WFB 2 Free Beacon
6/18 see main for older
EXXON?
funders? vulture singer
Ginni?
SEE STEELE DOSSIER
bad boy rebels, combat jrnlism 80's gang of 5 bs
see CRM
but married the boss's dtr
DO NOT LIKE BLACK PPL ESP WOMEN
debunked by fact check regularly?THUS ATTACK KESSLER FACTCHECK.ORG
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Washington Free Beacon Flexes After Columbia Removes Deans
Washington Free Beacon Flexes After Columbia University Removes Deans Over Antisemitic Texts
The conservative outlet has published a string of embarrassing stories that have impacted left-leaning institutions
Natalie Korach
July 8, 2024 @ 3:04 PM
Protestors wave Palestinian flags on the West Lawn of Columbia University on April 29, 2024 in New York. Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at US colleges, said Monday they would not budge until the school met their demands, defying an ultimatum to disperse or face suspension.
The conservative Washington Free Beacon is winning attention after a string of stories that have embarrassed left-leaning figures or institutions, most recently Columbia University, which was forced to remove three associate deans from their positions after the revelation of their private text messages mocking antisemitism concerns on campus.
“The Free Beacon exists to do hard-hitting, fact-based reporting from a conservative perspective and to attracting and growing the talent to produce it,” editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson told TheWrap. “Generally speaking, the right has over-indexed for opinion and commentary and we think traditional reporting continues to play a vital and important role.”
The digital outlet, which currently employs 28 editorial staffers, occupies a unique position in the right-leaning media ecosystem, pursuing original reporting in a space often dominated by commentary since its founding in 2012. The Beacon’s approach has become particularly evident this year, with the outlet contributing explosive reporting on university administrators embroiled in scandal since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which has contributed to antisemitic rhetoric and rising violence across campuses.
Debate moderators (L-R) Washington Free-Beacon Editor-In-Chief Eliana Johnson, former FOX News host Megyn Kelly and Elizabeth Vargas of NewsNation take the stage ahead of the NewsNation Presidential Primary Debate at the University of Alabama Moody Music Hall on December 6, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
File: Eliana Johnson, Megyn Kelly and Elizabeth Vargas (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Earlier this year, the Beacon was also instrumental in reporting on the plagiarism allegations against Harvard president Claudine Gay, who was ousted in January following a rocky appearance giving congressional testimony on campus antisemitism. The Washington Post declared Gay’s resignation a “win” for the outlet, saying it was “ahead of the pack” on the story.
Read Next
Columbia University Cancels Main Commencement Ceremony After Gaza Protests
According to Johnson, “The Beacon’s most impactful reporting over the past year has been on elite university campuses, from Harvard to the University of Pennsylvania and now Columbia due to the eruption of antisemitism at those schools — and the public interest in the leaders and institutions that have enabled and fomented it.”
The Washington Free Beacon’s masthead.
Just over a week ago, the news outlet published images showing Columbia officials sending hostile text messages during a May 31 panel focused on Jewish life on campus and concerns about mounting antisemitism. The messages included administrators trading problematic commentary about the panel, including using vomit emojis as a reaction, and asserting that Jewish figures were using the attention for “fundraising potential.”
The photos were taken by an audience member sitting behind a Columbia vice dean during the presentation, where her phone was in plain sight, according to the outlet.
While a university spokesperson did not specify which officials had been placed on leave, the Beacon had reported that those involved were vice dean and chief administrative officer Susan Chang-Kim, dean of undergraduate student life Cristen Kromm and associate dean for student and family support Matthew Patashnick.
Read Next
Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns Amid Plagiarism Scandal, Backlash Over Response to Antisemitism on Campus
The Beacon also drew attention to the Washington Post’s foreign desk including multiple former Al-Jazeera journalists, raising concerns about how that could be impacting their coverage of recent events in Gaza, including their coverage of a recent rescue by the Israeli military of multiple hostages. They also reported on journalist Maha Hussaini’s support for Hamas and sharing of antisemitic cartoons, which led to the International Women’s Media Foundation rescinding a Courage Award they’d given the Palestinian reporter.
Much of the privately owned, for-profit digital newspaper’s funding comes from billionaire and Harvard Law School graduate Paul Singer, according to the Washington Post. Michael Goldfarb, a conservative writer who cofounded the Beacon, serves as its chairman.
The Beacon describes itself on its website as “dedicated to uncovering the stories that the powers that be hope will never see the light of day” and “committed to serving the public interest by reporting news and information that is not being fully covered by other news organizations.”
The outlet has exposed problematic power dynamics and the behavior of officials for years. One of its biggest stories early in its life included playing a massive role in unearthing old audiotapes of Hillary Clinton in 2014.
Their work continues, with Johnson pointing out Monday on social media that the Columbia administrators are set to be reassigned to new positions, even after the messages were exposed, according to New York Times reporting.
“Columbia really cracking down on antisemitism!” Johnson quipped.
Read Next
Elise Stefanik Flexes Ratings for University Presidents Panel: 'Most-Viewed Congressional Testimony' in History | Video
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open sec
Washington Free Beacon, $50,000, 04, 2015010120151231 Jan 2015 - Dec .
harv
The Washington Free Beacon
The Washington Free Beacon, financially backed by Paul Singer, an American billionaire hedge fund manager and conservative activist is a privately owned, for-profit online newspaper that began publication on February 7, 2012. The Beacon‘s chairman is Michael Goldfarb.
Private Non Profit
Digital Only
1.72M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
1,720,000
---
ggl 12 25
[### The N.Y. Times vs. Washington Free Beacon
Politico
https://www.politico.com › blogs › media › 2015/06 › t...](https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/06/the-ny-times-vs-washington-free-beacon-208435)
Jun 8, 2015 — Two years ago, The New York Times published a front-page story about Michael Goldfarb and the Washington Free Beacon, a website that, ...
Missing: WFB | Show results with: WFB
[### A Conservative Provocateur, Using a Blowtorch as His Pen
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › U.S. › Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/us/politics/michael-goldfarb-gleeful-provocateur-at-intersection-of-many-worlds.html)
Feb 23, 2013 — At 32, Mr. Goldfarb is a founder of The Free Beacon, which is gaining prominence as a conservative clarion; a onetime presidential campaign aide to Senator ...Read more
Missing: WFB | Show results with: WFB
[### Michael Goldfarb SourceWatch
https://www.sourcewatch.org › index.php › Michael_Gol...](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Goldfarb)
Michael Goldfarb is chairman of the conservative think tank the Center for American Freedom, publishers of The Washington Free Beacon.Read more
Missing: WFB FUNDER DONOR
[### Washington Free Beacon Flexes After Columbia Removes ...
TheWrap
https://www.thewrap.com › washington-free-beacon-re...](https://www.thewrap.com/washington-free-beacon-reporting-columbia-deans-antisemitism/)
Jul 8, 2024 — Michael Goldfarb, a conservative writer who cofounded the Beacon, serves as its chairman. The Beacon describes itself on its website as “ ...Read more
The conservative Washington Free Beacon is winning attention after a string of stories that have embarrassed left-leaning figures or institutions, most recently Columbia University, which was forced to remove three associate deans from their positions after the revelation of their private text messages mocking antisemitism concerns on campus.
“The Free Beacon exists to do hard-hitting, fact-based reporting from a conservative perspective and to attracting and growing the talent to produce it,” editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson told TheWrap.
[### Washington Free Beacon funded initial Fusion GPS anti ...
CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com › Politics](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-free-beacon-funded-initial-fusion-gps-anti-trump-research-dossier/)
Oct 28, 2017 — In the statement, editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti and chairman Michael Goldfarb said that the publication retained Fusion GPS "to provide ...Read more
Missing: WFB | Show results with: WFB
[### ALEC Goes After the Center for Media and Democracy
Truthout
https://truthout.org › Articles › Op-Ed](https://truthout.org/articles/alec-goes-after-the-center-for-media-and-democracy/)
The Washington Free Beacon is here to enter the arena of combat journalism. […] At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them.” And this is ...
[### Trump dossier triggered by website funded by Jewish GOP ...
The Times of Israel
https://www.timesofisrael.com › trump-dossier-triggere...](https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-dossier-triggered-by-website-funded-by-jewish-gop-mega-donor/)
Oct 29, 2017 — Trump dossier triggered by website funded by Jewish GOP mega-donor. Washington Free Beacon, supported by pro-Israel philanthropist Paul ...Read more
Missing: WFB | Show results with: WFB
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:{:{REF BY GAI?}:
WFB}:
June 3, 2021
A leftwing initiative launched this week aimed at monitoring conservative "disinformation" has ties to a progressive billionaire linked to several of the sort of disinformation projects he is now trying to combat.
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman’s investment fund donated an undisclosed amount to Indivisible, an advocacy group launching the new effort to track conservative disinformation. The fund, Investing in US, has also financed a group that created fake social media personas to suppress Republican voter turnout in Alabama's 2017 special Senate election. Indivisible thinks its "Truth Brigade" can help flag misinformation better than social media algorithms, according to Forbes.
Social media platforms have increased their efforts to contain "disinformation" in recent months, often with mixed results. Until recently, Facebook flagged posts claiming the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, even as the theory gained traction in the scientific community. LinkedIn, the only American social network in China, recently censored a China critic based in the United Kingdom who referred to the Chinese government as an "oppressive dictatorship."
Critics say Hoffman’s involvement casts doubt on the Truth Brigade’s ability to effectively police disinformation. "A man who invests in social media projects aimed at hardball political disinformation is not one whose allies can be trusted," said Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center, which tracks liberal dark money groups.
The Alabama special election wasn’t Hoffman’s only run-in with disinformation. Facebook investigated whether a Hoffman-backed initiative called News for Democracy published misleading information targeting Republican voters during the 2018 election.
The New York Times reported in 2017 that Hoffman was a major donor to Indivisible, which was founded in 2016 by two former congressional staffers. Dmitri Mehlhorn, Hoffman’s partner at Investing in US, identified Indivisible as one of the company’s grantees in a December 2018 post on Medium. Mehlhorn did not disclose how much funding went to Indivisible.
In 2017, Indivisible members registered as Republicans in a Utah congressional primary in order to boost a moderate candidate to replace outgoing representative Jason Chaffetz.
Indivisible press secretary Emily Phelps told the Washington Free Beacon the group has not received funding from Hoffman since 2019, and that he "doesn't have any connection" to the work of the Truth Brigade. Investing in US did not respond to a request for comment.
While Indivisible bills itself as a grassroots organization, its donors are among the wealthiest supporters of the progressive movement. In addition to Hoffman, organizations directed by billionaire financier George Soros and the late banking magnate Herb Sandler have given millions to Indivisible.
