashed liberal, someone who pushed Elizabeth Warren to run for president and subsequently became a Bernie Sanders fan. But she has also proved herself willing to criticize her own, be they politicians or, as this morning, fellow members of the MSM. On today's Morning Joe, Brzezinski first criticized CNN's Jim Acosta for his pro-John Lewis speech in the guise of a question to MLK III after his meeting with Donald Trump. A bit later, she expanded on the point in a very pointed way: "we [in the MSM] decipher Democrats and make them sound great. And we make Republicans sound like complete—the word we won't use."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 11, 2017 42 Comments
It's one fabulously nasty mess both CNN and Buzzfeed created for themselves. Buzzfeed decided to publish an unsubstantiated dossier full of all kinds of licentious information about president-elect Trump, particularly that he has "deep ties to Russia". CNN then ran with the Buzzfeed story. The backstory on how the dossier came to be is as bizarre as the document itself. NOTHING, not even the tiniest little accusation in the report was verified before Buzzfeed hit "publish." They even mentioned that the document had been bouncing around news outlets and reporters for months. Such open secrets are not uncommon. Stories, videos, documents, especially those most sensational in nature are frequently shopped to blogs, news orgs, and reporters. Everyone knows about them. Everyone talks about them. But no one reports them. Why? Because their veracity is unprovable.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 11, 2017 39 Comments
Of all the Morning Joe crew, you might be surprised to learn that it was liberal Dem Mika Brzezinski who this morning took the toughest shots at CNN and Buzzfeed for publishing unverified stories containing salacious allegations regarding Donald Trump's business dealings with, and personal behavior in, Russia. Mika also speculated that the intelligence community might have propagated the story as payback for Trump having insulted them. Brzezinski first wondered whether CNN and Buzzfeed went with the story "because they hate [Trump] so much, or is the intelligence community literally putting the screws to Donald Trump because he insulted them?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 29, 2016 21 Comments
Hanan Ashwari has for decades been the most recognizable face of the Palestinian government in the American media. As was clear this morning, she is also the face of Palestinian rejectionism of the very basis of the existence of the State of Israel. Ashwari appeared on CNN after David Keyes, Netanyahu's spokesman, said that the real barrier to peace is Palestinian rejection of Israel as a Jewish state. Ashwari expressed that rejection in clear terms: "we cannot a accept religion for any state." Emphasizing her point, she twice mockingly described Israel as wanting Palestinians "to become Zionists suddenly."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 26, 2016 32 Comments
CNN's presidential historian Douglas Brinkley this morning accused Donald Trump of "big-mouthing" President Obama by speaking out on policy issues during the transition. Co-host Poppy Harlow had teed Brinkely up to slam Trump, worrying that Trump had flouted the "one president at a time" tradition, and fretting that by doing so Trump was "confusing our allies and our adversaries. Brinkley was only too happy to run with the ball, responding: "I think it's very wrong-minded of Donald Trump to be doing this . . . what you don't want to do is to be big-mouthing and big-footing a sitting president . . . . I find it troubling, but I'm not going to be able to stop him from doing it."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 22, 2016 40 Comments
Don't look for Phil Mudd to be joining the Trump anti-terrorism team anytime soon . . . Mudd, a CNN counterterrorism analyst, declared today that the threat of terrorism is "modest." When it comes to young people, Mudd said that he worries about gangs and drugs: "I don't worry about terrorism." Mudd also argued that tight restrictions on Muslim immigration would be giving ISIS want it wants by setting ISIS up as the counterbalance to the West and the defender of Islam. Mudd apparently believes that allowing a freer flow of Muslim refugees into the United States, as Hillary wanted, would appease ISIS rather than giving it the opening to carry out more attacks. ISIS is not interested in good relations. It wants only to destroy the West and establish its caliphate. People like Mudd, whom CNN chooses as its "expert," apparently don't understand that.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 17, 2016 27 Comments
Relying on an "expert" who turns out to be a former Obama aide, CNN this morning compared the Trump family to "corrupt regimes around the world." Asked by host Christi Paul whether the presence of Trump family members in official meetings with foreign heads of state and business leaders posed an ethical problem, CNN reporter Cristina Alesci said "a number of ethics experts said, yeah, it's a serious problem. A number of outspoken experts are comparing the Trump's family behavior to corrupt regimes around the world." The only "expert" cited was former Obama aide Norman Eisen, seen in a clip saying "this is not the first time this has happened. I'm just shocked it's happened in the United States."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 02, 2016 24 Comments
Nice little company you got there. Wouldn't want to see nuthin' happen to it . . . CNN's Alisyn Camerota suggested this morning that Donald Trump used a "threat" against United Technologies to get its Carrier subsidiary to agree to keep manufacturing jobs in Indiana. Even the Indianapolis Star reporter who had criticized the deal as being "an extremely expensive campaign promise" took issue with Camerota's suggestion of a "threat." CNN: the network that would depict President-elect Trump as using mob-boss tactics.

