Six Reasons Why CNN Is Now... The Most Disgraced Name In News

by John Nolte 25 Jul 2013

  Based on history, most media watchers would probably expect NBC News to win the award for the most shameful coverage of George Zimmerman, the 29 year-old Florida man recently acquitted for the tragic shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin. But an objective look at the coverage from major print, online, and broadcast outlets, makes clear that by a fairly safe margin, CNN is most deserving of this win. Before we get to the nominating process, here is some crucial context and background:

Introduction
On February 26, 2012, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman fatally shot 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Almost eighteen months later, a jury would unanimously acquit Zimmerman after his attorneys made a case that the shooting was an act of self-defense.
Zimmerman is Hispanic. Martin was black.

Under the mistaken impression (probably based on his last name) that Zimmerman was white, within a couple of weeks after the shooting, major media outlets begin to drive the story with a  white versus black racial narrative.

The evidence that shows that the media mistakenly believed Zimmerman was white is convincing: On March 8, the Associated Press describes Zimmerman as "white." March 13, NBC's Al Sharpton hosts Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump on his primetime MSNBC show; Crump repeatedly refers to Zimmerman as "white." That same day, Matt Gutman, the ABC News reporter covering the case for the network in Florida tweets that Trayvon was killed "bc [because] he was black." March 19, CBS News falsely describes Zimmerman as white.

Apparently, sometime between March 19 and March 22, the media discovered Zimmerman is Hispanic.

The Media's Dilemma
Once it was revealed Zimmerman is Hispanic, the media had a real problem on its hands. The white vs. black narrative was already in place. Sharpton was set to hold a high-profile rally in Florida on March 22; and In order to launch the story into the stratosphere, President Obama would -- without a shred of evidence -- inject race into the story the very next day, March 23.



In other words, this was already a runaway black vs. white train. But due to a lack of simple due diligence and fact-checking, the all-important "white" part was found missing -- but only after it was too late.

What to do?

It was at this point that the media as a whole entered into an eighteen month push to prop up a fabricated white vs. black racial narrative. And before it was over, most every major news outlet in the country would sully themselves in some way to keep this manufactured reality alive.

But no outlet, not even NBC, would play as dirty or come out as tarnished as CNN.

Here, and in no particular order, are the six categories (and the winners in each) that led to CNN winning the award for Most Shameful Coverage of George Zimmerman:

1. Singling Out George Zimmerman for a Lack of Racial Purity
Due to the fact that a now-unstoppable black vs. white narrative train was already carrying the entire mainstream media, Al Sharpton, left-wing civil rights groups, and even the president of the United States, something had to be done to ensure it didn’t derail based on the inconvenient fact that Zimmerman is Hispanic.



Enter the term "white Hispanic." The rationale…

Like Barack Obama, George Zimmerman has one white parent. Quite properly, the president has always been described as black for the simple reason that he is black. Historically and editorially, racial purity has never been an issue for the mainstream media when it comes to describing Hispanics, American Indians, blacks, Arabs,  Asians, etc. 

That didn't matter, though, and the loophole the media came up with to deny Zimmerman his racial identity was that he failed a racial purity test. The white part of him would now be cynically amplified at every opportunity.

Though Zimmerman is as Hispanic as Obama is black, for the next eighteen months, various news outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, and CNN, would strip Zimmerman of his identity by making the previously unheard of editorial decision to describe him as a "white Hispanic," or some variation of "self-described Hispanic."

Thanks to a recent editorial by former CNN staffer Roland Martin, we now know that the network's decision to focus on Zimmerman's lack of racial purity was an institutional one -- not a decision made on-the-fly by individual producers or anchors.

Winner: Tie

It is highly likely that the same institutional decision was made at other news outlets to use a racial purity loophole to artificially prop up the white vs. black narrative. For that reason, there is no clear winner in this category.

2. Fabricating Evidence Against George Zimmerman
Three major news outlets are responsible for violating basic editorial standards in order to frame George Zimmerman as a racist and/or murderer. The first network guilty of this was CNN.

 

CNN:
On March 21, CNN falsely accused Zimmerman of using the racially explosive term "fucking coon" on a 911 call. Live, on the air, during Anderson Cooper's primetime show, an audio expert listened to an unintelligible audio tape and incorrectly concluded Zimmerman had described Martin as a "fucking coon" just moments before he shot him.

This irresponsible and premature segment aired the very night before Al Sharpton's high-profile rally in Florida.