Soros’s Open Society Foundations gave $2.6 million to Indivisible from 2017 to 2019. Democracy PAC, which was formed by Soros, gave $500,000 last year to Indivisible’s political action committee, Indivisible Action. Strategic Victory Fund, a super PAC formed by the Soros-backed Democracy Alliance, contributed $150,000 to Indivisible Action last year.
The Sandler Foundation gave $2.25 million in 2018 and 2019 to Indivisible Civic Engagement, an offshoot of Indivisible.
Walter questions whether Indivisible is forming the Truth Brigade to fight disinformation, or as a fundraising ploy.
"If you are these people you want thousands of folks regularly interacting with you. That’s a great way to fundraise," said Walter, whose watchdog group published a report on Indivisible in 2018.
Indivisible is no stranger to political controversy. The group also supported defunding police departments and packing the Supreme Court. It has partnered with the Women’s March, the left-wing resistance group whose leaders have a long history of anti-Semitism.
Published under: Facebook , George Soros , Open Society Foundations , Social Media
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INCUBATOR
Posted on August 29, 2016
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Andrew Stiles is a senior writer at The Washington Free Beacon. A 2010 summer College Fix journalism fellow, Andrew worked at The Hill. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His previous editorial experience includes reporting for National Review and Heat Street.
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WFB 12 25
2025 Man of the Year: Katie Porter’s Ex-Husband
December 31, 2025
Behind every man there’s a great woman. Or so the saying goes. But if you ask Matthew Hoffman, that woman might be standing behind you with a molten pot of potatoes, and the only thing great about her is the size of her temper. And, well, her size. Hoffman claims that in 2006 his then-wife yelled at him, "Can’t you read the fucking directions?" before dumping the steaming spuds on his head, burning his scalp. Hoffman says he suffered a litany of abuse for years, both physical and verbal in nature, before she divorced him in 2013. This woman became a Democratic member of Congress from California, ran a failed Senate campaign, and is now looking to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.). Fat chance: The woman is Katie Porter.
By now you may be familiar with Ms. Porter’s school of manners: In an October interview with CBS News, a reporter lobbed a softball question at her, asking how she planned on winning over Trump voters, who comprise 40 percent of the state’s electorate. "How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?" Porter scoffed. Following a back-and-forth with CBS, Porter called the interview "unnecessarily argumentative" and threatened to walk out.
Or perhaps you recall the interview Porter did with then-energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, in which the congresswoman chews out one of her staffers for appearing in the background. "Get out of my fucking shot," she says, in a video obtained by Politico.
None of this comes as a surprise to Hoffman, who recently told the New York Post that his ex is a "master manipulator" and "it’s about time" the rest of us caught on. The tales of Hoffman include Porter smashing a coffee pot because the house was supposedly not clean and refusing to allow him to have a cell phone because "you’re too fucking dumb to operate it."
Perhaps if Hoffman had his own political aspirations, he would stand by his woman and trade the Porter name for a state cabinet position. Instead, he's blazing his own trail.
For being ahead of the curve, for warning Californians before it’s too late, and for being Tina to Katie’s Ike Turner, Matthew Hoffman, you are a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.
Published under: California , Gavin Newsom , Jennifer Granholm , Katie Porter
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Free Beacon 2025 Men of the Year
More Men of the Year
January 1, 2026
Just one year ago, our nation's great coastline was being filled with hideous windmills. Ford was building electric "trucks." Oil companies had climate goals.
Donald Trump pledged to stop the madness. But who would be the enforcer? Enter Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Remember those windmills? No, you don't. Remember when oil demand was supposed to peak by 2030? No, you don't. Remember Greenpeace? No, you don't.
What do you remember? Record oil production and the lowest gas prices since 2021. And Burgum is just getting started, as this sorry excuse for a letter from congressional Democrats opposing his plans to sell a f—kload of oil and gas leases next year made clear:
"The United States already leads the world in oil and gas production," they wrote after calling on Burgum to "halt" the sales. "The industry currently holds more than 2,000 offshore leases covering over 12 million acres of federal waters." Awesome. Thanks for reminding us!
The closest thing to a hit piece produced on Burgum during his time in the cabinet was published in the Atlantic(duh). "Interior Secretary Doug Burgum likes chocolate-chip cookies—preferably freshly baked and still warm," reporters Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker wrote. Burgum asked political appointees at the department to "Learn to regularly bake cookies for Burgum and his guests, using the industrial ovens at the department headquarters." Somebody give this man a promotion!
So add it to the list: towering oil production, cratering gas prices, and warm chocolate-chip cookies baked fresh by federal bureaucrats. The hair doesn't move. The drilling rigs do. Burgum is well on his way to making the country energy-dominant. Now he gets something just as sweet: He's a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.
Published under: Doug Burgum , Man of the Year , Oil
America
2025 Man of the Year: Bill Belichick
Washington Free Beacon Staff
January 1, 2026
America
2025 Man of the Year: Glenn Kessler, The Fact Checker
Washington Free Beacon Staff
January 1, 2026
BS
Donald Trump said WHAT??? Quick, check the Washington Post! Glenn Kessler is on the case, pounding out a truth bomb! Time to slap that lyin' POTUS with a Pinocchio the size of Freedom Tower!
Of all the notable deaths in 2025—Brian Wilson, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Olivia Nuzzi's career, and Ryan Lizza's dignity—none were more devastating to our country's moral order than the demise of the beloved "fact-checker" at the paper where democracy thrives on light, and dies in darkness.
Kessler left the Post in July after almost 30 years, accepting a generous buyout as part of the new leadership's effort to root out partisan hacks. The descendant of Dutch oil magnates who founded what is now Shell, Kessler explained that as much as he would like to continue saving democracy from Trump's lies, the "financial considerations were impossible to dismiss." Republic imperiled, bag secured. Hunter Biden would be proud.
Like a good captain, Kessler brought the ship down with him after setting it on fire. "The Fact Checker" would share his martyred fate. Pinocchio, an orphan, slouching toward the guillotine of truth's distortion. His sentence read: castration of the face.
In Kessler's absence, America struggles to endure. The braying masses need his expert guidance. Without it they might succumb to dangerous misinformation. After all, it was Kessler who debunked the racist "lab leak" conspiracy about the origins of COVID-19 and exposed the Republican plot to defame Joe Biden using "cheapfake" videos that made him look senile.
Kessler's crowning achievement—dismantling Sen. Tim Scott's (R., S.C.) bogus claims about the poverty his ancestors faced during the Great Depression—evinced a measure of courage in defense of democracy not seen since the bloodbath at Omaha Beach. Scott, the first black senator to represent a southern state since Reconstruction, had said his grandfather dropped out of school in the third grade. Kessler pounced, mobilizing a team of historians who found evidence suggesting Scott's grandfather may have actually dropped out in the fourth grade.
Without him, we are truly lost.
Since leaving the Post, Kessler has joined the distinguished array of former mainstream journalists who have embraced irrelevance by taking their "talents" to Substack. Jim Acosta, John Harwood, Jennifer Rubin, Joy Reid, Karen Attiah—a murderer's row of righteous nags. Kessler continues to follow his passion. He writes a regular column on "Trump's Bullshit," cashes checks on the Swedish-speaking circuit, and no longer has to pretend that Democrats also lie.
Claim: Glenn Kessler is a 2025 Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.
Verdict: In grateful recognition of a debt we can never repay.
Published under: COVID-19 , Donald Trump , Glenn Kessler , Joy Reid , Ryan Lizza
America
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2025 Man of the Year: Pat Fitzgerald
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2025 Man of the Year: Ryan Strnad
Washington Free Beacon Staff
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2025 Man of the Year: Tilman Fertitta
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2025 Men of the Year: The National Guard
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2025 Man of the Year: Jeffrey Epstein
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Democrats
2025 Man of the Year: Katie Porter’s Ex-Husband
Washington Free Beacon Staff
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2025 Man of the Year: Michael Duffin
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2025 Man of the Year: Florida Kid Who Loves Chick-fil-A
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December 30, 2025
National Security
2025 Man of the Year: The Double Tapper
Finally, a Tapper America can be proud of
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 30, 2025
Politics
2025 Men of the Year: The Last Brits Standing
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 30, 2025
Democrats
2025 Man of the Year: Hunter Biden
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 29, 2025
Democrats
2025 Man of the Year: Joe Biden
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 29, 2025
Democrats
2025 Man of the Year: Mike Donilon
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 29, 2025
America
2025 Men of the Year: Ryan Lizza and Mark Sanford
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 28, 2025
America
2025 Man of the Year: Pat Fitzgerald
Washington Free Beacon Staff
December 28, 2025
View More Stories
===
mma
John Kelly warned that Trump is a fascist. Right-wing media absurdly claim by citing him that Kamala Harris is inspiring “assassins.”
PJ Media: “If you keep calling someone Hitler, eventually, someone will feel morally obligated to take action”
Written by Charis Hoard
Published 10/25/24 mma
This week, retired Gen. John Kelly -- former chief of staff to former President Donald Trump -- asserted in interviews with The New York Times that he believed Trump “falls into the general definition of fascist” and that he has previously praised Adolf Hitler.
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed the sentiments during her town hall on Wednesday night when asked about Kelly’s comments, sending right-wing media into an uproar.
In a desperate attempt to spin the serious remarks about Trump into a negative story about Harris, right-wing media figures attacked the Democratic nominee, calling her hypocritical, claiming that she was repeating unsubstantiated claims, and suggesting she’s inciting violence against Trump by agreeing with Kelly’s comments.