Posted by Mary Chastain on November 25, 2016 8 Comments
The internet went crazy this morning after a report surfaced that Boston's CNN channel aired 30 minutes of hardcore porn. Media took off with it, but I have to admit that the details appeared sketchy because how does a major cable provider like RCN unknowingly air 30 seconds let alone 30 MINUTES of hardcore porn? Looks like they didn't:
"We are in the process of researching this incident but see no evidence our CNN network feed was compromised last evening in Boston," Jeff Carlson, svp and general manager, RCN Boston, said in a statement to THR.
The account @solikearose has protected her tweets, but she shared pictures of her TV to BuzzFeed News to prove that she did not fake this story. Turns out a glitch may have caused it.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 23, 2016 13 Comments
Is it the role of the media to serve as "opposition" to the Trump administration? Yes, in the mind of Chris Cuomo. On his CNN show this morning, Cuomo said "the media cannot yield. This administration is going to demand constant fact-checking, and opposition. Because otherwise, you don't know which way it's going to go from day to day. That's just a fact." Fact-checking an administration? Absolutely. That's an important role for the press. But "opposition?" That's the role for the opposition party. Unless, of course, Cuomo sees the MSM as a wing of the DNC? Don't answer that question, Chris. Compare and contrast with what Chris Matthews said in 2008 at the dawn of the Obama administration: "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work . . . It is my job. To make this work successfully."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 17, 2016 34 Comments
And people have been worrying whether the Trump administration would conduct itself in a mature manner? . . . On CNN this morning, Christine Quinn—former NYC Council Speaker and a Hillary surrogate—used childish antics in an attempt to silence conservative radio talk show host Ben Ferguson on the subject of sanctuary cities. At one point [1:46 in video], Quinn raised her hand and angrily yelled "ah, ba-ba-ba-ba!" to shut Ferguson down. It was the most churlish display by a political pundit this Insurrectionist can remember. Ferguson took it all in stride, smiling wryly through Quinn's antics.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 14, 2016 47 Comments
Remember when, at the beginning of his administration, President Obama made Valerie Jarrett his closest advisor, and how CNN went on the attack because of her far-left roots? Neither do I. But now that President-elect Trump has named Steve Bannon as a senior advisor, CNN is in full inquisition mode. Chris Cuomo and Poppy Harlow, co-hosts on today's New Day, cross-examined Trump spox and former Sen. Tom Coburn, respectively. References to the alt-right, anti-Semitism, etc. flew as the CNNers combatively questioned their guests.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 11, 2016 20 Comments
Lots of people are having trouble adjusting to the fact that Donald Trump won the election and CNN commentator Van Jones is surely one of them. On election night he went off on a tirade about how Trump's election was a "whitelash." Politico reported:
Van Jones: Trump vote is a 'white-lash' CNN commentator Van Jones said racial tensions, including the race of the current president, caused a “white-lash” that helped drive Donald Trump’s Rust Belt victories.
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