Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

ON THE SUBJECT OF TRUMP'S LIES...

Sheryl Atkinson turns the tables on the media with her article, "50 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List."   She writes:

We the media have “fact-checked” President Trump like we have fact-checked no other human being on the planet—and he’s certainly given us plenty to write about. That’s probably why it’s so easy to find lists enumerating and examining his mistakes, missteps and “lies.”

 

But as self-appointed arbiters of truth, we’ve largely excused our own unprecedented string of fact-challenged reporting. The truth is, formerly well-respected, top news organizations are making repeat, unforced errors in numbers that were unheard of just a couple of years ago.

 

Our repeat mistakes involve declaring that Trump’s claims are “lies” when they are matters of opinion, or when the truth between conflicting sources is unknowable; taking Trump’s statements and events out of context; reporting secondhand accounts against Trump without attribution as if they’re established fact; relying on untruthful, conflicted sources; and presenting reporter opinions in news stories—without labeling them as opinions.

 

What’s worse, we defend ourselves by trying to convince the public that our mistakes are actually a virtue because we (sometimes) correct them. Or we blame Trump for why we’re getting so much wrong. It’s a little bit like a police officer taking someone to jail for DUI, then driving home drunk himself: he may be correct to arrest the suspect, but he should certainly know better than to commit the same violation.

 

So since nobody else has compiled an updated, extensive list of this kind, here are: 

 

50 Notable Mistakes and Missteps in Major Media Reporting on Donald Trump

1. Aug. 2016-Nov. 2016:

The New York Post published modeling photos of Trump’s wife Melania and reported they were taken in 1995. Various news outlets relied on that date to imply that Melania—an immigrant—had violated her visa status. But the media got the date wrong. Politico was among the news agencies that later issued a photo date correction.

 

 2. Oct. 1, 2016:

The New York Times and other media widely suggested or implied that Trump had not paid income taxes for 18 years. Later, tax return pages leaked to MSNBC ultimately showed that Trump actually paid a higher rate than Democrats Bernie Sanders and President Obama.    Keep reading . . . 

PAKISTANI WOMAN IMPRISONED 9 YEARS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN

Shamefully, Asia Bibi remains in prison!  Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. writes: 

On Tuesday Asia Bibi will complete her ninth year of imprisonment for her Christian faith after being arrested for blasphemy in 2009 and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010.

In June 2009, Pakistani police arrested Asia Bibi on charges of blasphemy following complaints by Muslim women backed up by an Imam, who claimed she had insulted the prophet Muhammad.

The accusations followed on a row between Bibi and a group of Muslim coworkers. She had been harvesting berries in a field with a group of Muslim women who grew angry with her for drinking out of the same metal water bowl as them, insisting that as a Christian she was unclean.

From the outset Ms. Bibi has vehemently denied the charges of insulting the prophet. She claims that when her coworkers made derogatory statements about her faith, she merely answered: “I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Muhammad ever do to save mankind?”

In November 2010, Bibi received the death sentence by the lower court in Nanka district and four years later the Lahore High Court confirmed the verdict. She imprisoned in the Multan female prison.

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) said last week that Bibi has been the victim of intense persecution for comparing Christ’s sacrifice with the prophet.

“She spoke about the wonderful sacrifice Christ made of his life for us and asked the simple question, ‘What has Muhammad done for you?’ For that, this torture, this beating, this isolation, attempts to assassinate her,” he said. 

TRUMP'S MEETING WITH KIM JONG-UN: A TURNING POINT OR A DEBACLE?

Time will tell.  Ben Shapiro devoted 30 minutes of his daily podcast to analyzing the meeting.   Like everyone, he hopes for the best but itemizes his disappointments and reservations.  Here Shapiro appeared on Fox & Friends (6/12/18) and expressed his concerns:

-- The editors at  National Review offer a sober, judicious commentary with which I am in total agreement.

