patrick.net

https://themessenger.com/opinion/accessory-reporters-media-biden-allegations-hunter-biden-laptop

For some in the media, no allegation that might link President Joe Biden to unethical or even criminal behavior seems to be considered credible or worth investigating. Times have certainly changed. I remember when any hint of impropriety involving the White House administrations of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and, most especially, Donald Trump would catapult journalists into action, seeking to discover whether any of the suggested improprieties could be connected to those presidents.

I had no problem with that. In fact, I strongly support the practice because that is the role of journalists, especially investigative reporters: follow the facts to the truth, no matter the reporter’s personal feelings or biases they may harbor toward an individual or entity under investigation.

Many people believe that the ethical and professional conduct of some journalists and news organizations went out the window with the dawning of the Age of Trump. Soon after the New York City businessman declared his intention to seek the presidency in June 2015, many journalists began to openly declare their disdain, even hatred, for him. ...

Now, we have another story involving Hunter Biden — that he allegedly received $260,000 from Chinese business interests during his father’s presidential campaign, with Joe Biden’s address on the wire transfer.

Is that a “bombshell” finding, as some believe? Shouldn’t Joe Biden’s address on a wire transfer catapult journalists into action to try to connect, refute or explain any dots related to this allegation? Apparently not, for far too many journalists.

As reported by several media outlets, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) revealed that Hunter Biden received two wire transfers from Chinese nationals, worth a combined $260,000, just months after his father began his 2020 presidential campaign — and with the elder Biden’s Delaware home listed as the beneficiary address.

“Joe Biden’s abuse of public office for his family’s financial gain threatens our national security. What did the Bidens do with this money from Beijing?” Comer said. “Americans demand and deserve accountability for President Biden and the First Family’s corruption.”

Hunter Biden’s attorney says the bank transfers were loans from a private individual, and that Joe Biden’s address was used because it was on Hunter’s driver’s license at the time. He accused House Republicans of “twist(ing) the truth to mislead people to promote their fantasy political agenda.”

Comer posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The first payment of $10,000 came from a person identified as Ms. Wang Xin on July 26, 2019. The second took place about a week later on Aug. 2, 2019 for $250,000 from Li Xiang Sheng, who goes by Jonathan Li.”

Comer further noted: “When Joe Biden was vice president, he spoke on the phone and had coffee with Jonathan Li in Beijing, and later wrote a college letter of recommendation for his children.”

The Biden White House responded by attacking House Republicans. “Extreme House Republicans are pushing out half-baked innuendo and conspiracy theories that yet again show no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement provided to The Messenger, “just more discredited personal attacks on him and his family, in a sad effort to distract from their chaotic inability to govern that is leading us to the brink of a dangerous government shutdown.”

So that’s it. Like the original Hunter Laptop story, first reported by the New York Post in 2020, will much of the mainstream media take the White House at its word, or will they do their jobs for a change and investigate these latest allegations?

Comer is correct when he states that Hunter Biden's business dealings, if proven to be true, could negatively impact U.S. national security. It’s a possibility that journalists should acknowledge. And they should be willing (if not eager) to investigate, to find the truth and reveal it to the American people — whether it proves the truth of President Biden’s denials or of the Republicans’ accusations. Protecting or harming either political side should not be part of the equation.

But by seemingly turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to allegations of potential wrongdoing involving some members of the Biden family, could some members of the media be seen as figurative accessories-after-the-fact? Findlaw defines an accessory as: “The accused assisted that person with the specific purpose or design to hinder or prevent that person’s apprehension, trial, or punishment.”

Rather than doing their jobs, are some journalists choosing to hinder news investigations out of an allegiance to Biden, the Democratic Party, or their personal biases? Perhaps — but one thing surely is certain: Journalism in the Age of Trump has changed for the worse.

CBS hid the identity of a murdering thug who knifed a leftist activist on camera, even though his face was seen clearly by said camera and he is not a minor.

Why is that? After all, the SAME New York CBS station didn't have any problem identifying Marine Daniel Penny, the man who stepped in to protect NYC subway riders, properly executed a chokehold, ensured the man was on his side in the recovery position and breathing, contacted police, then was arrested and painted as a vile racist when the violent man later died.