- ## Trump’s former chief of staff said Trump “falls into the general definition of fascist,” which Harris echoed during her town hall
- Kelly claimed that Trump “falls into the general definition of fascist” in a series of interviews with The New York Times. Kelly also claimed that Trump has previously expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, and he told The Atlantic that Trump had previously said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” The New York Times, [10/22/24; The Atlantic, 10/22/24]
- During a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, Harris echoed Kelly’s statement, agreeing that Trump “is a fascist.” Harris asserted multiple times that she believes Trump is a fascist, saying that, if reelected, Trump would be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.” The Associated Press, [10/24/24]
- In response to her comments, Trump attacked Harris on Truth Social, calling her a “Threat to Democracy” who is “increasingly raising her rhetoric” against him.Trump: “Comrade Kamala Harris sees that she is losing, and losing badly, especially after stealing the Race from Crooked Joe Biden, so now she is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind. She is a Threat to Democracy, and not fit to be President of the United States — And her Polling so indicates!” Truth Social, [10/23/24]
- ## Right-wing media attacked Harris for echoing Kelly’s remarks, calling her hypocritical, claiming that she was repeating “unsubstantiated claims,” and saying she was inciting violence against Trump
- Townhall's site Twitchy suggested Harris is hypocritical for agreeing with Kelly after previously criticizing him.Twitchy referenced a 2019 post from Harris where she asserted that Kelly “was the architect of the Trump Administration's cruel child separation policy,” saying that Democrats “really turned on a dime when it comes to trusting Kelly’s integrity.” Twitchy, [10/24/24; Twitter/X, 5/3/19]
- Conservative writer John Solomon claimed that Harris had previously “declared John Kelly had an ‘inability to speak truth to power,’” and claimed that “reporters who covered Harris’ attack conference had an obligation to report this.” Twitter/X, [10/24/24]
PJ Media posted a piece titled “Kamala Harris Is Trying to Get Trump Shot at Again.” The piece noted, “If you keep calling someone Hitler, eventually, someone will feel morally obligated to take action. This isn’t just innocent hyperbole: it’s a calculated narrative meant to provoke. For years, Democrats and media figures have portrayed Trump not as a political adversary but as an existential threat. That’s how we’ve ended up with two assassination attempts within just nine weeks.” PJ Media, [10/24/24]|}:
- The Washington Free Beacon claimed that Harris wrongly characterized Trump as “increasingly unstable and unfit to serve,” asserting that she was pushing “fear” as a campaign message.The article also highlighted Harris’ previous criticisms of Kelly, saying she “once denounced [him] as ‘cruel’ and ‘unethical.’” The Washington Free Beacon, [10/24/24]
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway posted that Harris’ closing argument is: “We need Trump's cholesterol numbers and he has secretly told John Kelly evil things he's never told anyone else.” Hemingway: “Trump closing argument: ‘I'll fight for you and do for you what I did before on the economy, foreign policy, border, etc.’ Harris: ‘We need Trump's cholesterol numbers and he has secretly told John Kelly evil things he's never told anyone else.’” Twitter/X, [10/23/24]|}:
- Right-wing radio host Bo Snerdley asserted that “Kelly is a fired employee. Who apparently bears a grudge. Let's see how many ‘fired’ or former employees of Ms. Harris - and there are many - get quoted in these final two weeks.” Twitter/X, [10/23/24]
- Jesse Kelly Showhost Jesse Kelly claimed that the Harris campaign “has a billion dollars, an army of consultants, months to work on a plan,” but her “October surprise” is a sign that “this campaign ain’t gonna make it.” Kelly claimed that the surprise was “the same ‘Trump is Hitler!’ drivel we’ve been hearing since he came down the escalator in 2015.” Twitter/X, [10/23/24]
- Conspiracy theorist Julie Kelly called Harris “desperate” and said she is repeating “unsubstantiated claims by John Kelly and Trump's alleged desire to hire generals like Hitler had.” Kelly also called Harris’ comments “desperate and disgusting conduct not just by a presidential candidate but a sitting vice president,” adding “This is not how winners behave.” Twitter/X, [10/23/24]
- The Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross asserted that Harris is “currently touting John Kelly, whom she called ‘unethical’ a few years ago.”Twitter/X, [10/23/24]
Fox host Sean Hannity linked Harris’ comment to past assassination attempts against Trump, seemingly suggesting that Harris is encouraging violence against Trump by echoing Kelly’s comments. Hannity: “Kamala Harris said ‘Donald Trump wants generals like Hitler’ tonight and apparently said earlier, you know, that he’s a fascist. The man now — we had two would-be assassins. … This rhetoric is getting so over the top, and it seems like that’s all they’re doubling down and tripling down on. And I would expect we’re probably gonna have an October surprise, maybe five a day, every day, for the next 13 days.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/23/24]|}:
Former GOP presidential candidate and Fox Nation host Vivek Ramaswamy called on Harris to “step up and apologize” for “stoking this culture of political violence that was shameful.”Fox News, *Hannity*}:, [10/23/24]|
America Reports'* John Roberts claimed that Harris’ closing argument for her campaign is improperly focused on Trump. Roberts: “We are seeing Kamala Harris' closing argument for the last 13 days is ‘Trump is a fascist, he embraces Hitler and wants to have his generals.’ She's not saying to young Black men across the country: ‘Here's what I'm going to do for you economically.’” Media Matters, [10/23/24]
===
WIKI STEELE DOSSIER
History
Two research operations and confusion between them
The opposition research conducted by Fusion GPS on Donald Trump occurred in two distinct phases, each with different clients:
- The client for the first phase was The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, which funded research into multiple Republican candidates, including Trump. This phase, from October 2015 to May 2016, was focused on Trump's domestic business and entertainment activities; was performed by Fusion GPS and used public sources and investigative reporter Wayne Barrett's files.
Immediately after the publication of the dossier, the media sometimes falsely assumed that the dossier started as a product of this research, so the Free Beacon released this statement: "none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier".[45][46] what did they get and what did they do with it?
- The clients for the second phase were the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign. This phase, from April to December 2016, was focused on Trump's Russian connections; it was subcontracted by Fusion GPS to Steele and Orbis Business Intelligence and used Steele's own source network and public sources. Only this second phase produced the dossier.[47][48]
From April to early May 2016, The Washington Free Beacon and the DNC/Clinton Campaign were independently both clients of Fusion GPS. This overlap contributed to the media's confusion.
The Washington Free Beacon operation does not produce the dossier
In October 2015, before the official start of the 2016 Republican primary campaign, the founders of Fusion GPS were seeking political work and wrote an email to "a big conservative donor they knew who disliked Trump, [and] they were hired". He arranged for them to use The Washington Free Beacon, an American conservative political journalism website, for their general opposition research on several Republican presidential candidates, including Trump.[49][50] It is primarily funded by Republican donor Paul Singer.[50] The Free Beacon and Singer were "part of the conservative never-Trump movement".[51] Although Singer was a big supporter of Marco Rubio, Rubio denied any involvement in Fusion GPS's initial research and hiring.[45]
This phase used public sources, but early in their investigation, they also received help from Wayne Barrett who gave them his files on Trump. They contained findings about "Trump's past dealings, including tax and bankruptcy problems, potential ties to organized crime, and numerous legal entanglements. They also revealed that Trump had an unusually high number of connections to Russians with questionable backgrounds."[49]
For months, Fusion GPS gathered information about Trump, focusing on his business and entertainment activities. When Trump became the presumptive nominee on May 3, 2016,[52] the conservative donor stopped funding the research on him.[24][53]
Due to media confusion over who produced the dossier, the Free Beacon issued a statement in October 2017 to debunk some false assumptions:[45]
All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele. Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign.
Although the source of the Steele dossier's funding had already been reported correctly over a year before,[24][53][54] and the Free Beacon had issued a statement to this effect in October 2017,[45] a February 2, 2018, story by the Associated Press (AP) contributed to confusion about its funding by stating that the dossier "was initially funded" by The Washington Free Beacon, so the AP posted a correction the next day: "Though the former spy, Christopher Steele, was hired by a firm that was initially funded by the Washington Free Beacon, he did not begin work on the project until after Democratic groups had begun funding it."[55]
By the spring of 2016, researchers at Fusion GPS had become so alarmed by what they had already learned about Trump that they felt the need "to do what they could to keep Trump out of the White House".[56]
Democratic Party operation produces dossier
===
mofo
[freebeacon.com Jon Tester Takes Private Meeting With Pole Dancer To Talk Abortion
Every vote counts. That's especially true for Montana Democrat Jon Tester, who faces the toughest Senate reelection race in the country this...
.
23 hours ago](https://freebeacon.com/elections/jon-tester-talks-abortion-in-private-meeting-with-pole-dancer/)
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The Washington Free Beacon Staff
Authors The Washington Free Beacon Staff Archive | Post Hill Press
Collin Anderson is a Washington Free Beacon staff writer and a 2018 Free Beacon man of the year.
Joseph Bottum is an author and essayist. He is a former editor of First Things and a former literary editor of the Weekly Standard.
Sonny Bunch is culture editor of The Bulwark, a contributing columnist for the Washington Post, and a former executive editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
Robert Charette is director of research for Arizona governor Doug Ducey and a former associate editor for the Washington Free Beacon.
C.J. Ciarmarella is a reporter at Reason, a former politics editor at BuzzFeed, and a former staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Matthew Continetti is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founding editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
Emily Ferguson is digital editor of Colorado Politics and a former associate editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
Michael Goldfarb is a founder of the Washington Free Beacon and chairman of the Center for American Freedom.
Alana Goodman is a senior investigative reporter for the Washington Free Beacon.
Stephen Gutowski is the founder of The Reload and a former staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Elizabeth Harrington is a spokeswoman for former president Donald Trump, a former spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, and a former senior writer at the Washington Free Beacon.
David Isaac is a senior Israel correspondent for the Jewish News Syndicate.
Eliana Johnson is editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon. She is a former White House correspondent for POLITICO and the former Washington editor of National Review.
Yuichiro Kakutani is a former staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Aaron Kliegman is a former news editor for the Washington Free Beacon.
Adam Kredo is a senior writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor at City Journal, and a former staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon.
Aaron MacLean is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a former legislative director and foreign policy adviser for Sen. Tom Cotton, and a former managing editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
Lachlan Markay is a politics reporter at Axios and a former staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Victorino Matus is deputy editor of the Washington Free Beacon and former senior editor of the Weekly Standard.
Bill McMorris is a senior editor at the Washington Free Beacon.
Katherine Miller is an editor at BuzzFeed and a former digital managing editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
David Rutz is a senior editor at Fox News and a former senior writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Brent Scher is executive editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
Joe Schoffstall is a reporter for Fox News and a former staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.
Aaron Sibarium is a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon.
Andrew Stiles is senior writer at the Washington Free Beacon.
Matthew Walther is editor of The Lamp and a former associate editor of the Washington Free Beacon.
---
START OF BS BOOST BY WATTERS?
MMA 12 23
Congressional Republicans have signaled their intention to find scandal in the Department of Energy’s loan program that would aid their efforts to repeal President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act and its historic $369 billion in climate and energy provisions. Now, right-wing media are assisting those GOP efforts by targeting solar energy company Sunnova in reporting that mischaracterizes its federal loan guarantee and attacks the renewable energy industry as a whole.
On November 22, The Washington Free Beacon reported, “A solar company that was awarded a $3 billion Department of Energy loan has been accused of scamming dementia patients on their deathbeds into signing five-figure, multi-decade solar panel leases.” The article noted that the accusation “comes as the DOE’s Loan Programs Office is facing scrutiny from Congress over potential conflicts of interest involving the $3 billion federal loan to Sunnova Energy,” and quoted a former Energy Department official who claimed, “This is reminiscent of the mortgages of the 2000s, just getting people to sign, with no care at all as to the consequences. … Why not just call it subprime solar?"