After the audio was fully enhanced (something CNN obviously didn't wait to do before falsely defaming Zimmerman), it became clear that Martin had either said "fucking cold" or "fucking punks."

More than two weeks would pass before CNN would retract its falsehood.

NBC News:
On March 27, the "Today Show" would air audio of a 911 call that they had maliciously edited.

Here is what NBC broadcast:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.

Here is the actual conversation:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about. 

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

After the fraudulent editing was discovered (first by Breitbart News), NBC News issued a full retraction and fired a number of the producers involved.

ABC News:
On March 28, ABC News proved themselves every bit as irresponsible as CNN by breaking a major story before the evidence was all in. Using surveillance video that hadn't yet been fully enhanced, ABC claimed that "video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman."

This premature and completely false accusation would be retracted by ABC News four days later after a full enhancement of the video clearly showed lacerations on Zimmerman's head.

Winner: CNN by a mile

Though Zimmerman and his attorneys have filed a lawsuit against NBC News for the malicious editing of the 911 tape, what CNN did is far worse.

NBC News was attempting to make Zimmerman look like a racial profiler. CNN, on the other hand, was attempting to make Zimmerman look like an enraged outright racist (there was no racial angle in ABC's fraud). It also took CNN far longer to retract their story than either NBC or ABC.

Moreover, on its own airwaves, CNN would allow the complete fallacy that Zimmerman had said "fucking coon" to live on.

Which brings me to…

3. Outright Dishonesty
Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough room on the Internet to list all of the media dishonestly hurled at Zimmerman. To save time, rather than make a comparison, I will simply focus on the very worst of it, which undoubtedly came from CNN.



Nothing was more harmful to our country or to Zimmerman personally than the lie that race somehow was involved in this tragic shooting. Therefore, the worst of the media's outright dishonesty came from their zeal to falsely prop up  the  false narrative that Zimmerman is racist or that race had anything to do with the shooting.

On two separate occasions (I'm aware of), even though CNN had retracted the falsehood back in 2012, the inflammatory lie that Zimmerman had described Martin as a "fucking coon" moments before shooting him was allowed to live on uncorrected during CNN broadcasts in July of 2013, when racial tensions were at their highest.

On July 16, 2013, on Erin Burnett's primetime CNN show, guest Safiya Songhai claimed Zimmerman's "on the tape saying F-ing coons."

Burnett did not correct the record.

Even worse, however, is that three days earlier on the 13th, one of CNN's own employees spread this lie.

Nancy Grace falsely claimed Zimmerman said "fucking coon" during her HLN primetime show.

As far as I know, Grace has never corrected the record.

Winner: CNN

Again, the dishonesty throughout the media during this affair was everywhere, and at times  staggering. But nothing I know of reached the heights of a cable news network intentionally allowing racial tensions to be enflamed by something they knew was an outright lie.

4. Phony Objectivity
It might be a little unfair to declare CNN the winner partly because of the fact that their phony objectivity is a 24/7 juggernaut, but there is more to condemn them than just that.

 

While ABC, CBS, NBC, the Washington Post , AP, etc. were all on the exact same dishonest narrative track in covering this case, they are not a 24/7 bullhorn across numerous media platforms. CNN is, and while it is true that MSNBC is not objective, unlike CNN, MSNBC does not pretend to be objective.
CNN, therefore, is far more sinister than MSNBC in how it disguises its leftism as objective truth. And when it came to the Zimmerman case, the network was especially toxic for all the reasons listed above.

There is, however, one CNN segment of outrageous bias that sticks out like no other.

Even if this particular segment had occurred on the openly left-wing MSNBC, it would have been worthy of note. But for it to happen on a network that advertises itself as "objective" made for an extraordinary thirty-minutes of television.

In 2012, and before there was a shred of proof race had anything to do with anything, President Obama injected race into the Martin shooting. His cynical goal was obvious: In a swing-state crucial to his upcoming reelection, Obama sought to turn a tragic local story into a national media obsession that would galvanize his Florida base via racial division

Post-verdict, what Obama did last week was even worse. After the trial and a thorough FBI investigation, the president knew that race had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting. Regardless, on July 19, the president made a surprise appearance in the White house briefing room and delivered the kind of racially divisive remarks unheard of from a sitting president in my lifetime.

CNN's reaction from its "objective" anchor Brooke Baldwin and four "objective" analysts (Gloria Borger, Jessica Yellin, Sonny Hostin, and Candy Crowley) can only be described as orgasmic. The surreal segment is described in detail here.