Dr. Pierre Kory Lets Loose on Cowardly Journalists
Jan. 15th, 2023

https://twitter.com/dchomecoming/status/1611475274876571662

A Message To Captured And/Or Cowardly Journalists From Dr. Pierre Kory: "You Are Complicit!"

https://rumble.com/v248cl0-a-message-to-captured-andor-cowardly-journalists-from-dr.-pierre-kory-you-a.html

DR. PIERRE KORY: This mass delusion that we're all under through unrelenting propaganda and censorship, they're censoring all these things. If I have to read one more article of a young person dying where the word vaccine isn't even mentioned as a possibility, it's absolutely disgusting.

And, and call out all the producers, everyone who runs these media things, every journalist who goes to work and writes that article and refuses to talk about what's in everyone's mind, you know you, you are complicit. You are complicit! And you want to keep your job because you can't write the article that you know you're supposed to, and morally and ethically know you're supposed to write, which is the the truth, the facts. You give all of the information that's available. You can talk about possibilities, you can write an article where it doesn't say it is the vaccine, but you could maybe, if you had ethics or morals or honesty or integrity, or courage or conviction, you might want to write that, hey, maybe it's the vaccine.

Sixteen year-olds, it's extremely rare to die. How many have we seen die? 16, 18, 20, 22. And by the way, a 32 year-old athlete or a marathoner going out for a job shouldn't be dropping dead either. A 42 year-old is distinctly rare. Yet now it's so common we're used to it.

WTF?

Forbes Posts About ‘Unprompted Attacks On Gaza’ Then Deletes After Backlash
By Katie Jerkovich

Oct 9, 2023

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/israeli-conflict-takes-eschatological

So, in case you missed the story the first time, Langford joined the sorority as a "trans" woman, but he's 1) a man, and 2) attracted to women.

You can read the absolutely disgusting and graphic details about Langford in our previous coverage...

Langford arguably used this loophole so he could get access to women. The women said he was a voyeur who was physically aroused around them.

...21-year-old Artemis Langford, has been "watching" the female members of the sorority house. It alleged that during one of these peeping incidents, Langford had a visible "erection."

Oh, and get this:

The judge in the case forced all the girls in the suit to go public with their complaints and reveal their identities, only to then rule against them and publicly shame them for their trouble.

And here's how WaPo covered this guy:

It wasn't what she [sic] imagined last year when she [sic] joined Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming, becoming the first transgender woman [sic] in the state to be inducted into a sorority. She [sic] thought she [sic] had finally found sisterhood and a place to belongafter years of shame and loneliness.

Instead, she [sic] became a target.

Yes, this piece is all about how Langford became a "target" for hate because he... checks notes ... joined a sorority as a male to get his sexual kicks in private spaces under the guise of "transgenderism."

This story is all about how "right-wing" haters (like yours truly) noticed the large man was a man and that he didn't belong in the girls' rooms, and how evil those seven women were for filing a lawsuit against the "first transgender" sorority member in Wyoming.

Keep clowning yourself, WaPo. Keep letting people know what you truly are!

NEW YORK, NY — The staff of the New York Times spent the morning patiently waiting by the computer, waiting for the call from Hamas to see what the terrorists would like to have printed on the front page today.

"No fingers on the keyboard until Hamas calls!" declared Chief Editor Joe Khan. "We don't post a single word unless we've sourced it directly from the terrorists on the ground - understood?"

At long last, the Zoom app began ringing with a phone call from a Hamas spokesman. "Hello! Allahu Ackbar! Okay, what message do you guys want out there?" asked reporter Gene Okerlund. "Yes, yes, I know you want it to say ‘Death to Israel,' but is there anything more specific you want? Any horrific atrocities you guys perpetrated by accident but want to pin on the Jews? Great! Oh yeah, we can inflate those death tolls. We'll have the whole Middle East rioting in no time!"