While the report is troubling and worthy of scrutiny, the incidents documented by The Washington Free Beacon are not evidence that taxpayer money has been wasted or misused, nor is the story representative of all residential solar programs. In fact, as E&E News reported, “A loan program office official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly emphasized that the Sunnova project is a loan guarantee and that no money has actually gone out the door.” The article also cited clean energy lobbyist Joe Britton, who pointed out the political nature and the hypocrisy of the attacks:
In lieu of have a smoking gun of taxpayer dollars going to a company and then that company going into default … they’ve gone down a host of other tributaries that they think might be worthy of political attack,” Britton said.
“The company may be really successful, they may have great technology, they may be able to scale well and create a ton of new U.S. manufacturing jobs. But they’re finding other angles of trying to attack them,” he continued, pointing to efforts to tie recipients of money to China without putting similar scrutiny on the oil and natural gas industry.
Nevertheless, congressional Republicans have seized on the reporting by The Washington Free Beacon to probe the loan guarantee awarded to Sunnova, while Fox News’ Jesse Watters has suggested “the entire solar industry is a scam” that is being funded by “400 billion of your money.”
Right-wing media targeting Sunnova
- Right-wing outlets misleadingly described the Energy Department’s loan guarantee to suggest that the Biden administration had directly paid Sunnova billions of dollars. The Washington Free Beacon wrote that GOP legislators “are probing the Biden administration's decision to grant an unprecedented $3 billion loan to a solar company accused of scamming elderly dementia patients,” while Fox News Digital reported, “Republican leaders in the House and Senate are probing the Department of Energy (DOE) over its recent $3 billion award to a solar energy company that has been accused of scamming vulnerable customers.” The Washington Free Beacon, [12/12/23; FoxNews.com, 12/8/23]
- The Daily Wire reported on the Sunnova probe on December 9, adding: “President Joe Biden has been pushing the Democrats’ leftist green energy agenda seeking to address the ‘climate crisis’ and has emphasized expanding solar energy. Earlier this year, the Biden administration launched a $7 billion ‘Solar for All’ grant competition … created by the president’s Inflation Reduction Act.”The Daily Wire, [12/9/23]
- Jesse Watters Primetime featured the story on December 11, claiming: “Democrats have been telling us for years solar is the future. A lot of times it's just a big rip-off.” Watters continued: “This spring, Joe Biden gave a huge contract to a solar company that many are calling a scam. That company is called Sunnova and the Better Business Bureau gave them an F. Normally you wouldn’t really reward bad behavior, but the Biden administration just handed the company $3 billion — billion — of your money.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [12/11/23]
- Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald compared Sunnova to Solyndra, a now-defunct solar energy firm that was previously a target of conservative ire during the Obama administration. MacDonald said: “The complaint has been money is flying out the door unchecked with no strings attached. That the Biden White House has a $400 billion green energy loan program overseen by an insider,” referring to Energy Department loan director Jigar Shah. She also said that the loan given to Sunnova “is about six times what the Obama White House gave green energy failure Solyndra.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [12/12/23; Media Matters, 11/13/14]
- On December 13, Watters aired a second segment suggesting that “now we’re beginning to think the entire solar industry is a scam and that Joe Biden poured 400 billion of your money into the scam,” claiming that the Energy Department’s loan guarantees were “letting solar panel companies hand out leases like we're handing out mortgages in 2008.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [12/13/23]
Led in part by Watters’ coverage, Fox News has spent the past year spreading misinformation about offshore wind turbines and misleading viewers about the Inflation Reduction Act in an effort to undermine Biden’s climate agenda.
In reality, the IRA has transformed the clean energy landscape by funding new developments and electric vehicle production across the U.S. Since its passage, 272 clean energy projects have been announced in the United States, representing $278 billion in new investment and creating over 170,000 new jobs, according to Climate Power. Meanwhile, Canary Media reports that “solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S., making up almost half of all new power capacity in the first three quarters of 2023.”
11/14/23 2:47 PM EST
07/17/23 2:48 PM EDT
12/30/22
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compare to wsj?
ef 2
Secret Coordination Against ExxonMobil by Climate Activists
alana Goodman](https://freebeacon.com/author/alana-goodman/)
April 14, 2016
A small coalition of prominent climate change activists and political operatives huddled on Jan. 8 for a closed-door meeting at the Rockefeller Family Fund in Manhattan. Their agenda: taking down oil giant ExxonMobil through a coordinated campaign of legal action, divestment efforts, and political pressure.
The meeting—which included top officials at GreenPeace, the Working Families Party, and the Rockefeller Family Fund—took place as climate change groups have pushed for a federal criminal probe of ExxonMobil’s environmental impact, similar to the 1990s racketeering case against Big Tobacco.
A copy of the meeting’s agenda, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, provides a rare glimpse inside the anti-ExxonMobil crusade, which has already spurred investigations into the oil giant by Democratic attorneys general in several states.
According to the memo, the coalition’s goals are to "delegitimize [ExxonMobil] as a political actor," "force officials to disassociate themselves from Exxon," and "drive divestment from Exxon." The memo also proposed "creating scandal" by using lawsuits and state prosecutors to obtain internal documents from ExxonMobil through judicial discovery.
The secret meeting was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, but the group’s agenda was not posted in full until now.
The agenda was drafted by Kenny Bruno, an activist with the New Venture Fund. Bruno emailed the memo to a small group of around a dozen attendees, including Naomi Ages at GreenPeace; Dan Cantor, executive director of the New York Working Families Party; Jamie Henn, co-founder at 350.org; and Rob Weissman, president at Public Citizen.
According to the agenda, the meeting would be opened by Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockefeller Family Fund. The organization funds many environmental groups and hosted the meeting at its Manhattan office.
"If you are receiving this message then we believe you are attending the meeting this coming Friday Jan 8 regarding Exxon," wrote Bruno. "The meeting will take place at: Rockefeller Family Fund."
The email included a "DRAFT Agenda" for "Exxon: Revelations & Opportunities."
Under a section headlined "goals," the agenda listed: "To establish in the public’s mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution"; "To delegitimize them as a political actor; and "To drive Exxon & climate into center of 2016 election."
The agenda also outlined "the main avenues for legal actions & related campaigns," including state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, international litigation, and tort lawsuits.
"Which of these has the best prospects for successful action? For getting discovery? For creating scandal?" said the memo.
The Rockefeller Family Fund did not immediately return request for comment.
California announced an investigation into ExxonMobil’s statements on climate change in January, shortly after the meeting took place.
Several other states attorneys general, including New York’s Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts’ Maura Healey, have also launched investigations into whether ExxonMobil broke the law by allegedly covering up internal conclusions on climate change and misleading investors.
ExxonMobil filed court papers on Wednesday challenging another investigation by the U.S. Virgin Island’s attorney general’s office, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the filing, the oil company denounced the "chilling effect of this inquiry, which discriminates based on viewpoint to target one side of an ongoing policy debate" and "strikes at protected speech at the core of the First Amendment."
Published under: Climate Change
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ref 3
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11499511/Elon-Musk-says-Twitters-actions-definition-election-interference.html
kari ref elon daily mail
daily mail uk no lnx twt etc
elon Musk says Twitter's censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story was the 'definition of election interference' and that firm 'was acting as an arm of the DNC'
Musk spoke for nearly two hours in a 'Twitter Spaces' audio chat on Saturday
He addressed files illuminating Twitter's censorship ahead of 2020 election
Claimed Twitter acted as an 'arm of the Democratic National Committee'
Files released Friday showed Twitter staff discussing ban on Hunter laptop story
They also show requests from 'Biden team' to remove nude images of Hunter
By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 21:45 EST, 3 December 2022 | UPDATED: 22:29 EST, 3 December 2022
Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was tantamount to interference in the 2020 election.
Musk made the claim in a wide-ranging two-hour audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Saturday night, one day after the publication of internal files relating to Twitter's October 2020 ban on initial reporting of the laptop contents.
'If Twitter is doing one team's bidding before an election shutting down dissenting voices on a pivotal election that is the definition of election interference,' said Musk.
'Frankly Twitter was acting like an arm of the Democratic National Committee, it was absurd,' added the billionaire, who has been highly critical of prior management at the company he purchased five weeks ago.
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In the audio chat, Musk also claimed Apple had 'fully resumed' advertising on Twitter following a pullback, and said that he banned Kanye West for 'incitement to violence' for a tweet displaying a Nazi swastika.
View gallery
Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was tantamount to interference in the 2020 election
Musk made the claim in a wide-ranging two-hour audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Saturday night, one day after the publication of internal files from October 2020
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View gallery
Much of the conversation was devoted to the so-called 'Twitter Files,' a selection of internal documents released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday night.
The documents included internal Twitter emails appearing to show staffers removing tweets showing a nude Hunter Biden at the behest of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and the DNC.
However, Taibbi himself said that the files contained 'no evidence - that I've seen' that the Biden campaign had a role in suppressing the New York Post's story on Hunter's business dealings, which was controversially banned from Twitter.
Musk said in the chat on Saturday that in addition to Taibbi, he had given the files to Bari Weiss.
Musk said he had given the journalists 'unfettered access' to old internal documents, and did not guide or control how they were revealed or reported.
'This is not a North Korea tour guide situation, you get to go anywhere you want, whenever you want, however you want,' he said. 'I'm not controlling the narrative.'
'It's just obvious there's been a lot of control of information, supression of information, including things that affected elections, and that just all need to be...you just want to have the stuff out there,' he said.
Musk said in the chat on Saturday that in addition to Matt Taibbi (left), he had given the files to journalist Bari Weiss (right)
Participating in the chat, former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka asked whether there was any evidence of actual government interference in Twitter's moderation, since the documents released only showed requests from the Biden campaign.
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Musk did not directly answer the question, and admitted 'I have not read the Twitter Files so that's why my understanding is limited.'
Musk also said he thought it was 'possible' that personnel at the social media firm gave preference to left-wing candidates during Brazil's election this year, without providing evidence.
Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter on Oct. 27, just days before Brazil's presidential second round runoff vote, when far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was defeated by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
'I've seen a lot of concerning tweets about the recent Brazil election,' Musk wrote on Twitter when asked by a user about elections possibly 'handled' by the company's previous management.
Weeks ahead of the election in October 2020, Twitter prevented sharing of a story about Hunter Biden's international business dealings, based on emails from his laptop
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'If those tweets are accurate, it's possible that Twitter personnel gave preference to left wing candidates,' added the billionaire.
