WHERE’S YOUR MESSIAH NOW? Resistance hero Michael Avenatti gets slammed in court for failing to pay a settlement. Extra bonus:

[A]n assistant U.S. attorney said Avenatti had not made a payment that was due last week for unpaid taxes as part of the agreement that was reached in January. Court records show Avenatti had personally agreed to pay about $2.4 million in back taxes and penalties.

Well, maybe he has a future at MSNBC. They love tax dodgers.

LEADING THE WAY BACK TO 1984: Media lawyer and friend Jens van den Brink in the Netherlands explains why the EU attempt to criminalize “fake news” is like taking cyanide to cure a cold:

In 2016 the American politician Ron Paul wrote an opinion piece to the effect that the fight against fake news is a war against free speech, and can lead to censorship. This publication draws the ire of the EU, which promptly labeled the opinion itself as ‘fake news’ – so Paul’s opinion is incorrect according to the EU. According to the EU stating that the fight against fake news can be problematic in light of the freedom of speech is ‘fake news’ and qualifies as ‘spreading of disinformation’. The irony of these accusations seems to be completely lost on the EU.

OLD TWEETS BECOME A NEW WEAPON: My weekly column at The Daily Caller is up. Bonus (interview with the inimitable Scott Adams!)
(Bumped from this morning)

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The New York Times has a dreadfully dishonest headline up. I watched the interview, and Trump clearly, unambiguously, explicitly referred to MS-13. But via editing magic, The Times’ editors expanded the president’s statements.  And if you do not think MS-13 are indeed animals, there are a few hundred rape victims and families of murder victims (mostly Hispanic, BTW) who might have a few choice words for you.
*UPDATE: USAToday pulls the same stunt.**
*UPDATE 2: AP corrects same “mistake,” admits that Trump was specifically referring to MS-13.

OLD TWEETS BECOME A NEW WEAPON: My weekly column at The Daily Caller is up. Bonus (interview with the inimitable Scott Adams!)

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Link fixed!

HEY, CNN, IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK: Hamas’ use of people as human shields continues, and the incurious journalists moving stories like this are either really lazy or really biased, or both. CNN pulls the heartstrings:

Dozens of funerals were expected to take place after 60 Palestinians were killed in demonstrations, according to figures provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Among the dead were eight children, including eight-month-old Laila Anwar Ghandour. The health ministry said the baby was asphyxiated by tear gas.

The unasked question: who the hell brings an eight-month-old infant to a violent riot/protest? Even worse, it appears CNN may have fallen for a propaganda hoax: AP reporting that: 

“Gaza health officials are casting doubt on initial claims that a 9-month-old baby died from Israeli tear gas fired during mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel. A medical doctor said Tuesday that the baby, Layla Ghandour, had a pre-existing medical condition and that he did not believe her death was caused by tear gas.”

That update came the same day as the CNN report, but they apparently couldn’t be bothered to question their narrative.

SURELY, CHER MUST OWN A MIRROR: As I say frequently, “Beware the pious.” Cher, the aging songbird-cum-social justice warrior is being sued for racial discrimination against black people. Here’s a story about of one of her unhinged tweets in which she refers to the President as “a demented racist.”


Pot, meet kettle.

GIANT BOOBS STILL MORE IMPORTANT THAN EMPLOYMENT RATE OR PEACE IN KOREA: Bumped up from this morning, my Daily Caller column for this week.

WHAT’S REALLY IMPORTANT IN NEWS COVERAGE? Giant boobs, of course. My weekly column at Daily Caller is up!

GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST! FOIA requests filed in November 2016 yielded documents that had names redacted for “privacy.” We now know those names were “Jimmy Olson”, “Lois Lane” and Clark Kent.”
What kind of dope was running the FBI in 2016?

MOMMY, MAKE THE MEAN MAN STOP TWEETING ABOUT ME: On the same day that comfortably smug people are patting themselves on the back about the use of foul language to describe a President they hate (“War on the press!!!) three Radio Free Europe journalists were killed while on assignment.

Police and the Health Ministry put the number of dead at 25, and police said 45 wounded victims were hospitalized — including six journalists. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai was quoted as saying that four police officers were killed.

How dare the WHCA reporters put themselves in the same league.
**Bumped up to include link to one of my Op/Eds on this very subject. The Washington Press Corps think that being served a too-warm Chardonnay is a war crime.**

MOMMY, MAKE THE MEAN MAN STOP TWEETING ABOUT ME: On the same day that comfortably smug people are patting themselves on the back about the use of foul language to describe a President they hate (“War on the press!!!) three Radio Free Europe journalists were killed while on assignment.

Police and the Health Ministry put the number of dead at 25, and police said 45 wounded victims were hospitalized — including six journalists. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai was quoted as saying that four police officers were killed.

How dare the WHCA reporters put themselves in the same league.

LET ME SHOW YOU MY SHOCKED FACE: “Watch: Roomful of Rich, White NYC Parents Get Big Mad at Plan to Diversify Neighborhood’s Schools.” The best part is this map. This is the area. Guess what the blue shading signifies. Go on, I’ll wait here.

KEYBOARD WARRIORS, UNITE! (Bumped from this morning).

BOYCOTTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: My weekly column is up at The Daily Caller. From Starbucks to Breitbart to Chik-fil-A, there’s something for everybody.

WHY POLICE CAMERAS ARE AWESOME: Port Authority official tries to bully a cop. Doesn’t go so well. The extra-delicious part:

“Flashing her commissioner’s gold badge and boasting of her influence during a routine traffic stop involving her daughter, Caren Z. Turner demanded to know why police had pulled the car over and why it was being impounded […] Turner, 60, a Democratic lobbyist who served as the ethics chair of the powerful bi-state agency.”