Sources with the newspaper confirmed this has been a longstanding arrangement between the publication and horribly evil terrorist organizations. "We have the highest standards of integrity here at the New York Times," said Mr. Khan. "If you're a terrorist, you can rest assured that we will print exactly what you tell us, word for word. No matter how absurd the lie is, no matter if the lie could literally lead to wider war and death - you can count on us to print what you say."

At publishing time, The New York Times editorial staff was preparing to go with a new front-page story titled "Israel Uses Giant Zionist Space Laser To Kill Eleventy-Billion Palestinian Orphans And Puppies."

The Wall Street Journal ran a followup to the Hamas General Hospital story yesterday headlined “U.S., Experts Say Evidence Suggests Palestinian Militants’ Rocket Hit Gaza Hospital..” After all that hoopla, it was just a friendly-fire casualty, with some cheap European cars hardest hit.




As the Hamas Hospital story continued cratering yesterday, two facts emerged from the acrid fog of war. One: surprise! The hospital was not, in fact, destroyed. Photos showed the parking lot was pretty torn up, and the hospital may have some blown-out windows. Fact Number Two: credulous Western media accepted as 100% true all the fake photos and propaganda that Hamas pumped out in the minutes and hours after the unfortunate friendly-fire accident.

The rush to believe Hamas suggested the fake war propaganda fit some kind of predetermined media narrative or something.

Maybe this kind of thing has been going on for a long time, but ever since covid, media’s constant lying has become especially obvious and irritating. Remember all the Italian covid hospital pictures with the hallways clogged by bloody gurneys that turned out to be from a 2006 soap opera or something? Corporate Media is so unreliable it’s truly a miracle — mirabilia dei — that anyone still believes anything corporate media says.

For exhibit A, as if you needed any more evidence, behold the original breathless New York Times front-page story about the allegedly-bombed Hamas General Hospital (which is still standing, see WSJ photo, above) and the evil IDF that couldn’t wait to genocide babies and dialysis patients instead of actual terrorists, who are much slipperier and harder to catch.

Look carefully at the Times’ front-page photo. Pretty impressive-looking destruction! But the problem was: that’s not the hospital. It’s not even a building resembling the hospital. It’s some other random building in southern Gaza where Hamas terrorists were hiding out, and not containing any babies or dialysis patients at all. Not even a band-aid.




The Times’ sneaky little disclaimer in the fine print did NOT make it better. It made it worse. They knew exactly what they were doing. What liars.

... stories you will typically see covered by the media are ones touching on a controversial issue where it is unclear who is at fault. This is because those stories will have enough information available to make a strong case either side is right, and in turn, people on either side will only be able to see the points supporting their narrative.

Once that happens, it is guaranteed many people will be available on both sides to fervently attack the other “wrong” side, allowing the story to go viral and capture the attention of the nation. This model thus allows the media to avoid covering topics which threaten their sponsors (e.g., the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccines) and to retain a large audience (along with the advertising dollars that accompany it) despite the media not producing anything of value for the public (e.g., real investigative journalism that speaks truth to power or information that empowers the audience).

I believe this dynamic is extremely damaging to the country as it:

•Wedges people apart.
•Creates a great deal of stress anger and anxiety.
•Detracts people from doing meaningful work.
•Prevents up from coming together and finding reasonable solutions to the major problems we share as a nation.

Like a sullen teenager, the New York Times is not letting go of the “Hamas General Hospital” story. On Monday, following a week of blistering criticism, the chagrined Times was forced to retract their original fake news story blaming Israel for intentionally targeting a Palestinian hospital, in a humiliating, 300-word “Editor’s Note,” in which the paper grudgingly admitted it may have said certain things in the story that might have been slightly inaccurate — based on what other people told it! — but did not apologize.

The mistake wasn’t just another random blooper and the Times knew it. At least in part, the Times’ false article led to violent worldwide protests, significant property damage, many injuries, and a handful of deaths. Please don’t forget: for at least two years now the Times has been advocating for “misinformation spreaders” to be deplatformed or even jailed. Now the Times is the one spreading dangerous misinformation. So what standard should the Times now be held to? Should it be held to its own standard?

Earlier this month, Reuters published a massive media status report clocking in over 158 pages, titled Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023. It’s a stinker.