Separately, Musk also addressed his move to ban Kanye West from Twitter once again this week, following the rapper's latest anti-Semitic meltdown.
'With Kanye it's obviously a difficult subject, but that was a case where, that was my decision. I think it's important people know that was my decision,' he said.
West was banned for posting an image of a swastika within a Star of David, a Jewish religious symbol, something Musk explained he viewed as an 'incitement to violence.'
'I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so it's definitely inciting me to violence, so that's not cool,' he said.
Musk said that context was important, and that a swastika in a historical context, such as a history of World War II, would not necessarily be offensive in the same way.
Meanwhile, in emerged on Saturday that the tweets that were removed at the request of the DNC and Biden campaign appeared to center of pornographic images of Hunter Biden.
In one of these emails, sent ten days after The New York Post first broke the laptop story on October 14 of that year, Twitter staffers were asked to 'review' five tweets deemed problematic by 'the Biden team.'
One of the tweets removed at the request of the Biden campaign is seen above. The original image, which showed Hunter Biden nude from the waist down, has been cropped above
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'More to review from the Biden team,' that staffer's redacted correspondence read - garnering a reply hours later from another Twitter employee - one that assured the worker the task had been 'handled.'
That same day, another email reveals that there was an additional complaint from the DNC and two more tweets were deleted.
It is not clear from the leaked emails what the deleted tweets were about, however Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Andrew Kerr said he had discovered the contents of several of the tweets.
He said three of the tweets the Biden camp demanded be deleted contained 'Hunter Biden porn' and photos of Biden's genitalia, from the laptop.
He claims one of the tweets requested to be deleted by the DNC was from actor James Woods and depicted Hunter smoking crack and a committing a sex act.
And he says the second tweet was a link to Hunter Biden weighing and using drugs, and another link to a Hunter Biden sex tape.
Share or comment on this article: Elon Musk says Twitter's actions were the 'definition of election interference'
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student/activist suppression, not 1st
an ah 4 22
since its formation 29 years ago in 1993, the far-right Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has consistently fought against gay rights — often equating anti-gay discrimination with religious freedom. When Kristen Waggoner, legal counsel for ADF, spoke at Yale University on March 10, about 120 students protested her appearance. And in Utah, two well-known Republicans — Sen. Mike Lee and State Attorney General Sean Reyes — have added their names to a letter demanding punishment for Yale students whoprotested**the March 10 event.
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Bryan Schott explains, “More than half of the school’s students signed an open letter critical of the decision by the Federalist Society to invite Waggoner to speak and condemned the presence of armed police at the protest. Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said the protest was ‘unacceptable’ behavior from the students, but they had not violated the school’s free speech policy.”
Co-founded by Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, the ADF (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) represents a far-right form of White evangelical Christian fundamentalism and is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
“In addition to Lee and Reyes,” Schott reports, “Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, several U.S. House of Representatives members, five governors, and more than two dozen other state attorneys general also signed on. The letter was drafted by the same group responsible for the Philadelphia Statement, a document that decries the persistence of ‘cancel culture’ in American society. More than 1400 people signed the letter to Yale.”
The letter reads, “Instead of engaging with the panelists, a shocking number of Yale Law students hurled constant insults and obscenities at them.” But according to Schott, “The letter’s depiction of the event is primarily based on an initial report from the conservative Washington Free Beacon. That reporting has been credibly debunked by other publications, multiple videos and the school’s official account of the incident.”
Some of the debunking came from Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern. On March 18, Stern reported, “The students made their point at the very start of the event and walked out before the conversation began. Their exercise in free speech, however rowdy or distasteful, did not prevent the panelists from expressing their views. And their demonstration did not — contrary to the Free Beacon’s reporting — require administrators to summon the police.”
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activist suppression
putin dirty $ to green ngo gets used 3x, last in ukraine war?
june 29 2017 ltr munchkin:
ref BS chain enviro command epw rept 113tth congress 2014
18 USC 2386 req for orgs that lobby to register? 1995 lobby disclosure act
sleight of hand: suggests russian $ then asserts/assumes it; klein wakefield Quin IPOC reiman
quite nato "so-called env orgs"
staffer drew colliatie, refs WFB lachlan markay WT, WE [batasch, caller hillary's leaked speeches...]
GUK fiona harvey
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https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/free-base-pipe/
no lnx vid twt?
Right-wing website made up viral fake claim Republicans like Marco Rubio are now pushing: report
[Marco Rubio embarrasses himself again by doubling down on false attack of defense secretary]
David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement February 10, 2022
This week Republican lawmakers and voters have had a great time pushing a false claim that the Biden administration is spending tens of millions of dollars to pay for "free crack pipes" for drug abusers. The claim came from a report by the right-wing website Washington Free Beacon, including a quote falsely attributed to an HHS spokesperson, according to The Daily Beast.
It's no surprise The Daily Beast is calling "a lie" made its way to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. Senator's Twitter account.
"The Washington Free Beacon seemed to take a big leap to assert that free crack pipes would be part of a harm reduction package," The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberg reports, calling it "a lie rocketed around conservative media."
The report, published Monday and titled “Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ‘Racial Equity,’” cited an HHS spokesperson as confirming that a sweeping harm reduction package “will provide pipes” to smoke, quote, “any illicit substance.”
The Free Beacon's article reads: “A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”
The Daily Beast reviewed the email chain between the Washington Free Beacon and HHS. It's unclear how the Free Beacon made the "any illicit substance" claim, given the HHS email specifically states no federal laws would be broken.
In fact, The Daily Beast reports the HHS spokesperson says the Free Beacon “omitted the information shared with him about the grantees needing to comply with federal, state, and local laws—the very language that would prohibit crack pipes.”
The damage has already been done. The "free crack pipes" claim is now one more myth in conservatives' false reality.
Arizona far-right Republican U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko made the false claim on the floor of the House of Representatives:
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Florida Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, linking to an article literally titled: "Biden administration denies funding programs that hand out crack pipes to prevent infection and promote 'racial equity'" says in a video posted to his Twitter account, "The Biden administration is going to be sending crack pipes and meth pipes, targeting minority communities," a claim he knows is a lie.
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Fox News entertainers Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity both made the most of the claim, with The Daily Mail reporting: "Tucker Carlson slams policy to hand out free crack pipes and needles warning it 'will result in addicts shooting up on the streets.'"
The genie is out of the bottle, and no one on the right has any intention or desire to put it back.
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rosenberg
https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/autocratization/
as the Jan. 6 insurrection recedes in time, media attention is beginning to focus on potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates, including "new faces" like Kristi Noem and Josh Hawley, old also-ran Ted Cruz and others and, of course, Donald Trump. In a representative democracy, it's only natural that elected leaders — or credible potential ones — should be a significant focus of attention.
But there's an air of unreality hovering over all such portrait-mode coverage when a broader landscape view shows that the very survival of democracy is up for grabs — not just in the U.S., where GOP House members are in deep denial about the Jan. 6 insurrection while Republican legislators have introduced voter suppression bills in 47 states, but around the world. The Swedish-based V-Dem Institute's 2021 annual report notes that "the global decline in liberal democracy has been steep during the past 10 years and continues in 2020" and concludes that the "level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2020" has fallen "to levels last found around 1990." At that time there was a jubilant buzz about the "End of History." Now there's an undertone of dread that we could "meanly lose, the last best hope of earth," as Abraham Lincoln warned.
Talk of as many as 24 potential GOP candidates in the next cycle recalls pre-2016 talk about the GOP's "deep bench," which, as I noted at the time, was a media-hyped myth. Those andidates fell into three groups: governors with horrible to mediocre job-creation records plus some ex-governors who hadn't run in a while, first-term senators with paper-thin résumés in a particularly dysfunctional Congress, and assorted wild cards, including Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, as well as a certain New York real estate developer turned reality-TV star. I focused primarily on the shared failure of GOP economics, the party's purported strong suit. "The degree to which key articles of GOP economic faith clash with overwhelming expert judgment is staggering — and there's nary a hint of it in most of the media," I wrote. "It's a disconnect reminiscent of global warming, but much less widely recognized."
The problem goes much deeper now, to the shared failure of Republican patriotism, as their party has turned against democracy. While media awareness may be better, without grounding coverage in a "landscape view" of the problem journalists are fumbling the biggest story of our time — the global threat to democracy, and the enormous potential for a renewal that could finally realize democracy's full promise for all.
America's place in a landscape of democratic decay
What's known as the "third wave of autocratization" — characterized by creeping democratic erosion rather than violent coups — continues to spread: V-Dem's report notes that "25 countries, home to 34% of the world's population (2.6 billion people), are in democratic decline by 2020." One especially disturbing highlight "is that India — formerly the world's largest democracy with 1.37 billion inhabitants — turned into an electoral autocracy," meaning a system in which elections continue to be held but the chance of power changing hands is virtually nil. Prior to Jan. 6, the U.S. seemed far from being in a similar situation, but that is effectively what the new wave of GOP voter suppression laws could accomplish, especially with added provisions that jeopardize the post-election process.
America is still a long way from becoming India — but things can change quickly. The U.S. score on V-Dems "Liberal Democracy Index" or LDI is 0.73 (out of a possible 1) while India is less than half that, at 0.34, a precipitous decline since 2010 that places it among the planet's top 10 major "autocratizers." While the U.S. doesn't make that ignominious list, it's marked in red to "signify cases of significant and substantial autocratization." In 2010, the U.S. was among the highest-ranked nations, and is now no longer in the top 30, falling below Chile and Greece, countries with recent histories of military rule.
"The U.S. is somewhat unusual among the decliners," a trio of V-Dem researchers — Anna Lührmann, Dan Pemstein and Juraj Medzihorsky — told Salon via email. "Most of the decliners are reasonably young democracies," they wrote, adding that the U.S. has had a high and stable LDI in their rankings since the civil rights era. "The U.S. is a very different case than India or Brazil and also the various Eastern European countries [which] have much shorter democratic histories, despite being at similar levels in 2010."
The American case, they note, "shows that it is possible for this illiberal playbook, which we're seeing play out in diverse places ranging from Brazil to India, Hungary and Poland, to gain traction even in consolidated liberal democracies."
The party landscape: Even starker
Things look even more perilous from two other landscape views: the landscape of parties across the world, and the landscape of state-level government. A V-Dem briefing paper and its followup, entitled "Walking the Talk: How to Identify Anti-Pluralist Parties," found that the Republican Party has shifted dramatically in recent decades, from being in the same ideological territory as the British Conservative Party in 2000 to the neighborhood of India's Hindu nationalist BJP now, while the Democratic Party has barely moved at all.