The topper, though, was when "objective" CNN anchor Don Lemon joined the celebration by breaking down into tears.

Winner: CNN

5. Outright Racism
The mainstream media's decision to single out George Zimmerman for his lack of racial purity was without question a shameful and bigoted act. But the only moment of outright virulent racism occurring in the mainstream media came from CNN's Nancy Grace during her HLN primetime show.

With racial tensions at their peak as America awaited a verdict, a sneering Grace lashed out at the Hispanic Zimmerman with a racial tirade about him enjoying a life of "driving through Taco Bell every night, having churros" as Trayvon Martin lies dead.
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In my two decades of watching the mainstream media, I have never once seen any media personality use this kind of open racism on the air. The fact that the rest of the media have ignored Grace's statement is depressing. The fact that Grace still has a job is outrageous. The fact that neither CNN nor Grace have even acknowledged or apologized defies explanation.

In 2010, CNN fired Hispanic anchor Rick Sanchez for falsely accusing Jon Stewart of racism.

In 2013, a CNN anchor is using CNN's own airwaves to hurl racism at a Hispanic, and there have been absolutely no consequences.

Winner: CNN not only wins this category, "The Most Trusted Name In News" stands alone.

6. Lies of Omission
The media almost made a game of not reporting proven facts inconvenient to their phony  white vs. black racial narrative. This is a form of lying known as lying through omission. There are almost too many lies of omission to count, but let us focus on this:

George Zimmerman's past indicates he is color blind. He has dated black women, tutored black children, once stood up for a black homeless man against the police (we're told he so desperately wants to impress), has black relatives, and voted for the first black president.

Moreover, the investigative arm of Eric Holder's Justice Department, the FBI, did an in-depth investigation into Zimmerman and found no evidence of racism in his past or the night of the shooting.

Winner: Tie
Every mainstream media outlet in America shamefully downplayed these facts.
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Of these six categories, CNN tied in two and handily won four.

In a vast ocean of reprehensible media behavior surrounding the coverage of George Zimmerman, CNN -- once one of the most respected and trusted news outlets in the world -- stood alone as a bright, beaming lighthouse of falsehoods, racism, and fabrications.

Big Journalism

Bill Whittle: The wretched lynching of George Zimmerman

‘You’re Not a Rock Star, You’re a Damn Terrorist’: Judge Jeanine Absolutely Destroys Rolling Stone for Tsarnaev Cover

Once again Judge Jeanine pulls the gloves off. I love this woman.

Obama Exposes Institutional Racism--on the Left and in the Media

by Dr. Timothy Daughtry 21 Jul 2013
 

 Obama’s recent comments on the George Zimmerman verdict expose once and for all the radical worldview that lies beneath the Obama agenda. In speculating that the Zimmerman verdict might have been different if Trayvon Martin had been white, Obama revealed the inner world of a man steeped in the cultural Marxist theories that have for decades shaped the thinking of leftists, from professors in elite universities to community organizers in the streets. And his comments highlight the struggle between two world views that is at the root of the current political tension in America. For Americans who see the world through a Judeo-Christian worldview, it is the content of one’s character and not the color of one’s skin that matters. For the political mainstream, it would not have mattered if Martin had been white or if Zimmerman had been black.

When the question is self-defense, we are at a loss to make sense of it when the left raises issues of race that we see as irrelevant.

But the political theorists who shaped the thinking of the American left long ago rejected the Judeo-Christian worldview and its emphasis on personal responsibility and the value of the individual over the collective. The cultural Marxists of the Frankfurt School in Europe, and later in America’s northeastern universities, developed Critical Theory--the relentless criticism of every cultural institution of free societies--as a tool for undermining the Judeo-Christian barriers to the Marxist agenda. Formal religion, the traditional family, and even national borders have all come under attack from the left as vestiges of an outmoded way of thinking about the world. The Judeo-Christian goal of a color-blind society has not been spared in the assault. 

In Critical Race Theory, racism is so embedded in America’s cultural institutions, including our legal system, that minorities can never get a fair shake, even if individual Americans are consciously well-intentioned on matters of race.  In order to overcome this deeply embedded--and largely unconscious--institutional racism, it is necessary, according to the theory, for those in power to use a different set of standards in dealing with minorities. 

Thus, through the lens of Critical Race Theory, Eric Holder is justified both in detecting the subtle outline of racism in laws that merely require proof of identity for voting, and also in failing to see it when members of the New Black Panther Party wield nightsticks outside of a Philadelphia voting place. What mainstream Americans call “reverse discrimination” is not, in the left’s worldview, a failure to see the unfairness in cases of differential treatment; it is an insistence on the part of the left that differential treatment is not unfair. 

