I originally set this up as a fishing blog, detailing my adventures up here in Northern New York. However one of the other purposes for this site was to allow for some commentary on things going on in the world. One of those things being my disgust for journalistic corruption.
The latest reports are that Ben Shapiro and Michelle Fields have went and terminated their employment with Breitbart News. This does not really come as a shock to me. Mr. Shapiro's volume of work over at Breitbart has been decreasing steadily ever since he got the job as Editor over at Dailywire.com. Miss Fields is famous for falsely accusing a man of sexual assault.
A small part of me kind of wonders if I may have had some part in this happening. As you will no doubt find out, it was this website that first broke the story of Ben Shapiro's conflict of interest. That his employers at Daily Wire's website, the Wilks Brothers, funded a Ted Cruz Super PAC to the tune of 15 million dollars*.
Now if Ben was working directly for Keep The Promise, the Super PAC that got the 15 mil, then naturally I would not have any problem with his anti-Trump diatribes. After all that would be the same as being pissed at Billy Mays for pushing OxyClean. It's your job, I get that. The thing is that Billy never tried to hide the fact that he was trying to sell you laundry soap.
What really upsets me is when someone tries to sell a product (politics can be considered a product if you think about it) all the while masquerading as "opinionated journalism." As I said before it is the same equivalent as Consumer Reports buying a crap ton of GM stock and then telling people that the one car that doesn't suck is a Chevy.
Such actions are outright dishonest. Even if the Dailywire website carried a small banner on the bottom stating who the owners financially supported, then I would have been OK with it, but to lie through omission? That cannot be accepted.
Which brings us to Ben Shapiro and Michelle Fields resigning over the whole Corey Lewandowski incident in Florida. I seriously doubt that Mr. Shapiro and Miss Fields quit their jobs because of some moral commitment to the truth. If that were the case then Mr. Shapiro would have fully disclosed to his audience that his new employers gave 15 million dollars to a political candidate.
It is my belief that (and I will write more on this later) the whole narrative of what they claimed to have happened will in fact fall apart like a pair of $5 sneakers. Although it looks like Gateway Pundit beat me to it:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/03/wow-new-video-proves-michelle-fields-not-even-bumped-vy-trump-campaign-manager-lewendowski/
If #GamerGate has taught us anything it is this: The truth will out.
*You can find this under "Ben Shapiro And The Anti Trump Crowd" which now has 8,556 views so far. I actually contacted Breitbart News a few days ago through their tip line and asked them if they were aware of this. As of now I have not received a response.
Hey Eric. You've probably seen Fields' and Shapiro's latest appearance on Megyn Kelly, where all three seem to say anything that comes into their heads (www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0v5rDXbXuA). Fields has changed her story of almost being thrown to the ground to "They're just bruises. Whatever. I just wanted an apology." (Weird that after being assaulted all she would want is an apology. Did he assault her or didn't he? Did he commit a crime or didn't he? Would she have been happy with an apology if he had, say, raped her?) Then when she didn't get her apology she decided to press charges. (On the advice of Shapiro, it seems: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhYVxo2PA--OxPCUPU-p3A/videos).
ReplyDeleteYep, $5 pair of sneakers that just walked through a puddle. Just falling apart
DeleteJust listened to latest Ben Shapiro Show (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvXyE8H9ghQ). Re the Cruz connection, Shapiro announces at the beginning that he has a new sponsor: Hillsdale College. Here is excerpt from Vanity Fair article (www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/ted-cruz-conservative-cpac): ***“You try to gauge with cheers, but people tend to cheer for ideas rather than people,” said one clear-eyed Hillsdale college student after Cruz's speech on Friday, whose name became lost as more eager Hillsdale students suddenly encircled me. “But I did feel like Cruz had a larger support, but maybe that’s because he was here.”
ReplyDeleteThe conservative college had sent twelve percent of the entire school to CPAC, packing three coach buses full of Cruz supporters and driving them from Michigan to D.C. One student mentioned that he’d seen a few Donald Trump supporters, and his classmates quickly turned on him. “Why would you say that?!” one asked jokingly.***
I just posted several comments on the latest Ben Shapiro Show. For some reason my comments for the videos on his channel never show up unless I'm logged in. I'm not computer savvy enough to know if this is deliberate or not, but it does make me suspicious. Anyway, I repost them here since there germane to your blog post:
ReplyDelete***************
Is Shapiro aware that "his employers at Daily Wire's website, the Wilks Brothers, funded a Ted Cruz Super PAC to the tune of 15 million dollars"? (northcountrydispatch.blogspot.ie/2016/03/was-ben-shapiro-fired-from-breitbart.html?showComment=1458066910743#c6875745709725166556)
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Is Shapiro aware that his new sponsor, Hillsdale College, "sent twelve percent of the entire school to CPAC, packing three coach buses full of Cruz supporters and driving them from Michigan to D.C."? (www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/ted-cruz-conservative-cpac)
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Shapiro says he doesn't think it's okay for someone to assault someone else for political reasons. But does he think it's okay to go on national television and call for someone to lose their livelihood because of a false allegation of assault, and all for political reasons?