"In 2000 the GOP was a party that was clearly committed to democratic standards as listed in the paper," the V-Dem scholars wrote. "In 2018 (the last point of measurement), this commitment was not clearly visible." They continued:
The data shows that the Republican Party in 2018 was far more illiberal (that is anti-pluralist) than almost all other governing parties in democracies. Only very few governing parties in democracies in this millennium (15%) were considered more illiberal than the Republican Party in the U.S. Conversely, the Democratic Party was rated slightly less illiberal than the typical party in democracies. In 2018, the Republican Party scores much higher than almost all parties in democracies on almost all of these indicators.
The shifts they observed were especially dramatic in two of four areas: "demonizes opponents" and "encourages violence."
Given the asymmetric change between the two major American parties, I asked if there were other countries that could shed light on what might happen next, or whether we were in uncharted territory?
"We did not see any sufficiently similar examples that we could bring up," Medzihorsky responded. "Given the information that we have, we refrained from speculation."
The red-state landscape of democratic decay
Another landscape perspective that can shed some light is that of state-level government, explored by University of Washington political scientist Jacob M. Grumbach in a paper called "Laboratories of Democratic Backsliding." Inspired by the V-Dem model, Grumbach developed a measure of subnational democratic performance called the State Democracy Index. He tested a range of different theories about what might contribute to democratic erosion over the period from 2000 to 2018, "based in party competition, polarization, demographic change, and the group interests of national party coalitions." Strikingly, he found "a minimal role for all factors except Republican control of state government, which dramatically reduces states' democratic performance during this period."
...
Denialism vs. democratic decay
Perhaps inevitably, there's a nascent right-wing denialist response that tries to reject any such analysis of democratic decay. At the Free Beacon, Aaron Sibarium wrote a story criticizing Grumbach's scoring system, and more broadly all such systems, called "The Myth of Measuring Democracy." But simply claiming bias and crafting a self-comforting narrative doesn't exactly prove a counter-argument.
Bias could emerge, Sibarium argued, through "the choice of variables used as proxies for democracy and the process by which those proxies are assessed." He attacked Grumbach for the first, and V-Dem for the second:
At least three of the factors that decrease a state's democracy score — voter ID laws, high incarceration rates, and denying felons the right to vote — are things that large majorities of Americans support. According to Grumbach, maximizing democracy means defying the popular will.
Sibarium called V-Dem's framework, "the most balanced," then went on to say that "it too reflects the liberal consensus — because the indicators are all scored by liberal academics."
Both Grumbach and V-Dem offered detailed responses. In essence, Grumbach said, Sibarium assumes that democratic support would make slavery democratic — one answer to what's known as "Wollheim's paradox." Grumbach also said his index includes measures that capture both sides of the paradox, meaning "policy responsiveness to majority opinion and procedural indicators of how costly it is to vote, how gerrymandered districts are, etc."...
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LATE ONE AFTERNOON IN JULY, I met withMatthew Continetti, editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon, in a pizzeria on the ground floor of the Watergate—the DC office complex that stands today as a concrete brutalist monument to the most iconic journalistic triumph of the 20th century. Continetti is not a bomb-thrower by nature. He is polite and cerebral and meticulous about his diction—often pausing for several seconds to consider his words before answering a question. On the day we met, he had just come from George Washington University, where he teaches a class on the history of the intellectual conservative movement.
Continetti grew up in the middle-class suburbs of northern Virginia with parents whom he describes as not “particularly political.” His conversion to conservatism came at Columbia University, while studying Plato’s Republic during an undergrad class on political philosophy. It was around this same time that he decided to pursue journalism, writing articles for the student newspaper as well as for a conservative national magazine called Campus. Aspiring journalists who lean to the right often face a choice as they prepare to enter the industry: try to carve out a career in the mainstream press, or follow the well-trod path into conservative media? Continetti opted for the latter—working as anintern at National Review while he was attending Columbia, and becoming a star writer at The Weekly Standard after graduating. (In 2012, hemarried Anne Kristol, the daughter of Bill Kristol, the magazine’s founder.)
The site Continetti edits today contains a fair amount of trolling—a running series of Kate Upton clickbait; winking headlines like “Greatest Living President Is Also Fantastic Painter”—but it has also earned a reputation for real-deal journalism. Its reporters run down leads, work their sources, call for comment, and issue corrections when necessary. If a partisan press really is the future, we could do worse than the Free Beacon.
I hoped Continetti might have a more optimistic outlook on the world after the mainstream media’s demise. But as we spoke, he was unremittingly bearish on the prospect that any 21st-century outlet could win the trust of a broad, diverse cross-section of news consumers. “One of the reasons there’s no common denominator in media is there’s really no common denominator in American life,” he told me. “As a general rule, we are a divided society. We have very real disagreements about values, about what’s important.”[ --> choice of "facts"]
I couldn’t help but interject: Shouldn’t facts be the common denominator? I asked, painfully aware that I was exhibiting the kind of journalistic sanctimony that the Free Beacon regularly ridicules.
Continetti exhaled, patiently, and shook his head. “I think the problem you describe is unsolvable,” he told me. “People are going to believe what they want. It’s not my job to tell them what to believe. It’s my job to edit a site that provides new information and adds value every day. Certainly, there are many people, like Howard Dean, who say it’s ‘fake news.’ But OK, I’m not going to control what Howard Dean thinks. He has every right.”A smirk appeared on Continetti’s face. “And I don’t believe a word he says, either.”
IN MANY WAYS, Donald Trump was the perfect candidate to channel the conservative media—the talk radio id personified and plopped onto a debate stage. As someone whose status as a perpetually aggrieved media critic long predated his conversion to conservatism, Trump quickly discovered that rank-and-file Republican voters were an enthusiastic audience for his gripes about the press.[recycled newt debate riposte?] And as Trump worked to reinvent himself as a Republican political celebrity, he naturally took his cues from the popular right-wing media. His first major foray into conservative politics was as the world’s most famous “birther,” championing a conspiracy theory that was gaining steam on talk radio and right-wing blogs. Later, as a candidate, he punctuated his stump speeches with stories he’d read on Breitbartand parroted the talking points he’d picked up watching Fox & Friends.
Trump did face real opposition in the primaries from the conservative intelligentsia. Kristol and New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat were early and outspoken critics, while National Review published an entire anti-Trump issue in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. But those with the loudest megaphones—people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity—saw Trump’s affection for them and their tribe, and rewarded it by providing the kind of boosterism that Mitt Romney would have sold one of his sons for.
And so, when Trump won in 2016, it wasn’t just a victory for him and his campaign. It was a coup for the conservative media, whose destructionist attitude toward the mainstream press can now be found at virtually every level—from the hosts of Fox News, to the ascendant internet personalities of the alt-right. “Nothing is grander, nothing is more glorious, nothing is more satisfying, nothing is sweeter, nothing is more validating, nothing is better for America than the death of the mainstream media’s political power,” John Nolte crowed in the Daily Wire the day after the election.
The Gateway Pundit flatly declared, “The mainstream media is your enemy.” And Infowars captured the sentiment by featuring an editorial cartoon depicting right-wing media figures as asteroids hurtling toward earth where news-network dinosaurs await their “extinction.”
In a decidedly dystopian spin on service journalism, some in the conservative media have begun providing their audiences with how-to guides for finishing off the journalistic establishment. Limbaugh told his listeners they should stop consuming news from the mainstream press altogether. “I’ll let you know what they’re up to,” he assured them. “And as a bonus, I’ll nuke it!” Hannity urged his viewers to start targeting individual journalists—and their bosses—on social media. And the alt-right bloggerRoosh Valizadeh has called for a coordinated campaign of bullying aimed at reporters. “Make them appear as ‘uncool’ salarymen in the eyes of the public,” he wrote. “Mock their appearance, their mannerisms, and their weaknesses.”
It would be easy to dismiss all this as performative, and ultimately harmless, trolling. But if the Trump era has taught us anything, it should be that these elements of the conservative media are not to be underestimated. In 2016, they conquered the Republican Party. Now they’re coming for the press.
Mainstream’s right turn
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1119 devin nunes in opening of impeach raise dems use of steele doss
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/washington-free-beacon-private
2014 page 6 w/ loly]
Washington Free Beacon, which has operated under the auspices of the Center for American Freedom since its inception in 2012, announced Monday that it’s breaking from the conservative think tank and “taking its talents to the free market.”
In a post that was accompanied by a gif of a bikini-clad Kate Upton licking a popsicle, Free Beacon founder Michael Goldfarb and editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti laid out their lofty vision for the site.
Since its launch in February 2012, the Free Beacon has been a project of the Center for American Freedom, a nonprofit that has graciously supported our reporters, editors, and contributors. But we have large ambitions. And in order for the Free Beacon to grow, for it to take its rightful place alongside the New York Times and the Washington Post, it must become a newspaper like any other—online in our case, but making its way in the private sector, funded by investors, sustained by advertisers, and seeking out elusive Mexican oligarchs.
Goldfarb and Continetti also wrote that the Center for American Freedom “has been renamed and reconfigured as the Center for American Opportunity” and will be ushering in the new era with the launch of Opportunity Lives, which they described as “a news platform devoted to highlighting stories of success, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving across the United States.”
Since its founding more than two years ago, the Free Beacon has relished its subversive role on the right, embracing a concept referred to as “combat journalism.” Continetti described the idea in a 2012 dictum that heralded the site’s launch.
What would happen, though, if a website covered the left in the same way that the left covers the right? What picture of the world would one have in mind if the morning paper read like the New York Times—but with the subjects of the stories and the assumptions built into the text changed to reflect a conservative, not liberal, worldview? What would happen if the media wolf pack suddenly had to worry about an aerial hunting operation?
You are about to find out. The Washington Free Beacon is here to enter the arena of combat journalism. Our talented staff will add to the chorus of enterprising conservative reporters, publishing original stories, seeking out scoops, and focusing on the myriad connections between money and power in the progressive movement and Obama’s Washington. Our research and war room divisions will supplement that reporting with context, additional materials, and breaking video. At the Beacon, you will find the other half of the story, the half that the elite media have taken such pains to ignore: the inside deals, cronyism cloaked in the public interest, and far-out nostrums of contemporary progressivism and the Democratic Party. At the Beacon, all friends of freedom will find an alternative to the hackneyed spin, routine misstatements, paranoid hyperbole, and insipid folderol of Democratic officials and the liberal gasbags on MSNBC and talk radio. At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them.
In a 2013 interview with the New York Times, Goldfarb acknowledged the Free Beacon’s cheeky side.
