Everyone proposes drinking games for the State of the Union speech. But it’s not just the president that can drive you to drink. It’s the opportunistic media elites deciding which branches of government have too much power, depending on which branches the Democrats presently control. After a lot of stalemate in 2013, the partisan media think it’s high time for the executive branch to go completely around the legislative branch. They think that now that Congress has proven itself unwilling to provide Barack Obama with the historical greatness he deserves, they should and must be driven around like roadkill. They’ll... continue reading
CNN anchor Jake Tapper blandly admitted the obvious in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. The same reporters that insist their former GOP favorite Chris Christie is ruined for 2016 by traffic jams on a bridge are letting Hillary Clinton skate for embassy-security neglect that led to four dead government employees at Benghazi. Why would so-called watchdogs of government suggest Hillary is a shoo-in in ‘16 as if Benghazi never happened? Tapper strangely suggested that Benghazi always seemed like more of a White House scandal than a State Department scandal, and don’t blame him, because Hillary didn’t grant... continue reading
What happens when a teenager who came into the world as an unplanned teenage pregnancy ends up with an unplanned pregnancy of her own? Will she bend to all the “helpful” insistence that she needs to exercise her “right to choose” before she is, as one callous presidential contender put it, “punished with a baby”? This is the plot of “Gimme Shelter,” a new movie that departs from the feminist pack mentality of Hollywood. Agnes “Apple” Bailey -- played in a breakout role by “High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens -- looks like a poster child for Planned Parenthood at... continue reading
A few years back, during the Media Research Center's annual gala I was honored to pay tribute to the family of a real American hero, Michael Murphy, the Navy SEAL posthumously awarded the first Congressional Medal of Honor for service in Afghanistan, and the first since the Vietnam War. Few in the room knew the story because only Fox and a handful of other outlets told it. When the medal was announced in 2007, William Kristol noted on “Fox News Sunday” that the news received a tiny fraction of the coverage given to the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel that... continue reading
During the 2012 presidential campaign, somehow each and every Republican presidential contender had a sink thrown at him (or her) via what reporters call “investigative journalism.” Every time a Republican rose in the polls, the media tried to knock him or her down, like a game of Whack-a-Mole. The very last man standing was Mitt Romney, who didn’t receive the official “Gotcha!” from The Washington Post until May, with a 5,000-word opus on “Teenage Haircutgate.” That’s why it’s so strange that the national media would decide so early it was time for journalistic carpet bombing of the Great Squishy Northeastern... continue reading
Inside twisted Tinseltown, Martin Scorsese has marked a new career achievement. His new film "The Wolf of Wall Street" includes a mighty 506 uses of the F-bomb in its three-hour running time. That's almost three curse words a minute. Someone has proclaimed this the new record for F-bombs. Another Hollywood high mark. Scorsese often has hundreds of F-bombs in his films about crooks. But this takes the cake. "That was a badge of honor for me, to be in a Martin Scorsese movie and say the F-word," actor-director Rob Reiner told a TMZ.com interviewer in a parking lot. When he... continue reading
Liberals are angry that President Obama won a second term, and yet they didn’t get the liberal agenda items they wanted passed in 2013, including gun control and amnesty for illegal aliens. The complaint at the end of the year is that this was the “least productive Congress” in 66 years, production always measured by the amount of legislation passed. But the media complaint here isn’t about just any legislation. It’s about a liberal wish list. Washington Post reporter Paul Kane lamented the “shrunken ambitions” of congressional Democrats in a front-page story. “Back in 2009, during the heady days of... continue reading
Sarah Silverman celebrated Christmas in her usual mode: mocking Christians, and religion in general. On Twitter, she wrote “Happy Birthday, Jesus! I'm sorry [you] were murdered by people afraid of new ideas!” Her last HBO special in 2002 was even mockingly titled “Jesus Is Magic.” Her new special was called “We Are Miracles.” Once again in the new show, she made fun of the death of Jesus, as a Jew: “You’re welcome. If we hadn’t killed him, he wouldn’t even be famous.” Silverman then mentioned Scientology as crazy, but added “its no more bats--t crazy than every single religion. It’s... continue reading
I've not read the official obituaries because they are predictable. "Billionaire." "Reclusive." "GOP donor." "Swift Boat Vets." "Industrialist." "Controversial." "Dallas, Texas." And there you have it: the death of a sinister figure driven by greed, the puppeteer manipulating the political process, a 21st century J.R. Ewing. (Or is it Mr. Burns?) If this is what you've read, it’s written by someone who didn't know Harold Clark Simmons. I never knew a man quite like Harold Simmons. I met him in 1981 while pan-handling for some political cause or another. Back then he kept a ledger of his political donations on... continue reading
Let's assess the winners in losers in American culture for 2013. Our first obvious winner is "Duck Dynasty" and its Phil Robertson. He's a winner for standing by his Christian principles after some inartful remarks about homosexuality. A&E suspended him and put the usual statement that they are "champions" of the gay agenda -- and proceeded to start running "Duck Dynasty" marathons. Mark Steyn put it just right: the gay-left blacklisters insist "espousing conventional Christian morality, even off-air, is incompatible with American celebrity." Robertson has successfully shattered intolerance of the anti-Christian left. Winner: Universal Pictures, for "Despicable Me 2." This... continue reading