According to this view, Holder would be justified in pursuing Zimmerman on civil rights charges because, by definition, Zimmerman’s acquittal would have been tainted by institutional racism. And in speculating that the outcome might have been different if Trayvon Martin had been white, Obama was no doubt opening the political door for such an action.

But, leftist theory aside, what would really have happened if Martin had been white? Based on the pattern of bias we have seen from the liberal media, we can predict that the nation would have heard a very different story about the shooting, one in which a Hispanic man who has lived without problems in a racially diverse community was forced to defend himself against a white man who was beating him mercilessly. We can predict that the liberal media would have described George Zimmerman simply as Hispanic, not as “white” or as a “self-described Hispanic” or as a “white Hispanic.” 

If Martin had been white, Zimmerman would have been portrayed in the media as the minority victim. Obama might have even said, “If I had a son, he would look like George Zimmerman.”

Pushing the speculation ever further, we can see that the case would not have been newsworthy to liberals if both men had been black. In the theoretical underpinnings of identity politics, race decides who is the hero and who is the villain of any story. When one black man shoots another black man, Critical Race Theory finds no oppressor and no victim, and so there is no story.

By the mainstream definition, when someone dies in a shooting, it is racist to value that life differently depending on the race of the shooter or of the person who was shot. But that is just what the left is doing in the Zimmerman case, and the practice is part and parcel of their worldview. 

The left constantly challenges America to have a soul-searching and honest conversation about race, and it is finally time. Instead of working from the assumption that mainstream America is deeply and profoundly racist, however, perhaps we should begin by admitting that there is institutional racism in America, but that it thrives primarily in institutions controlled by liberal ideology.

Dr. Tim Daughtry is a conservative writer and speaker.  He is co-author of Waking The Sleeping Giant: How Mainstream Americans Can Beat Liberals At Their Own Game.

Big Government

10 Things the Media Aren't Telling You About the Zimmerman Case

by John Nolte 17 Jul 2013
 

  In the wake of the Zimmerman not-guilty verdict, the media's outright lies, race-baiting, misinformation, shrillness, downplaying of events inconvenient to their narrative, and hysterical and dangerous stoking of racial animus have been in fifth-gear 24/7 for going on five days now. And they are just getting started. NBC's Al Sharpton is currently arranging for 100 weekend protests in 100 cities. Cutting through the muck to the truth is therefore New Media's job; and here are ten things the media are either ignoring or downplaying in their partisan effort to turn a loss into a win…

1. There is Zero Evidence Race was Involved In the Shooting

Early last year, as the tragic and fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin was just starting to bubble up, the media falsely described George Zimmerman as "white." The name Zimmerman apparently fooled the media into believing they had a white versus black narrative on their hands. Once they learned Zimmerman was Hispanic, rather than change course, in order to cover up their mistake, the media put the pedal to the metal in pushing a racial angle.

This crusade, however, is anti-science. A thorough federal investigation into Zimmerman found absolutely no evidence that there was any racism in his past or in his motivations the night of the shooting.
During the trial, the prosecution did not accuse Zimmerman of having any kind of racial motive.

The one juror who has spoken out said the jury saw no evidence of a racial motivation.

The media's racial narrative is based on nothing more than partisan lies, speculation, innuendo, and a cynical alchemy conjured from nothing to enflame division and hate.

Moreover, it is reasonable to assume the media have been swarming Zimmerman's life looking for anything that might point to racism. But as of yet there have been no media reports (that weren't later debunked and retracted) reporting Zimmerman has been found to be a closet racist.

On the contrary…

2. Zimmerman's Admirable History of Being Colorblind Toward Blacks

Zimmerman's past indicates he is color blind. He has dated black women, tutored black children, once stood up for a black homeless man against the police (we're told he so desperately wants to impress), has black relatives, and voted for the first black president.

3. Zimmerman is Hispanic, Not White
 

Like President Obama, Zimmerman has one white parent. Quite properly, the media have never referred to Obama as "half-black," a "self-described black," or a "white black." Obama is black. Period.
Zimmerman, however, has been stripped of his Hispanic racial identity across almost every media outlet in America. Though he is as Hispanic as Obama is black, because it is inconvenient to the white versus black racial narrative the media are hyping, the media refuse to identify Zimmerman as a Hispanic.