“We’re true believers, but we’re also troublemakers, and if you look at the work we do, a lot of it has a sense of humor,” Goldfarb said. Though he said The Beacon had made a serious investment in its journalism, nonetheless, “We get up every day and say, how do we cause trouble?”
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...dismissed as a tissue of fabrications by allies of President Donald Trump after its publication in January, but the infamous Trump-Russia dossier continues to generate controversy.
In recent weeks, the dossier containing lurid claims about the president's alleged ensnarement by Russian intelligence has again become the subject of fierce contention between Democrats and the GOP.
Republicans have claimed the document, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, had been exposed as a partisan smear after evidence emerged that the Clinton campaign had funded its research by Washington, D.C., firm Fusion GPS. But on Friday,*The New York Times*reported that GOP super donor Paul Singer's Washington Free Beacon website was the first to engage Fusion GPS to probe Trump's background.
Singer's involvement has reportedly enraged Trump. Populist firebrand and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon promised the president in a telephone conversation that he was going "off the chain" to attack Singer, Axios reported Sunday.
The development lays bare the conflict at the heart of the Republican Party, with Singer one of several establishment party figures Bannon has pledged to wage war against in his capacity as Trump's enforcer. GOP opponents of Trump were the earliest funders of the research behind the dossier, *Mother Jones* reported in October, 2016, and renegadeSenator John McCain has confirmed in a January statement that he passed a copy of the dossier to the FBI.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Singer is a longtime GOP activist and has donated tens of millions to Republican groups, candidates and causes. He donated $24 million to Republican and conservative groups in the 2016 election alone, with $10.6 million donated in 2014 and $2.8 million in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Singer backed MarcoRubio in the 2015 Republican primaries, and after Trump's election he made peace with the president, donating $1 million to the inaugural committee and significant sums to groups lobbying for Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
At a Bloomberg event in June, Singer enthused about the president's fiscal policies and saidhe and Trump "chatted a bit about taxes and economic policy" during a White House visit.
The Free Beacon denies funding research that contributed to the Russia dossier and said it told Fusion GPS to stop researching Trump when he clinched the Republican nomination in May 2016.
Friday's report, however, may mean that he is now in the crosshairs of Steve Bannon, as back at the helm of the Breitbart news network he wages "war" on the establishment GOP he accuses of being out to derail the president's populist agenda.
---
==
1119
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/12/elizabeth-warren-pregnancy-fired-america-rising/
in oct documents surfaced that appeared to contradict a key story told by Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the campaign trail. In her telling, Warren’s “dream job” as a public school teacher ended in 1971 when the school principal noticed she was “visibly pregnant,” a form of employment discrimination that was legal and common during that era. On October 7, a conservative website presented archived documents that appeared to challenge that narrative, including the minutes of a meeting in which the school board had voted to extend Warren’s tenure and another in which the board notes that Warren herself resigned from the job.
The story spread like wildfire, moving from conservative publications to major newspapers. Even Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to President Donald Trump, weighed in on the controversy to suggest that the Democratic candidate had lied about her life story. More records seeming to challenge Warren’s narrative emerged, including a 2007 interview in Berkeley, California, in which Warren appeared to say that she left teaching on her own accord to raise her child and seek additional education credentials, as well as a contemporaneous newspaper story about Warren leaving the school “to raise a family.”
Warren has stood by her story that she was “shown the door” because of her pregnancy. “When I was 22 and finishing my first year of teaching, I had an experience millions of women will recognize. By June I was visibly pregnant — and the principal told me the job I’d already been promised for the next year would go to someone else,” Warren said on Twitter last month.
But how did these documents surface in the first place? According to the results of an open records request, an opposition research group known as America Rising had requested documents from the Riverdale Board of Education in New Jersey just weeks before the news appeared. It asked for “Warren’s employment records,” as well copies of other records requested from the school board from the previous two years.
In response to the request, a school official provided America Rising with the school board minutes that became the basis for the story that erupted the following month, along with emails from a Wall Street Journal reporter, who had requested similar records in April.
America Rising — which is affiliated with a political action committee, a public relations firm, and a for-profit research company, as well as several news websites — has been backed over the years by Republican donors, including hedge-fund billionaires Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, private equity investor John Childs, and banker Andrew Beal.
America Rising did not respond to a request for comment. The organization did not claim direct responsibility for the Warren story, but touted the documents as soon asthey appeared online via an allied conservative website called the Washington Free Beacon. Free Beacon is also funded by Singer.
America Rising is known for attempting to dig up dirt on politicians, journalists, and activists on behalf of donors’ interests. The group went after journalist Jane Mayer, shopping negative information about the New Yorker writer following the publication of her book “Dark Money.” In 2016, America Rising focused on environmentalist Bill McKibben, dispatching its team to obtain thousands of documents from McKibben’s past and to follow the Vermont-based writer, filming him at public events, as well as while grocery shopping and sitting in a church pew. This year, Definers Public Affairs, an affiliate of America Rising that shares the same staff, decided to rebrand following revelations that the company had been retained by Facebook to orchestrate a campaign to smear its critics.
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http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/did-washington-free-beacon-forget-its-own-role-in-russia-investigation/
Did Washington Free Beacon Forget Its Own Role in Russia Investigation?
ByAdele M. Stan | July 24, 2019 5:06 pm
If you went to front page of The Washington Free Beacon during today’s hearings in the House of Representatives that featured former Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the star witness, you’d barely know that the story that riveted the the nation’s capital was taking place. Instead, the Beacon ran as its lead story a piece about “pro-Israel” legislation that passed the House.
Perhaps that’s because it was the Beacon that commissioned FusionGPS to conduct the opposition research on then-candidate Donald Trump (as well as other Republicans who ran in the 2016 presidential primary) that ultimately led to the collection of the raw intelligence complied by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele that was later characterized as “the Steele dossier.” After the Beacon abandoned its oppo project, the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee engaged Fusion GPS for research on Trump, which built on the work already done for the Beacon by Fusion GPS, which then brought in Steele to examine Trump’s relationships with Russian oligarchs and others with links to the government of the Russian Federation. As reported in The New Yorker:
But in September or October of 2015—Simpson was vague about the exact date—a client hired Fusion GPS to investigate Donald Trump.(The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative Web site that has received funding from the hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer, has acknowledged hiring Fusion GPS to investigate candidates during the Republican Presidential primaries.) Simpson said the mandate was to carry out an “open-ended” examination of Trump’s business record, including his bankruptcies, and, he added, “it evolved somewhat quickly into issues of his relationship to organized-crime figures.”
Passing as Mueller-hearing analysis at the Beacon is a piece calling Mueller’s testimony “bad news” for Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders—because his lackluster performance looks bad on old people.
From today’s edition of The Washington Free Beacon, in a piece by Andrew Stiles that is labeled as ‘analysis’:
Many pundits are suggesting that Mueller, who will turn 75 in August, appears to be suffering from a lack of physical stamina and intellectual agility due to his advanced age. That’s bad news for 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, 76, as well as socialist challenger Bernie Sanders, 77. Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has not definitively ruled out another White House run in 2020, is also very old.
The 73-year-old Donald Trump, on the other hand, is described by Stiles as a “man of legendary stamina whose formidable intellect has laid waste to countless inferior opponents in the past,” noting that “Trump has been described as ‘the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.'”
Of course, that assessment of Trump’s health comes from a letter on the stationery of Trump’s gastroenterologist, who later admitted that Trump dictated the letter himself.
Tags: Andrew StilesBernie SandersChristopher SteeleDonald TrumpHillary ClintonJoe BidenMatthew ContinettiRobert MuellerFusion GPSWashington Free Beacon
==
MSNBC host Christ Hayes unleashed on conservative columnist Matt Mackowiak Thursday evening on Twitter for defending some of President Donald Trump’s worst and most vile rhetoric.
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The back-and-forth began when Mackowiak tweeted a story from The Washington Free Beacon about presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who recently compared Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border to that of the Nazis.
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“He then went on to call asylum-seekers animals and an infestation,” explained O’Rourke. “Now we would not be surprised if in the Third Reich other human beings were described as an infestation, as a cockroach or a pest that you would want to kill.”
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“The reckless candidate continues his recklessness,” Mackowiak said of O’Rourke.
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But Hayes disagreed.
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“He noted that talking about immigrants as an ‘infestation’ and ‘animals’ is Nazi language, and in that he is 100% correct,” the MSNBC host tweeted. “The recklessness lies with the president using those vile, dehumanizing terms, not with the person pointing that out.”
Mackowiak responded: “What word would you use to describe 4,000 apprehensions every day?”
And that’s when Hayes became truly outraged.
“[OF] HUMAN BEINGS?!!! OF CHILDREN? I would never ever ever EVER under any circumstances refer to it as an ‘infestation,’ because that is a word that describes vermin,” Hayes wrote. Asked whether “invasion” was appropriate, he said: “They don’t have weapons, and are not militants of any kind so fo course invasion is definitely not appropriate. It is a humanitarian crisis, yes.”
He added: “Calling a group of people an “infestation,” comparing them to rats or vermin or cockroaches has been deployed as justification for genocide time and time again. This is just a plain historical fact.”
The exchange ended with this:
Matt Mackowiak
@MattMackowiak
- 17h
Let's be clear. I don't call it an infestation or call them animals.
But by now we should all know that comparing anything to the Nazis is unwise.
Chris Hayes
?
@chrislhayes
I know you don't and wouldn't! I think the comparison is often hyperbolic and maybe unwise, but this is a case, imho, where it's apt.
125
4:00 PM - Apr 4, 2019 · Manhattan, NY
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Mackowiak’s last point here is particularly revealing and alarming. He is, it seems, more concerned and offended by the analogy Trump’s critic’s make of his administration to the Third Reich than he is of the analogy and metaphor the president makes comparing immigrants to animals and an infestation. In addition to Hayes’ astute points about the relative accuracy of each analogy, there’s a more fundamental point to be made: one of the comparisons is used to critique the powerful ruling party in the U.S. government, while the other is used to attack and demonize a vulnerable and frequently abused population. The fact that Mackowiak finds one of these analogies “unwise” while offering little condemnation of the other is particularly telling.
==
wow they eat their own: mebbe predictable?
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2017/10/27/report-paul-singer-funded-washington-free-beacon-behind-initial-fusion-gps-trump-effort/
The Washington Free Beacon, funded by GOP mega-donor Paul Singer, was the original funder of Fusion GPS’ research project that attempted to dig up dirt on then-candidate Donald Trump — a project that would later be funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
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The Washington Examiner first reported Friday that lawyers for the Free Beacon — a conservative outlet based in the nation’s capital — funded the project from fall 2015 to spring 2016, when it pulled its funding as Trump looked set to clinch the nomination.
