SOMEONE SET UP US THE BOMB: CNN’s April Ryan asks Pete Buttigieg to address the ‘racism’ built into our roadways.

“Also can you give us the construct of how you will deconstruct the racism that was built into roadways?” Ryan asked.

Ryan then referenced an earlier interview Buttigieg gave The Grio in April when he said “there is racism physically built into some of our highways.”

“I’m still surprised that had some people were surprised when I pointed to the fact that if a highway was built for the purpose of dividing a White and a Black neighborhood or if an underpass was constructed such that a bus carrying mostly Black and Puerto Rican kids to a beach, or that would have been, in New York was designed too low for it to pass by, that that obviously reflects racism that went into those design choices,” Buttigieg responded during the press briefing.

More here: Watch: Buttigieg is asked how he plans to ‘deconstruct the racism that was built into the roadways.’

Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, also an Ohio candidate running for Senate, added on Twitter: “Nothing in this country works. It takes years to repair a bridge that was built in far less time. Every big city has skyrocketing murder rates. China is about to take over the world even as we name Navy ships after pedophiles. And our reporters ask about the racism of our roads?”

“Please make our roads thinner and less racist,” Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller ridiculed. “This is where our media is today.”

With Christmas seven weeks away*, wouldn’t Buttigieg be better off pretending to be concerned about supply chain issues, and tell his Democrat Party operatives with Chyrons that he’ll start pretending about racist roads starting early next year?

* Although to be fair, there is a simple fallback solution here: ‘Christmas dinner in a can’ promises answer to supermarket shortages.

Flashback: Is Pete Buttigieg Telling The Truth About Why He Fired His Town’s First Black Police Chief?

COVERING WHAT APRIL RYAN WON’T COVER:

Story here.

APRIL RYAN OUTS HERSELF* AS A DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WITH A BYLINE: CNN’s April Ryan suggests journalists shouldn’t expose Biden’s contradictions, use leaked recordings.

Vice journalist Edward Ongweso Jr. responded with a tongue-in-cheek scolding of such journalistic practices.

“It is irresponsible and sets a dangerous precedent for journalists covering the incoming administration to be able to use secretly recorded conversations in their stories,” Ongweso Jr. tweeted. “To parse out Biden’s thoughts and anticipate his policy commitments, you must go through proper channels.”

Ongweso Jr. continued sarcastically, “The White House Press Secretary, the spokespeople for the President and Vice President, senior officials (without attribution), and the President’s public statements are all designated and responsible sources for information about the President’s thoughts and intentions.”

“Revealing a contradiction between Biden’s private thoughts and public statements is dangerous because it erodes public trust in the President, the Office, and the media itself,” the Vice reporter concluded.

Stunningly, the outspoken anti-Trump American Urban Radio Networks reporter and CNN analyst offered her endorsement of abandoning basic journalistic practices.

“You hit the nail in the head! This is not good at all,” Ryan said in response to the first tweet. She then “liked” the other two tweets in the thread.

Ongweso Jr. shared screenshots of Ryan’s response to his tweets, reacting “Folks… I can’t.”

Ryan’s tweets caused a frenzy among critics on social media.

“This is one of the most shocking things I’ve seen on this website,” former Intercept editor Glenn Greenwald reacted.

“Would you consider yourself a reporter at this point or is that more of a former job description,” progressive journalist Eoin Wiggins asked Ryan.

* Not that there was much doubt before, of course: CNN’s April Ryan To Kamala Harris: It Gives Me ‘Chills’ That I Could Call You ‘Madame VP’ In January.

THIS IS CNN: CNN political analyst April Ryan “can’t wait” to see armed forces eject Trump from White House.

Earlier:

● CNN’s April Ryan Accuses Mike Huckabee Of Inciting Violence After He Quotes Her Saying Sarah Sanders’ Head Should Be ‘Lopped Off.’

● CNN Pundit April Ryan’s Bodyguard Charged with Assault after Removing Reporter Covering Her Speech.

● CNN’S April Ryan Tweets Fake News About Trump Getting Booed During ‘Celebration of America.’

● No big deal, just April Ryan sharing an article that asks if Trump is running a child-trafficking ring.

● April Ryan: Melania Trump Is ‘Not Culturally American.’

● April Ryan: Omarosa Was Dragged Out of the White House by the Secret Service. Secret Service: Yeah, that never happened.

And of course, who could forget Ryan recreating the fake Bush plastic turkey scandal? And when then-Press Secretary Sarah Sanders actually baked a pie, Ryan’s retort? “Okay I want to watch you bake it and put it on the table. But forgive [me if] I won’t eat it. Remember you guys don’t like the press.”