A full fifteen months after the media learned they had made a mistake and that their prey was Hispanic, some in media are still referring to Zimmerman as "white."

Those not referring to him as white are either ignoring his racial heritage altogether, or describing him as a "white Hispanic" or some variation of a "self-described Hispanic."

As far as I know, this is an unprecedented editorial decision.

Speaking of unprecedented…

4. Obama's Justice Department Has Launched a National Fishing Expedition Against Zimmerman

Probably because the reporting of such a frightening and Orwellian act of federal overreach might make look Zimmerman look sympathetic and hurt Obama, the media have apparently decided to ignore Attorney General Eric Holder's public witch hunt. The Justice Department is setting up a public tip line for Americans to "help build a case against Zimmerman."

In order to build a civil rights case, the government needs evidence of racism.

The federal government crowd-sourcing for evidence against a single American is both chilling and something heretofore unheard of.

5. Like Some Conservatives, President Obama Feared Violence After the Verdict

One of the false racially-charged talking points some in media are using against conservatives is that we are racist for fearing there might be violence in the wake of the verdict.

Something inconvenient to that narrative is the fact that a black, leftist American president beloved by the media also feared there would be violence in the wake of the verdict. After the verdict was announced, the president released a statement that said in part:

I know this case has elicited strong passions.  And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher.  But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.  I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.

Unfortunately for a race-baiting media, this, one of the president's better moments, has to be ignored in order to serve an artificial narrative.

Which brings me to number six…

6. There Has Been Widespread Violence After the Verdict

The fear President Obama and those "racist" conservatives shared about the possibility of violence in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict has been vindicated.
In just a few days, Breitbart News has documented over two dozen separate acts of violence and lawlessness throughout the country.

The media are dutifully covering up this widespread violence. Yes, they report on each separate act, but always with a "mostly peaceful" qualifier. The media also refuse to connect the dots and widen their reportorial context to show the entire picture.

One aspect of this lawless spree the racially-obsessed media adamantly refuse to report on are the reported "hate crimes" being committed by black against whites and Hispanics.

Which brings me to…

7. Zimmerman Protesters Commit Numerous Racially-Motivated Assaults:

While the irresponsible media is inventing from whole cloth a racial narrative in the Trayvon shooting, at the same time, they are willfully ignoring actual racially-motivated assaults occurring in the wake of the verdict.

Thus far, there have been three reported hate crimes -- actual assaults -- committed by Trayvon supporters.

But like the awful murders taking hundreds of black lives in Chicago, the media refuse to call national attention to these verdict-inspired hate crimes because there is no political upside in doing so. How can a liberal media call attention to the violence in Chicago when liberals and liberalism are the problem?

The same thinking holds true for these reported assaults by blacks against Hispanics and whites. To focus on reality might undermine the fabricated narrative that an innocent black teenager was stalked and murdered by a racist white man.

8. "Stand Your Ground" Has Nothing to do With the Zimmerman Case

Other than ginning up black turnout for Obama's re-election effort in the crucial swing state of Florida and enflaming racial tensions (which solidifies the Democrat base), another partisan goal the media hopes to achieve from the Zimmerman case is to toxify the "Stand Your Ground" laws that currently exist in 30 states.

But like the fact that Zimmerman is not white and that there is zero evidence showing race was in any way involved in his actions the night of the shooting, the media have also bumped into another inconvenient reality: "Stand Your Ground" had nothing to do with Zimmerman's defense or acquittal.

The Zimmerman case was a simple case of self-defense:

The jury received standard instructions. Zimmerman did not invoke the Stand Your Ground provision. Zimmerman later waived his right to a pretrial immunity hearing under the Stand Your Ground procedures.

And as National Review’s Sterling Beard points out, “The only time Stand Your Ground came up during the trial proper was when a prosecution witness stated that he’d taught a class Zimmerman had attended that covered Stand Your Ground.”

Even the prosecution rejects the cynical attempt to tie Martin’s death to Stand Your Ground. Prosecutor John Guy couldn’t have made it clearer during the trial: “This case is not about standing your ground.” During their post-trial press conference, as conservative talk show host Victoria Taft first noted, a Miami Herald reporter asked the prosecution team specifically whether Stand Your Ground “affected the facts in this case and whether this case could have been won, perhaps, pre the changes in the law.”

Prosecutor Bernie De La Rionda replied: “You know, self-defense has existed for a long time. And we’ve dealt with it in Jackson for a long time.

These facts, though, have failed to stop Eric Holder or the media from pretending the complete opposite is true.