Lawyers for the Free Beacon informed the House Intelligence Committee of its role in the funding on Friday. The outlet issued a statement standing by its decision to fund the project:
Since its launch in February of 2012, the Washington Free Beacon has retained third party firms to conduct research on many individuals and institutions of interest to us and our readers. In that capacity, during the 2016 election cycle we retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary, just as we retained other firms to assist in our research into Hillary Clinton.
After the Democrats took over funding of the operation in mid-2016, Fusion GPS would hire former British spy Christopher Steele and would lead to the production of the so-called “Trump dossier,” filled with salacious but unconfirmed claims about how Trump was compromised by the Russians.
Fusion has come under scrutiny for its alleged ties to Russia, including the fact that many of the claims originate from Kremlin sources — meaning that the information came from inside the Russian government.
The Free Beacon noted in its statement that it had “no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele.”
“The Washington Free Beacon has issued a statement asserting that it had no involvement with Christopher Steele or the dossier he compiled from Russian sources,” Jack Langer, spokesman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told Breitbart News. “The Beacon has agreed to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee to help the Committee verify this assertion.”
Yet, the revelation is likely to fuel questions about the role the so-called “Never Trump” movement played in an effort that would eventually inflict damage on President Trump, and that was possibly part of a Russian misinformation scheme.
The Free Beacon is funded in large part by the New York hedge fund billionaire and major GOP donor Paul Singer. The New York Timesreports that Singer initially supported Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for the Republican nomination, but later spearheaded a campaign to deny Trump the nomination even after Rubio dropped out of the race.
While supporting Republican establishment favorites such as Rubio and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Singer was a major backer of Common Core and was the founderof a super-PAC that has the express purpose of turning the GOP pro-gay marriage.
The Examiner reports that the Free Beacon was originally part of the 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization — the Center for American Freedom — but in 2014 became a for-profit organization. The Center’s original board of directors includes William Kristol, a prominent “Never Trump” activist.
Kristol is also the founder of the Weekly Standard,which like the Free Beacon has a neoconservative foreign policy outlook. The Free Beacon was co-founded by two former Weekly Standardwriters, chairman Michael Goldfarb and editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti.
***Update***
“The Washington Free Beacon has issued a statement asserting that it had no involvement with Christopher Steele or the dossier he compiled from Russian sources,” Jack Langer, spokesman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told Breitbart News. “The Beacon has agreed to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee to help the Committee verify this assertion.”
Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
}:
==
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/washington-free-beacon/
almost extreme rt bias
These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.See all Right Bias sources.
Factual Reporting: MIXEDCountry: USAWorld Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180
History
The Washington Free Beacon is an American politically conservative political journalism website that publishes news and opinion commentary. Founded in 2012, the editor-in-chief is Matthew Continetti.
The site is noted for its conservative reporting, modeled after liberal counterparts in the media such as ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo, intended to publicize stories and influence the coverage of the mainstream media.
From October 2015 to May 2016, the Washington Free Beacon hired Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on “multiple candidates” during the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump. The Free Beacon stopped funding this research when Donald Trump had clinched the Republican nomination.
Funded by / Ownership
The Washington Free Beacon is a privately owned, for-profit online newspaper that is primarily funded through online advertising.
Analysis / Bias
In review, the Washington Free Beacon often uses loaded words in their headlines that favor the right such as: Michael Moore’s Ex-Wife Claims He Stiffed Her out of Movie Profits. The Free Beacon usually sources their information properly but occasionally uses Mixed factual sources. When it comes to factual reporting the Washington Free Beacon has a mixed track record.
Gender Pay Gap in Clinton’s Senate Office?Attack ad in Georgia special election ties Jon Ossoff to Al Jazeera7 Hillary Clinton quotes on the Internet that are complete fakes
Overall, we rate the Washington Free Beacon Right Biased on story selection that favors the right and Mixed for factual reporting based on misleading and false claims. (7/19/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 9/07/2018)
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https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/27/trump-russia-washington-free-beacon-fusion-gps-244265
no lnx
Conservative Free Beacon originally funded firm that created Trump-Russia dossier
By CRISTIANO LIMA 10/27/2017 07:51 PM EDT
Representatives for the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative online news site, informed congressional investigators Friday the outlet had originally funded the research firm that created the salacious dossier containing allegations of ties between Donald Trump's campaign and Russian operatives, the publication said in a statement.
The firm, Fusion GPS — which has been entwined in federal and congressional probes into Russian election interference in 2016 — was retained by the Free Beacon during the 2016 elections "to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary," Free Beacon editor and chief Matthew Continetti and chairman Michael Goldfarb said in the statement.
Goldfarb and Continetti, however, said they have no knowledge or financial involvement in the creation of the now-infamous Trump-Russia dossier, prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS.
The Free Beacon said it stood by its deployment of Fusion GPS during the 2016 campaign and its reporting on the matter.
"We stand by our reporting, and we do not apologize for our methods. We consider it our duty to report verifiable information, not falsehoods or slander, and we believe that commitment has been well demonstrated by the quality of the journalism that we produce," Goldfarb and Continetti said.
Democratic officials have come under scrutiny over the past week over after reports on Monday that the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign had also funded opposition research by Fusion GPS.
Trump on Wednesday called the unverified dossier a "disgrace," dismissing it as "made up," and blasted Democratic officials for their involvement with the research firm.
“I understand they paid a tremendous amount of money,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “And Hillary Clinton always denied it. The Democrats always denied it. And now, only because it’s gonna come out in a court case, they said yes, they did it. They admitted it, and they’re embarrassed by it. But I think it’s a disgrace. It’s a very sad commentary on politics in this country.”
The Free Beacon said Friday it told lawmakers they'd "offer to answer what questions we can in their ongoing probe of Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier."
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snopes is ggl rec srch:
https://www.snopes.com/tag/washington-free-beacon/
Tagged "washington free beacon"
EPA Web Site Pop-Up Fuels Fears of Open Data Shutdown
24 April 2017 - The Environmental Protection Agency accused the contractor alleging that it would shut down its open data site of being 'unauthorized and misinformed.'
Elizabeth Warren Pays Female Staffers Less Than Their Male Counterparts?
6 April 2017 - A report claiming Sen. Warren pays women less than men doesn't take into account the differing job titles of her staff.
[...
What's True
A raw analysis of unadjusted statistics for fiscal year 2016 shows that on average Senator Warren's male staffers earned more than her female staffers.
What's False
The analysis excluded relevant data and failed to include criteria necessary to prove the claim that women on Senator Warren's staff were paid less than their male counterparts for equivalent work.
Origin
On 4 April 2017, the Washington Free Beacon published a report stating that Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is considered one of the more politically progressive members of the U.S. Senate, pays her male staffers more than she pays her female staffers, despite the her emphatic public statements on behalf of equal pay for female workers:
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Loretta Lynch Pleads Fifth Over Iran Payment
31 October 2016 - Attorney General Loretta Lynch did not invoke her Fifth Amendment protections to avoid giving incriminating testimony about the Iran money transfer.
MOSTLY FALSE:
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What's True
Congress members Mike Pompeo and Marco Rubio suggested that Attorney General Loretta Lynch's response to their query about a transfer of money to Iran was akin to invoking Fifth Amendment protections.
What's False
Loretta Lynch did not invoke Fifth Amendment protections, was not on trial, and did not decline to testify.
Origin
In October 2016 the conspiracy-mongering site InfoWars was one of several outlets claiming that Attorney General Loretta Lynch “[took]” or “[pled]” the Fifth (Amendment) to avoid testifying with respect to the Obama administration’s controversial transfer of money to Iran in settlement of a long-standing Hague Tribunal claim:
Attorney General Loretta Lynch has plead the fifth to avoid incrimination in the illegal transfer of billions of dollars in cash to Iran.
Lynch was first approached by Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike Pompeo and asked numerous questions about details on the cash payment.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik responded for Lynch on October 24 and told lawmakers that not only would Lynch refuse to answer but that they would not be allowed to publicly disclose any information on the payment to Iran.
“It is frankly unacceptable that your department refuses to answer straightforward questions from the people’s elected representatives in Congress about an important national security issue,” the lawmakers wrote in response. “Your staff failed to address any of our questions, and instead provided a copy of public testimony and a lecture about the sensitivity of information associated with this issue.”
Such claims referenced two attached letters dated 24 and 28 October 2016, respectively. The first [PDF] was sent from Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik in response to queries issued by Rep. Mike Pompeo and Sen. Marco Rubio about the January 2016 transfer of money to Iran. In his reply, Kadzik essentially said the Department of Justice would not be providing any more information on the matter beyond what had already been offered in documents and hearings:]
Clinton Paid ‘Hard Drive Destruction’ Company
6 May 2016 - Hillary Clinton's campaign made payments to data destruction companies, but no evidence links those services to her controversial use of a private e-mail server.
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http://freebeacon.com/issues/epa-whistleblower-run-ins-law-enforcement-background-check-red-flags/
Susan Crabtree is a senior writer for the Washington Free Beacon. She is a veteran Washington reporter who has covered the White House and Congress over the past two decades. She has written for the Washington Examiner, the Washington Times, the Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly.
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wfb attack:
amazingly slective due dilligence (acutally charges mentioned by pro pub but not docs]
http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-04-at-9.31.39-AM.png
"whistleblower" in title
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Former Trump campaign "body man" turned Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower repeatedly cited by Democrats has a long history of run-ins with law enforcement, including a warning from a Secret Service detail, debt problems and other red flags that could have sunk his mandatory background check, legal experts say.
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mma
Right-wing media outlets The Daily Caller and the Washington Free Beacon have often acted as de facto press offices for Scott Pruitt's Environmental Protection Agency. Media Matters has documented how the two publications have defended Pruitt in the face of his many scandals and tried to discredit sources of information about his misdeeds. Now we learn from Washington Examiner reporter John Siciliano, who covers energy and environment for the conservative-leaning newspaper, that the EPA's press office tried to strong-arm him into writing flattering pieces about the agency and complained to his editors when he refused.
Speaking on June 11 on a panel about media coverage at a conference organized by Citizens' Climate Lobby, a nonpartisan climate activist group, Siciliano recounted the EPA’s attempts to coerce him and his paper to print favorable stories, which he described as “a really bizarre pressure play on their part that I’ve never experienced from an agency, a cabinet-level agency, to enforce an agenda on a journalist.” Siciliano also discussed how the agency referred to him in pejorative terms and pitted him against other journalists -- practices the agency has used against other environmental journalists.
From the June 11 panel titled “Covering Climate Change in the Current Political Landscape”:
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