Exit quote:

THE DEMOCRATS DON’T SEEM KEEN ON THE WHOLE PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER THING: CNN’s April Ryan ‘cannot wait’ to see ‘armed forces’ pull Trump out of the White House.

Related: Democrats’ ‘War Game’ for Election Includes West Coast Secession, Possible Civil War.

If there really is a civil war, be sure to target the people fomenting it up front.

THIS IS CNN: CNN’s April Ryan Attacks Woman Who Pointed Out Baltimore Garbage Problem, Claims ‘Cummings Never Got Over It.’

In July, Kimberly Klacik, a Baltimore County Republican official, appeared on Fox and detailed the problems of rats and garbage in West Baltimore and called for something to be done to address the problem.

* * * * * * * *

The woman who “created the controversy?” Did she plant the garbage in the district that has plagued the residents forever? Is she really blaming Klacik for actually pointing out the problem?

Not only that. “Cummings never got over the attack on him and the city. It is all because of her.” This is just so wrong. Cummings had cancer, suggesting somehow that his death is related to Klacik pointing out the problem is just vile.

And it wasn’t only April Ryan, her CNN colleague, Brian Stelter, also chimed in.

Unexpectedly.

VIDEO: WalkAway Founder Brandon Straka Confronts CNN’s April Ryan: ‘You’re The Biggest Liar in This Room.’

DISPATCHES FROM THE VIOLENT WORLD OF CNN: April Ryan’s excuse unveiled: It’s the bodyguard’s fault.

Earlier: CNN’s April Ryan Accuses Mike Huckabee Of Inciting Violence After He Quotes Her Saying Sarah Sanders’ Head Should Be ‘Lopped Off.’

NAH. HE KNEW WHAT THE BOSS WANTED. April Ryan Says Bodyguard ‘Overreacted’ In Alleged Assault On Local Reporter.

DISPATCHES FROM THE DOXXING NETWORK: CNN Pundit April Ryan’s Bodyguard Charged with Assault after Removing Reporter Covering Her Speech.

BECAUSE ROUGHING PEOPLE IS PRETTY MUCH CNN’S BRAND THESE DAYS: Why did CNN’s April Ryan’s bodyguard oust reporter from speech?

MORE ON APRIL RYAN AND HER BODYGUARD’S ASSAULT ON A REPORTER: “The question now is, what is April Ryan hiding when she delivers these speeches to special interest groups?”

OH: CNN’s April Ryan after bodyguard ejects local journalist: ‘When I speak, I don’t have news covering my speech.’

CHUTZPAH ALERT: CNN’s April Ryan Accuses Mike Huckabee Of Inciting Violence After He Quotes Her Saying Sarah Sanders’ Head Should Be ‘Lopped Off.’

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: CNN’s April Ryan Says Sarah Sanders’ Head Should Be “Lopped Off.”

To be clear, I understand she was using a figure of speech and in a vacuum none of this bothers me. I also understand the New Rules imposed by these people and figure they should have to play by them. Seems only fair.

Flashback: “On Tuesday’s John King USA, CNN’s John King issued a prompt on-air apology minutes after a guest on his program used the term ‘crosshairs’ during a segment: ‘We’re trying to get away from using that kind of language.'”

THIS IS CNN: CNN’S April Ryan Tweets Fake News About Trump Getting Booed During ‘Celebration of America.’

THIS IS CNN: No big deal, just April Ryan sharing an article that asks if Trump is running a child-trafficking ring.

CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER APRIL RYAN: Melania Trump Is ‘Not Culturally American.’

The Left’s anti-immigrant hysteria has got to stop.

APRIL RYAN: OMAROSA WAS DRAGGED OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE BY THE SECRET SERVICE. Secret Service: Yeah, that never happened. Fake news is everywhere.

RISING STAGFLATION LIKELY MADE PRINTING THE INVITATION TOO EXPENSIVE:

● Shot:

April Ryan says she was not invited to the W.H. Christmas party for the first time in 20 years covering the White House. “I don’t think I was overlooked,” she said. “I think they don’t like me. For whatever reason, they have disdain for me.”

—MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin on Twitter, yesterday.

● Chaser:

“Okay I want to watch you bake it and put it on the table. But forgive [if] I won’t eat it. Remember you guys don’t like the press.”

—April Ryan on Twitter, as quoted by Tom Blumer of NewsBusters on Sunday, in article titled, “April Ryan, Leftists Beclown Themselves Over Sarah Sanders’ Thanksgiving Pecan Pie.”