-- Jonah Goldberg is skeptical and offers the quote of the day: " . . . There’s good reason to believe that if Kim were sincere about getting rid of his nukes, his own regime would kill him. The nuclear program is a unifying tool of state propaganda, celebrated and mythologized in grade schools and everywhere else in Korean society. Expecting them to get rid of them is like expecting the Hell’s Angels to forswear motorcycles in favor of minivans.

-- The Family Research Council rightly focuses on the issue of religious freedom -  President Trump: “We . . . brought it up very strongly.” This issue “did come up, and things will be happening,” the president continued, recognizing that Franklin Graham has focused on this issue and has “got it very close to his heart.” 

-- See the article "North Korea's Chamber of Horrors: Oppression, Slavery and Starvation."

A huge volume of prayer has been going up around the world regarding North Korea.  Let us continue praying.

SHOULD AMAZON TRIBES BE ALLOWED TO KILL THEIR OWN CHILDREN?

Short version -- Deadly Cultural Relativism: Leftists Oppose Laws Protecting Indigenous Children From Being Murdered

Full version below:

(Right:  photo of Marcia and Edson Suzuki with their adopted daughter Hakani.  See story below)

John Daniel Davidson writes in The Federalist: [my bolding]

A post at Get Religion caught my eye yesterday with the title, “Should Amazon tribes be allowed to kill their young? Foreign Policy editors aren’t sure.” It linked to a story in Foreign Policy magazine from April 9 about a handful of indigenous tribes in Brazil that engage in the ritual killing of infants and children—namely, those with a disability, twins, and the children of single mothers, all of whom are considered to be a bad omen—and the legal efforts underway to end the practice.

One would think that the answer to the question posed by the subtitle to the Foreign Policy article—“Should Brazil keep its Amazon tribes from taking the lives of their children?”—would be a resounding, “Yes.” Surely no one would argue these tribes have a right to kill unwanted children. Surely even the most committed multiculturalist would not condone such barbarity. Right?

But to assume that would be to underestimate the force of cultural relativism on the Left. If our friends on the Left encountered, in the present day and in real life, the ritual human sacrifices of the Aztecs or the fires of the Canaanite god Moloch, more than a few would insist that we not pass judgement on these indigenous cultural practices, and would probably denounce those who tried to do so as racists and imperialists.

WATCH: ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU OFFERS TO HELP PEOPLE SUFFERING IN IRAN'S DROUGHT

From the Daily Wire 6/11/18:

On Sunday, in an extraordinary message to the people of Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the severe water shortages in Iran and not only offered to help the Iranian people with words, but actions. He announced the creation of a Farsi webite that will show how Iranians can recycle their wastewater and Iranian farmers can save their crops and feed their families.

The Daily Wire again:

As The New York Times reported in January, at one point Iran suffered a drought for 14 consecutive years. The Times noted that after the 1979 revolution that brought the Iranian mullahs to power, the government urged farmers to plant wheat throughout the country, giving farmers inexpensive electricity and favorable prices, which stimulated more planting and the extraction of more and more groundwater. Claudia Sadoff, who created a report for the World Bank on Iran’s water crisis, stated, “25 percent of the total water that is withdrawn from aquifers, rivers and lakes exceeds the amount that can be replenished” by nature.

 The text of Netanyahu’s message follows::

NORTH KOREAN DICTATOR KIM JONG UN THE SAME HEIGHT AS PRESIDENT TRUMP?

The strange photo below was posted on Breitbart.  It strikes me as laughably distorted.  Kim Jong Un has been made to look as tall as President Trump.  See the video below for a true perspective of their relative heights.

 

 

 

HOME "FOR SALE" SIGNS COMING DOWN IN CONNECTICUT TOWN (VIDEO)

For sale signs a bit tacky?  Give the wrong impression of a town?  Unneeded because people search for homes online?  For all of the above reasons and more, the town of New Canaan, Connecticut is experimenting with a six month ban on "For Sale" signs in front of homes.