Reuters is wringing its withered, bloodstained hands over the fact that traditional media — aka corporate media — is getting its butt kicked by random loudmouths on social media. In other words, the largest block of people would now rather get their news from Coffee & Covid than from The New York Times:




For some reason that Reuters thinks involves “misinformation,” global trust in trad-news media is low and still falling. In its conclusion, Reuters called for another bowl of buzzword salad: it said “urgent collective multi-stakeholder action is needed to rebuild trust in the media ecosystem, tackle disinformation and promote media information literacy.” ...

Anyway, there’s a lot more great stuff in the report, but I’m not suggesting you read it all. Here’s my bottom line: I predict trust in trad-media will continue falling. Why? Because nowhere in Reuters’ mega-report did it suggest TELLING THE TRUTH or FAIRLY PRESENTING BOTH SIDES.

It was even like those concepts were somehow impolite or offensive, like asking whether masks actually work back in 2021 or something. They just aren’t getting it.

Corporate media is evil. Look at how NBC framed this story, then let me tell you the details.

Here's what happened before I show you just how horrible corporate media is:
Dexter Wade was a 37-year-old man with children of his own, but separated from his ex and kids and living with his mother. He was a convicted criminal, with sentences for auto theft and armed robbery.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on March 5, 2023, he was high on PCP and meth and decided - for whatever reason - to walk across a highway. An off-duty officer hit him as he walked across the road. It was deemed an accident and the officer passed sobriety tests.
Wade had no ID on him, but police investigator LaGrand Elliott found a prescription and called the issuing pharmacy on March 8 to track down his identity. He then called the mother and left a voicemail for her after identifying her as Wade's next of kin.
The investigator passed the file to the Jackson Police Department on March 9 after fingerprints confirmed Wade's identity.
On March 14, the mother reported Wade missing. On March 15, the investigator followed up with Jackson PD. The investigator continued to follow up, but for some reason, Jackson PD didn't connect the dots. The Jackson PD missing persons investigator assigned to the case retired in August; two weeks later, the new investigator reported that Wade had been buried at the county's penal farm with other unclaimed bodies.
Those are the facts, as reported by NBC.
But NBC buries those details in thousands of words of text.

Instead, they framed it like this:

It wasn't until 172 excruciating days after his disappearance that Bettersten learned the truth: Dexter had been killed less than an hour after he'd left home, struck by a Jackson police car as he crossed a nearby interstate highway. Police had known Dexter's name, and hers, but failed to contact her, instead letting his body go unclaimed for months in the county morgue.

Readers primed to see police as hateful ✅

Growing up in Jackson, Dexter was a "sweet little boy," sharp with computers, a leader among classmates, a lover of nice clothes, a dreamer who hoped one day to run his own business refurbishing old cars.

That went awry in his teens, when he "got lost" under the influence of older men who stole cars and did drugs, Bettersten said.

Violent serial criminal framed as the victim. ✅

But prison had clearly damaged him. "You could look in his eyes and see he wasn't the same person," Thomas said. "I could tell he was struggling mentally."

American justice system framed as oppressive and racist. ✅

Dexter was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, Bettersten said. After starting medication, he decreased his illegal drug intake and stayed at home most of the day, cleaning and taking care of the yard. He liked to give homemade ice pops to kids on their street, handed food to people who didn't have homes and occasionally sold sodas and chips in the neighborhood. He rarely left the house for more than a day or two without calling, Bettersten said. He never showed signs of wanting to hurt himself.

Violent serial criminal portrayed as gentle giant. ✅

The decision to call the police was difficult for Bettersten. She did not trust them. In 2019, her 62-year-old brother died after a Jackson officer slammed him to the ground. The officer was convicted of manslaughter but is appealing.

Mother portrayed as victim of America's institutional racism. ✅

Then the pièce de résistance, what NBC was working up to this whole time:
"They had me looking for him all that time, and they knew who he was," Bettersten said.

She wondered if it had anything to do with her brother's death and her allegations against the police in that case. "Maybe it was a vendetta. Maybe they buried my son to get back at me," she said.

Idea that police are the bad guys cemented. ✅

This is why I hate the corporate media.