WAYNE LAPIERRE’S MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
The National Rifle Association has taken cryptic note of the White House following President Obama’s very vocal push toward gun control as a part of his future legacy. NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre says that Mr. Obama has chosen to attack “what he misunderstands most about America — the Second Amendment, gun owners and the NRA.” Mr. La Pierre also has issued an invitation to the president via a public video message.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll meet you for a one on one, one-hour debate with a mutually agreed upon moderator on any network that will take it. No prescreened questions and no gas bag answers. Americans will judge for themselves who they trust and believe on this issue. You or the NRA?” Mr. LaPierre advises in the new video.
“Let’s see if you’re game for a fair debate. It’s your chance to show the American people that you’re not afraid to meet the NRA on neutral ground,” he says. “Let me be clear: The NRA will fight this illegal overreach more aggressively than we have ever challenged anything.”
STORIES THE MEDIA IGNORED
A pair of intrepid Media Research Center analysts went through 13,022 news stories that appeared on ABC, NBC and CBS evening news broadcasts during 2015 — that’s 18,549 minutes of coverage — to determine what the broadcasters deigned to cover. “The results show a network news agenda heavy on crime, terrorism and weather, but light on Democratic scandals, ObamaCare’s failings, the out-of-control national debt, sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood’s grotesqueries,” report Mike Ciandella and Rich Noyes.
During the entire year, the networks devoted 52 hours of coverage to crime, 39 hours to terrorism, 33 hours to weather, 32 hours to politics and 32 hours to accidents and disasters.
Ongoing questions about Hillary Clinton’s “Benghazi scandal” got a whopping 46 minutes; shortcomings of Obamacare warranted 34 minutes; misconduct within the Clinton Foundation got 27 minutes; videos revealing Planned Parenthood trafficking fetal tissue 25 minutes. The $18 trillion national debt drew 4 minutes — and last but not least, IRS targeting of conservative groups got zero. None. No mention.
The researchers say that the networks did manage to produce 127 minutes on the “Deflate Gate” scandal surrounding New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady.
TRUMP’S PERFECT TIMING
Scores of books about Republican front-runner Donald Trump have been published, either condemning or applauding his place in the political pantheon. A book to consider: “What America Needs: The Case for Trump,” by Jeffrey Lord, contributor to both The American Spectator and CNN, and a former member of the Reagan administration. The book was just published by Regnery.
“When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, the media treated him like a joke. The Republican establishment treated him like an inconvenience. But at campaign stop after campaign stop, month after month, Donald Trump has drawn astonishing crowds of supporters. With less than two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, Trump is the front leader for the Republican nomination. Why? What do millions of American voters see in the bombastic billionaire?” the author asks.
It’s simple, he says. “Donald Trump is exactly what America needs right now,” Mr. Lord declares.
KASICHISM
“I consider myself the ‘Prince of Light and Hope.”
— Republican hopeful Gov. John Kasich to talk radio host Hugh Hewitt; Mr. Kasich sees himself as a contrast to a certain unnamed rival he deems “The Prince of Darkness,” whose intention is to rile up the public.
LICENSING THE JOURNALISTS
The news media appear to be psychotic, drunk on spin and hungry for buzz — reeling across a chaotic landscape inhabited by old school newshounds and gleeful upstarts alike. Is it time to rein in the free-for-all? One Republican thinks so. South Carolina state Rep. Michael Pitts has introduced a bill to establish what he calls a “Responsible Journalism Registry Law.”
According to Mr. Pitts, the bill would “establish requirements for persons before working as a journalist for a media outlet and for media outlets before hiring a journalist; to require the establishment and operation of a responsible journalism registry by the South Carolina Secretary of State’s office; to authorize registry fees; to establish fines and criminal penalties for violation of the chapter; and for other purposes.”
Keep in mind the First Amendment advises that Congress shall make no law “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” among other things. Mr. Pitts, however, is convinced that the American journalism is now more opinion than news, and that reporters have forgotten the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, which calls for clarity, fairness and accuracy. The lawmaker also has a specific interest.
Mr. Pitts told The Post and Courier — the state’s largest news organization — that he’s “not a press-hater,” and actually hopes to spark discussion about news coverage of guns and Second Amendment rights.
“It strikes me as ironic that the first question is constitutionality from a press that has no problem demonizing firearms. With this statement I’m talking primarily about printed press and TV. The TV stations, the 6 o’clock news and the printed press have no qualms demonizing gun owners and gun ownership,” Mr. Pitts told the newspaper.
IT’S JUST DOWN THE HALL
A moment between rivals, perhaps. Republican hopeful Gov. Chris Christie has this to say about fellow candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, who is particularly critical of Mr. Christie’s apparent support of Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
“What Senator Rubio is doing is what senators do all the time,” Mr. Christie recently told Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom. They talk and talk and obfuscate and make sure people don’t understand the full context of things, because they don’t have to be held accountable for anything. That’s the difference between senators and governors. This is a first-term senator who’s still learning where the men’s room is in the Senate.”
HILLARY AND THE UFOS, PART 2
Let us recall that presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton recently had a close encounter of the journalistic kind with The Conway Daily Sun, a small New Hampshire newspaper that asked the candidate her opinion on UFOs and extraterrestrials.
Though she may not be as forthcoming on other matters, a surprisingly candid Mrs. Clinton told the paper that she would look into the UFO question, adding that Earth “may already have been visited” and that a future task force could investigate Area 51, a top-secret military installation in Nevada. Did anyone pay attention to the report?
Why, yes, they did.
The Paradigm Research Group, an activist organization that tracks the path of such controversial topics through politics and media, reports that, so far, 350 overseas and U.S.-based news organizations, plus 200 local U.S. radio and television outlets, have carried the story. Stephen Bassett, a registered lobbyist and founder of the group, encourages Mrs. Clinton to expand on what she may know.
“Because you aspire to the highest office in the nation, you have an extraordinary opportunity and primary obligation to address what is easily the most profound issue of our time — an issue with major national security and policy implications,” says Mr. Basset in an open letter to Mrs. Clinton, adding, “What the American people need is less legacy and more truth.”
SUPPOSING THERE’S AN INDICTMENT?
Former federal prosecutor Joe DiGenova recently suggested Hillary Clinton could be indicted over her use of a private email system as secretary of state in the next 60 days. The prediction has attracted a pollster. Without naming any names, Rasmussen Reports asked 1,000 likely voters this question: “If a political candidate is charged with a felony while running for office, should he or she immediately stop campaigning, or should they continue running until a court determines their guilt or innocence?”
Forty-six percent overall said the candidate in question should leave the campaign trail; 54 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats agree. Meanwhile, 47 percent overall said the candidate should continue running; 41 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of the Democrats agree.
POLL DU JOUR
81 percent of Americans would restrict abortion to the first three months of pregnancy; 66 percent of pro-choice Americans agree.
68 percent overall oppose taxpayer funding of abortion; 51 percent of pro-choicers agree.
61 percent overall support laws that ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy except to save the life of the mother; 62 percent of pro-choicers agree.
60 percent overall say abortion is “morally wrong;” 33 percent of pro-choicers agree.
51 percent overall believe health care providers have the right to opt out of providing abortions if they have moral objections; 34 percent of pro-choicers agree.
Source: A Marist Institute for Public Opinion/Knights of Columbus survey of 1,686 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 15-22, 2015 and released Tuesday.
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