Ethics chair. Let that sink in.

I TOLD YOU SO: The day after the election, I told a bunch of media lawyers (many of whom had been literally crying all night) to cheer up, that Trump’s election was a godsend to a dying industry. A few damned near took my head off, but well, here’s the proof.

“A “60 Minutes” interview with President Donald Trump’s alleged mistress Stormy Daniels was viewed by 22 million people. It was the show’s highest ratings in 10 years.”

I still insist Jeff Zucker gave Trump the nomination.

WELL, LOOK HOW IT TURNED OUT FOR ANTHONY WEINER: “Joy Reid Claims Newly Discovered Homophobic Posts From Her Blog Were ‘Fabricated’”:

“How is that queers became the odd ones out at such a momentous turning point in history? By pushing an agenda of stupid issues like gay marriage.”

Reid is claiming that someone “hacked” her blog and added the remarks later, although as Mediaite points out, the sentiments expressed by the allegedly “faux” author sound in line with those she admitted having previously published.

She should have wiped her server, you know, with “like a cloth.”

WORST. LAWSUIT. EVER. As David Bernstein pointed out here, the DNC filed a lawsuit against, well, everybody they don’t like. I’ve read the papers and the legal term for this Complaint is “batsh*t crazy.” Leaving out the fact that they’ll never be able to properly serve most of the defendants, the key thing is if they get a judge inclined to stick to Second Circuit law, this complaint has to be dismissed. The days when you could file a thin Complaint just in the hopes of getting discovery are long over.

The Court has adopted widely a doctrine called “Iqbal/Twombly” which means that mere allegations of facts don’t cut it: there has to be enough factual foundation in the Complaint to make a plausible claim. Every “factual” allegation of consequence in this Complaint is unproven speculation. The Iqbal doctrine requires a complaint to allege facts that, if proven, would support the relief requested and to show that the alleged facts are “enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level, on the assumption that all the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact).”

This case is more than a publicity stunt. It’s become clear even to the most ardent Trump haters that there’s simply no evidence of Russian “collusion” and the focus moved to Stormy Daniels. This is an effort to reanimate the “Russian collusion” narrative.

Of course, because it’s in a judicial pleading, any re-reporting on it is absolutely immune in libel, and its being filed at all is a news peg, so it’s pretty much Tom Perez’ gift to MSNBC and others, allowing them and others to re-tell the “Russia collusion” story as if it had more credibility.

BECAUSE IT DIDN’T EMBARRASS SOMEONE THE PRESS HATES: I really don’t get why people are “shocked” that Judge Wood allowed an attorney (yes, he’s a pal of mine) to make an unscheduled appearance to argue for court access. I’ve done it at least twice, one of those times arguing successfully for the Bankruptcy Court to unseal records in the 2008 Lehman bankruptcy case.

But that was only a $600 billion matter affecting tens of thousands of pensioners and investors, not anything important like learning that a half-wit TV host was represented by a half-wit lawyer.

SPLC FORCED TO REMOVE LIST OF “ANTI-MUSLIM EXTREMISTS”: The National Review is reporting that the scam that is the SPLC has been “persuaded” to remove their libelous slurs about people who have the nerve to question Islamic terrorism.

 The Southern Poverty Law Center has removed the “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists” from their website after attorneys for Maajid Nawaz, a practicing Muslim and prominent Islamic reformer, threatened legal action over his inclusion on the list.

People on the list included Pamela Geller, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, David Horowitz, Daniel Pipes and others. Apparently Maajid Nawaz, a practicing Muslim and prominent Islamic reformer, threatened legal action over his inclusion on the list, and retained Tom Clare of Clare Locke (the firm who proved Rolling Stone committed libel in their fake UVA “rape” story.)

I’m not a big fan of libel threats, but every now and then one comes along that needs to be made.

MOVIES, HISTORY AND SOMETIMES THE TRUTH: My column this week from The Daily Caller.

If we’re willing to accept historical movies as somewhat fictionalized, there is value in the chance that such a film might spark a deeper and more academic interest in the subject matter. I must confess though, I can’t but help be reminded of Dan Rather’s “fake but true” approach to journalism that led to his firing from CBS, where falsities are used to propagate an unproven truth. The difference of course is that movies require some degree of suspension of our disbelief. Documentaries and news are no place for fictionalization.

**Bumped up from early morning**

HISTORY AND MOVIES: My weekly column at The Daily Caller is up.

Most tellingly, Podesta refers to Kopechne’s death as “a footnote to history.” Jason Clarke, who played Kennedy in the film said the film “doesn’t try to sensationalize” the accident that Kennedy failed to report for 10 hours. A young woman’s death at the hands of a U.S. senator is more than a “footnote to history.”

BET THEY MISS THIS PART: G̶l̶o̶b̶a̶l̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶m̶e̶n̶i̶s̶t̶s̶ Educators who treat Earth Day like The Holiest Day Of All probably leave out this fun part:

On September 9, 1977, Ira Einhorn, one of Earth Day’s co-founders, lured his ex (the ‘ex’ portion occurring pre-brutal murder) girlfriend, Holly Maddux, to his apartment and killed her in a heartbroken rage. Though, he did choose to dispose of the body by composting her. So at least he’s consistent.

ACTUALLY, THAT’S A PRETTY LOW BAR: “Mayor de Blasio and workers from the Housing Authority were outwitted by the rodent.”