9. Rachel Jeantel Might Be Responsible for the Deadly Confrontation

An unfortunate mix of marijuana, homophobia, and a friend whispering warnings in your ear at night, could go a long towards explaining why a physical altercation occurred:

[CNN's PIERS] MORGAN: And he was freaked out by it [Zimmerman following him]?

JEANTEL: Yes. Definitely after I say may be a rapist, for every boy, for every man, every -- who's not that kind of way, seeing a grown man following them, would they be creep out?

She continued:

"And people need to understand, he didn't want that creepy ass cracker going to his father or girlfriend's house to go get -- mind you, his little brother was there. You know -- now, mind you, I told you -- I told Trayvon it might have been a rapist."

Evidence that shows why Trayvon might have been the aggressor, though, is inconvenient to a media desperate to enflame racial tensions. Moreover, bringing the issue of homophobia into the personal narratives of Trayvon and Jeantel just can't be allowed to happen.

This bombshell has been swept under the rug just as effectively as the other nine.

10. The Florida Justice System's Leniency Towards Trayvon Led to His Death

In order to make his crime statistics look good, Police Chief Charles Hurley of the Miami-Dade School Police Department is suspected of juicing the numbers by treating outright crimes as simple disciplinary problems. As Robert Stacy McCain reports in the American Spectator, Trayvon Martin ended up being a victim of this practice.
Instead of being arrested and charged after being found with a burglary tool and 13 pieces of jewelry stolen from a house a half-mile from the school, Trayvon was suspended from school. Trayvon was also caught with marijuana:

Either of those incidents could have put Trayvon Martin into the custody of the juvenile justice system. However, because of Chief Hurley’s attempt to reduce the school crime statistics — according to sworn testimony, officers were “basically told to lie and falsify” reports — Martin was never arrested. And if he had been arrested, he might never have been in Sanford the night of his fatal encounter with Zimmerman.

What we have here is a case of police corruption in which the media have shown no interest, even though you can connect the dots to Trayvon's tragic death.

But to report this story would mean upsetting the narrative that Trayvon was an innocent (like many of us at 17, he got in trouble) and that the only cause of his death was a racist white man protected by racist white laws (passed almost unanimously by Republicans and Democrats).
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While the simple and noble act of reporting the full truth might help to ease tensions, as racial violence breaks out across the country, the media have shown no remorse for enflaming citizens with falsehoods.

Sadly, the media have not even signaled that they might slow down.

If anything, the media are just warming up for what they seem to hope will be "a long, hot weekend."

Big journalism

Trayvongate: Newest Obama Scandal is 17 Months Old

by Lee Stranahan 10 Jul 2013

The newest Obama scandal is seventeen months old. 

 

Welcome to Trayvongate, where the President of the United States used both the bully pulpit, the Department of Justice and sly media manipulation to gin up charges of racism in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting. Now that the trial is almost finished and the only act of racism mentioned so far came from the victim--Martin called Zimmerman 'a creepy ass cracker' according to testimony--the cynical and repeated use of the race card by the White house is even more abhorrent.

Judicial Watch revealed documents today that proved what Breitbart News reported in April, 2012: that Eric Holder's Department of Justice took an active role in racially charged rallies in Sanford, Florida and that the Community Relations Service helped force the temporary resignation of Sheriff Bill Lee. That resignation made it appear that Sanford authorities were suspect and possibly complicit in covering up something.

Some of my reporting at the time was based on interviews with numerous public officials in Sanford who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from the Obama administration. They described a situation where the CRS team took over and forced decisions while clearing a path for protests and rallies that heightened the appearence of racial tensions.

The CRS is a small unit within the Department of Justice and ostensibly it serves a legitimate purpose; attempting to cool down tense situation. As its website says:

The Community Relations Service is the Department's "peacemaker" for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, and national origin. Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS is the only Federal agency dedicated to assist State and local units of government, private and public organizations, and community groups with preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions, incidents, and civil disorders, and in restoring racial stability and harmony.

However, under the highly politicized Holder Department of Justice, the CRS has acted as 'spies and muscle' according to a source familiar with the unit. In the Zimmerman case, they ended up as doing nothing to facilitate 'racial stability and harmony ', instead acting a heavy thumb on the scales of justice and helping to force events that gave the nation an impression that Martin's death was racially motivated.