But I think the most important reason may be the following:

They don’t want people to know how many people are fleeing high tax areas like Connecticut. While Massachusettes may be the worst state in terms of raw state taxes, when you add up the total state and local tax burden for residents, it’s actually barely in the top ten of the worst. New York and Connecticut hold the top (or actually bottom) spots, with 12.7% and 12.6% of residents’ income being vacuumed up respectively. (Alaska, Wyoming and South Dakota are the least taxed by that standard in case you were curious.) This is no doubt a contributing factor to Connecticut’s place on the list of states where the most people are leaving. They come in fourth, trailing only Illinois, New Jersy and New York.

WHY IS IT THAT TRANSGENDER "GIRLS" ALWAYS WIN?

I think I know.   From the Daily Wire:

You wonder how the other runners may have felt.

On Monday, when Connecticut had its State Open track and field championships at Willow Brook Park, one person broke the State Open records for girls in both the 100 and 200-meter runs.

That person was a biological boy.

Terry Miller of Bulkeley, a transgender, won the events. In the 100 meter dash, the runner-up was Andraya Yearwood of Cromwell, also a transgender.

TWITTER CEO JACK DORSEY APOLOGIZES TO THE GAY CROWD FOR EATING AT A CHICK-FIL-A

I don't tweet.  If I did, I would seriously consider stopping using this service.  It's way too P.C. and far "Left" for my tastes. 

From the Daily Caller -

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Sunday expressed regret over eating at Chick-fil-A, because of the chicken company’s CEO’s personal views on gay marriage.

Dorsey tweeted a screenshot from his phone that showed a purchase he had made at Chick-fil-A using a mobile application. After a liberal backlash, however, Dorsey apologized for eating at the popular fast food restaurant.

At issue was Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s 2012 support for defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which he described as “the biblical definition of a family.”

Me:  This is so tiresome.  The new LGTQ fundamentalist religion calls for sinners to repent and anyone tempted to waver musst toe the line scrupulously to avoid being shamed and treated as an outcast. Corporations show craven compliance in a most disgusting way. 

-- I remember reading a few weeks ago this article: "Twitter is banning conservatives for posting facts." "... these bans come after users post 'hate facts' -- statements that are factually true, but politically inconvenient for progressives.

The most high-profile individual to be banned on this basis was Islam critic Tommy Robinson, who received a permanent ban from Twitter after he posted statistics showing that Muslims are vastly overrepresented in child grooming gangs in the U.K. Robinson is now taking Twitter to court to prove that “facts are now treated as hate.”

-- From a 5/3/18 post on this blog     -- Jamie Glazov suspended from Twitter for quoting  Islamic religious texts

Keep your eyes on twitter!  I am sadly confident we will read many more stories of Twitter censoring conservative views.

COCA-COLA ADVERTISEMENTS

These historical advertisements should warn us to be a tad skeptical about contemporary ads (of whatever sort...)

And not this from the "Cola Industry!"

 

UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES PRIZE PERKS; SHRINK FROM REFORM

Paul S. Levy - University Boardrooms Need Reform 

Writer Paul S. Levy resigned from serving as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania over Pen Law's treatment of law professor Amy Wax.  He received no support.   Levy writes:  Nobody in the university community has an incentive to speak out, and everyone seems afraid to do so.  Professors fear retaliation; students worry about social ostracism... 

Trustees and donors candidly admit in private that they do not want to jeopardize their children's chances for admission...  There's no incentive to rock the boat, and universities make sure they don't get much opportunity.  At the trustee level, the board is large and its formal meetings are entirely show and tell, with discussion severely limited and vote outcomes never in doubt.  Penn Law overseers do not vote on anything. 

Levy's conclusion: "When universities violate their values, trustees and overseers should resign, and donors should close their wallets.  Until that happens, nothing will change. 

Me:  Until students, professors and trustees develop a spine and convictions that overcome their self-regard for reputation and well being, universities will remain in the lamentable P.C. condition in which they currently wallow, a disgrace to founding documents and historic principles of intellectual debate.