(Classical reference in headline.)

THE PLASTIC TURKEY BAND ARE OFF ON ANOTHER WORLD TOUR: April Ryan, Leftists Beclown Themselves Over Sarah Sanders’ Thanksgiving Pecan Pie.

April Ryan, an inexplicably esteemed member of the White House press corps, having tried and failed to promote a “fake news” controversy over White House’s Press Secretary Sarah Sanders’ Thanksgiving pecan pie, has not apologized or acknowledged her error, has rejected Sanders’ face-saving attempt to smooth things over, and is apparently worried that Sanders will publicly poison her and her fellow journalists. You can’t make this stuff up.

Ryan’s history, as documented at NewsBusters, is full of embarrassing statements, unhinged rants, and stunning ignorance of very basic facts.

Not least of which, the CNN “political analyst” tweeting in July that a Trump official first coined the word “stagflation.”

Credentialed-but-not-educated – and the worst political class in American history, as Glenn likes to say, who have no idea how easily they’re being trolled by the administration over their past fake news and anti-GOP hyperbole.

(Classical reference in headline.)

JOURNALISM:

To be fair, neither did she.

Related: April Ryan Defends Accusing President Trump of Racist Language He Never Actually Used.

“Fake news.”

VIA BRYAN CAPLAN: The “Democratic Centralism” of COVID.

Since very early in the pandemic, there has been a somewhat novel approach to information flow in the media and particularly on social media sites, at least compared to the baseline in the western world. Very quickly, there seems to have been a consensus that information gatekeepers should determine which opinions about the nature of the coronavirus and the appropriate policy response should be allowed to be widely disseminated. One of the notable early examples was when Medium, which is basically a website host, took down a piece written by Aaron Ginn arguing that the costs of lockdowns should be considered. There was no basis to argue that he was providing disinformation; his post was removed because it argued for a different position than what was being promoted.

While biased journalism is hardly new in the US or anywhere, the movement to close down the ability to distribute alternative opinions seems to have been novel at least within the United States. This was not like the New York Times refusing to publish opinion pieces that disagreed with its editorial stand; this was more like if the people in the olden days who sold bulk newsprint paper refused to allow anyone who dissented from the views of the newsprint providers to even obtain raw materials for printing.

This new attitude is puzzling given the novelty of the virus and the nearly intractable nature of the optimal policy decision, which must take into account the likely spread of the virus under various policies and the overall effect of the policies on the enormously complex and interconnected global economy. It is frankly absurd to think that by March or April all reasonable people had converged to the consensus view that the world economy should be locked down, but major press outlets and information platforms proceeded as if this was established fact. Given the extraordinarily poor performance of even the relatively simple virus models that were applied to the consensus view and the total inability to even begin to estimate the economic and human costs of the lockdowns, in retrospect this rapid convergence on consensus appears to be one of the single greatest acts of hubris in the history of mankind.

But, crucially, even at the time and without the benefit of hindsight this rapid collapse onto a single acceptable viewpoint by those who control the flow of information should have been seen as a colossal error. Modern information economics makes it abundantly clear that in the presence of biased experts whose objectives do not perfectly align with the people receiving advice, having multiple experts, each with their own different biases and preferences, is much better than having a single biased expert. This is true even if you could chose the least biased expert as your one expert.

This was never about providing the best advice, or enacting the best policies.

CNN’S NEXT DOXXING VICTIM IDENTIFIES HIMSELF: WalkAway Founder Brandon Straka Confronts CNN’s April Ryan; ‘You’re The Biggest Liar in This Room’ (Video).

TWO NBCs IN ONE! Back in April, as NewsBusters noted, NBC sent Al Roker “to Alaska’s ‘Ground Zero for Climate Change:’”

As his taped report began, Roker narrated: “It’s the top of the world, and for scientists, Utqiagvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, is ground zero for climate change.” Talking to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientist Bryan Thomas, the meteorologist asked: “As a planet, we make a commitment to change something, that you can reverse damage that has been done?”

NBC doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to reverse its own carbon footprint. The Hollywood Reporter noted last year that “Indy 500 Race Moving to NBC in 2019 After 54 Years on ABC.”

Evidently, the network wants to be in the running to win the “Grand Champion Carbonator” award for Iowahawk’s annual Earth Week Cruise-In.

As Glenn likes to say, I’ll believe that global warming is a crisis when the people who tell me it’s a crisis start to act like it’s a crisis themselves.