Not just George Zimmerman, but the police and the entire town were targeted in rallies that saw people being bused-in for protests. We now have proof via the Judicial Watch release that these rallies were facilitated by the Obama administration. They were also highly racially charged. Close Obama ally Al Sharpton, along with Jesse Jackson, led the charge. As CBS Miami reported:

“We live in the middle of an American paradox,” Rev. Sharpton told the crowd. “We can put a black man in the White House but we cannot walk a black child through a gated neighborhood.

We are not selling out, bowing out or backing down until there is justice for Trayvon.”
“This is not about a hoodie, it’s about racial profiling,” Jackson said. “We will use our marching feet, civil disobedience and every weapon in our non-violent arsenal until justice is served.”

However, much of the rhetoric surrounding the Zimmerman story was violent. Many will remember that the New Black Panther party actually offered a $10,000 bounty for the 'capture' of George Zimmerman. As the Orlando Sentinal reported:

New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad announced the reward during a protest in Sanford Saturday. And when asked whether he was inciting violence, Muhammad replied defiantly: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

The bounty announcement came moments after members of the group called for the mobilization of 10,000 black men to capture Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon in a gated Sanford community on Feb. 26.

Muhammad said members of his group would search for Zimmerman themselves in Maitland — where the 28-year old worked before the shooting, employees there told the Orlando Sentinel. He declined to say when the group would begin their search.

J. Christian Adams knows the New Black Panther Party well; he resigned his position at the DOJ over the refusal to prosecute the Panthers for the now infamous Philadephia voter intimidation actions during the 2008 election. Adams outlined the crimes committed by the NBPP in Sanford:

Let’s start with solicitation to kidnap.  In announcing a reward for the seizure of Zimmerman, the New Black Panthers may have violated Florida Code 787.01.  It makes it a felony to “by threat, confining or abducting, or imprisoning another person against his . . .  will without lawful authority with intent to . .  . terrorize.”

Merely soliciting someone else to do this is also a felony in Florida under Florida Code 777.04.  “A person who solicits another to commit an offense prohibited by law and in the course of such solicitation commands, encourages, hires, or requests another person to engage in specific conduct which would constitute such offense or an attempt to commit such offense commits the offense of criminal solicitation.”

That's only part of the list. The New Black Panther's outrageous, illegal call for vigilante justice happened on March 24th. According the records obtained by Judicial Watch, the Department of Justice deployed to Sanford the next day: March 25th, 2012. However, the DOJ did not go to Sanford to make arrests against the New Black Panthers. Instead, according the the written record, obtained by Judicial Watch, they "deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch captain."

Once again, the Holder Department of Justice failed to prosecute the New Black Panther Party. They actually helped facilitate mass rallies against Zimmerman and the City of Sanford.

These actions are made even more scandalous by the direct insertion of the President of the United States into the story. President Obama made his famous "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon" remark at the White House, but what got considerably less press was the fact that Obama had a prior relationship with Martin's attorney Benjamin Crump. Obama worked with him on another racially charged case when he was a Senator.

Breitbart News reported on the Obama connection to the 2006 story of Martin Lee Anderson. Attorney Crump said publicly that he was following the same media 'playbook' as the Anderson case. Tactics included using a photo of Anderson as a child, the same way the media used the Crump-supplied photo of Trayvon Martin as child. This story from 2006 shows the involvement of Senator Obama (who did not end up appearing at the rally), Sharpton and Jackson as well as other usual suspects from the far left.

A rally will be taking place in Tallahassee Friday, April 21 regarding the ongoing investigation into the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. Anderson died Jan. 6 at a Panhandle boot camp after being kneed and punched by Bay County Sheriff's boot camp guards.
Students from Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College and Florida A&M University have been involved in the planning and organization of the event at which Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be making appearances.

Charlie and Martin Sheen, who donated $10,000 to the cause, are also reportedly planning to attend Friday, along with former TLC member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Afeni Shakur, mother of the murdered rapper Tupac Shakur. According Samantha Greer, an FSU student and volunteer for the Coalition for Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois may also make an appearance. Greer stressed that the Coalition is still looking for volunteers and that anyone is welcome to join the cause.

What we saw in 2012 was the Obama administration using taxpayer resources to ratchet up racial tensions in a local crime case and literally creating key story points in the narrative, such as forcing the sheriff to temporarily resign. At the same time, the President himself made an emotional statement about the victim with direct reference to his race, without revealing that he had worked with the victim's attorney a few years earlier in a similar case. At the same time, Obama media ally (and Sharpton employer) NBC outrageously edited the Zimmerman audio to make Zimmerman appear racist. All these manipulative and deceptive uses of the race card--pushed along by the Holder DOJ at taxpayer expense--happened just months before the 2012 presidential election.

The only reason this isn't a major scandal already is the media hasn't ever done its job and declared it one.

Big Government

Ted Cruz’s Cuban Father Compares Obama To Castro

Governor Palin: Must I Repeat? Quit Making Things Up!

Governor Palin wrote the following in response to the latest scandal coming from the Obama administration’s State Department.

 Via Facebook:

Outrageous. Once again the cover-up is worse than the “crime.” Secretary of State John Kerry WAS on his boat while Egypt fell into turmoil resulting in an overthrow of its new government ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood that the Obama Administration had so recently supported and may still support. (That, however, we do not know because President Obama’s absolutely dithering foreign policies, his "leading from behind," and his benign statements on the Muslim Brotherhood make no sense to sensible people.)

The State Department categorically denied Kerry was on his boat. Yet CBS had pictures to prove it. Goodness. There is no need to lie, even on such a "little" thing as the location of a government leader during a military confrontation happening in real time. (Benghazi? Ring a bell? There still isn’t anyone in the media who’ll find out where our Commander-in-Chief was that night.) Come on, Obama Administration! It’s no big darn deal that Kerry was on his boat!

We expect, and deserve, to assume that our highest ranking public servants to whom We the People have given the most responsibility are always working – even when they’re clearing their heads and breathing in some fresh air on a yacht, or sweating away stress on a basketball court, or yukking it up with pals on the fairway… let’s trust they’re always preparing for the proverbial 3:00 AM phone call.

Being on his boat isn’t the issue. Blatantly deceiving the American people is the issue.

Our government, yet again, either had no idea where the boss was, or worse yet, they lied to us. (Oops-a-daisy. Correction. In Obamaspeak, we were told the "least untruthful statement.")

Our government directed its swift-ly boat changing denials to what one can only surmise is their perception of who we are: a nation of sheep – heads down, grazing away, gullible, ignorant, and undeserving of truth.

Confronted with photographic evidence, the State Department merely tossed the public a handful of hay today in its tepid effort to kinda-sorta explain the whole thing away. Something about, well, yeah, so the evidence contradicted all their public claims, but… eh, no harm, no foul. And like good herder dogs, with calm authority to avoid commotion, the bureaucrats barked the suggestion that we all just move along now.

No. You move along, little doggie. Enough is enough. It’s unacceptable. Remember, the nation’s Mama Grizzlies don’t just rise up to swat away threats to protect the next generation. They also school, scold, and signal to teach a lesson. One lesson taught all children is if you lie on the little things, you’ll lie on the big things.

George Orwell wrote of a time when citizens could no longer trust big government, and by wearing down the citizenry through doublespeak and lies a tired country finally retreated to its dark and depressing demise.

America, we shall not go there! Why? Because if we know from our nation’s forefathers that weariness is not in our blood! It’s not in our DNA to retreat. Have faith that there are enough patriots in our exceptional nation willing to fight together for what is right. Proof of this is all the families still encouraging and supporting their loved ones who choose U.S. military service. And proof of a unified commitment to defend our republic is what the independent tea party movement is all about. Disregard the constant criticism, mocking, and flagrant lies about this diverse, proud movement that still spew from big government cheerleaders and their lapdogs in the media. Despite harassment and intimidation, commonsense conservatives are rising up again to get a better view of what is ahead. They are identifying threats to our Constitution and our children’s future. The permanent political class angrily bemoans this because they know our diverse working class – those who make the world go ’round – can shake off the slumber, unify, and effectively encourage others to come out of a 2012 hibernation and demand accountability at the 2014 ballot box. It’s there we prove the average, everyday American’s ferocious strength when exercising that beautiful belief in loyalty only to a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Until then, we mustn’t have the fighting instinct of sheep.

Pay attention, do your own homework on candidates and political machines, turn off media that would disrespect you by continuing to deceive, and keep the faith.

While celebrating America’s glorious Independence this week, be secure in knowing that there are more of us who support men and women ready and willing to fight on our behalf for freedom and truth than those who would continually deceive us. Thank God. And thank a Vet.

State Department: say you’re sorry and don’t ever do this again. CBS News: thank you for doing your job on this issue.

Happy 4th of July weekend, America.

- Sarah Palin

She also posted this image, writing:

Pretty clear. Kerry on his boat. But changing winds soon hit.

And this:

Despite different attributions of this quote’s author, the sentiment rings true.

Conservatives 4 Palin.