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They won't show up because you included a weblink
DeleteShapiro on Ep. 87 - Why Trump Can Beat Hillary (5 days ago) (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXyuyXALbc) @ 18:17: "Corey Lewandowski, who's Trump's campaign manager, grabbed [Fields] and tried to fling her, basically, according to the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/inside-trumps-inner-circle-his-staffers-are-willing-to-fight-for-him-literally/2016/03/10/4b2b18e8-e660-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html). It's not just one account: it's now two major media accounts."
ReplyDelete@ 20:20: "Corey Lewandowski, who performed battery on a reporter and was witnessed doing this" @ 21:45: "The Washington Post, as stated, backed up [Fields'] story and in fact were the original sources of the fact that it was Corey Lewandowski who pulled Michelle Fields to the ground."
From the Washington Post article: 'I watched as a man with short-cropped hair and a suit grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way. He was Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s 41-year-old campaign manager. Fields stumbled. Finger-shaped bruises formed on her arm. “I’m just a little spooked,” she said, a tear streaming down her face. “No one has grabbed me like that before.” She took my arm and squeezed it hard. “I don’t even want to do it as hard as he did,” she said, “because it would hurt.” '
From Michelle Fields' Breitbart article: "Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken. The Washington Post’s Ben Terris immediately remarked that it was Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who aggressively tried to pull me to the ground. I quickly turned around and saw Lewandowski and Trump exiting the building together. No apology. No explanation for why he did this. Even if Trump was done taking questions, Lewandowski would be out of line. Campaign managers aren’t supposed to try to forcefully throw reporters to the ground, no matter the circumstance."
When you are walking quickly forward and someone also walking forward pulls you hard enough to not only stop your momentum forward, but force you to step backwards it probably seems like you're trying to be pulled down...
DeleteAt least.... if you're a lightweight, drama queen reporter with blood coming out of her wherever (extra Megan Kelly), who poops on occupy policemen for a story and walks around secretly air humping pictures of Hillary Clinton...
Note: I didn't actually type those words, Trump's campaign manager hijacked my brain so hard I assaulted my own fingers into those words!!!!
Help!!!!!!!
(Front page story, baby!)
Shapiro in Ep. 88 - Is Donald Trump Responsible for Violence at His Events? (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvXyE8H9ghQ) @ 39:49: "If you don't remember, Corey Lewandowski grabbed Michelle Fields by the arm and he pulled her back hard enough that it left bruises on her. She took pictures of the bruises. She filed a police report of the bruises. There was simultaneous audio tape. Now there's video tape showing that he grabbed her."
ReplyDelete@ 41:30: "Last Thursday night I went on Megyn Kelly's show and I said it's absurd for Breitbart news after all of this to not call for an apology instead of the firing. They should be calling for a firing not for an apology.
@ 42:25: "I'd already talked to Michelle about this. She'd already told me what happened. And I believe her. And I still do believe her because literally all the evidence is on her side. It wasn't just her account: it was Ben Terris's account. It wasn't just Ben Terris's account: it was simultaneous audio tape. It wasn't just simultaneous audio tape: it was video tape of Lewandowski reaching for her arm. And now video tape of Lewandowski grabbing her arm. And so the Lewandowski/pro-Trump have tried to slow down that video tape, take it out of context. They took like a three-second segment and slow it down so it doesn't look like he's doing anything. Bottom line is this: if somebody grabbed my wife's arm, and bruised my wife's arm, there would be actual physical consequences to that. You don't get to grab my wife or my child and bruise them. This is unprofessional behavior. And by the way, people who are saying that Michelle was some sort of attention-seeker: Michelle stayed silent about this. Michelle didn't say anything about this for 24 hours. The only statement she put out was an explanation of what she said happened at Breitbart News (www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/03/10/3276486/). She didn't even file a police report. I was encouraging her, and she eventually did. I was encouraging her: 'Go file a police report.'"
So did Lewandowski throw or pull (these are two different actions, by the way) Fields to the ground or didn't he? Did Lewandowski assault Fields or didn't he? Did he commit a crime or didn't he? Did Fields have to turn around too see Lewandowski or was she looking forward the whole time when he passed her? (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoMPxomjiw)
Okay, *none* of my comments appears when I revisit those pages and I'm not logged in. Which probably means that they're not visible to anyone else. Anyway, sorry for all the comments. I just hate liars.
ReplyDeleteJust one more point. I think it's worth noting that Shapiro graduated from Harvard Law School yet never went on to practice law. Perhaps because by that time he had already published several best-selling books and found that criticizing liberals paid more for less effort. (How hard is it to find fault with liberals, after all?) Perhaps because he simply wasn't very good at law, if one is to judge by how much of a cack-handed twit he has made himself look over this Michelle Fields business. If he had been a judge he would have had to recuse himself since the fact of his being Fields' friend, her co-worker and seemingly of her political bias has prevented him from casting an iota of skepticism on her highly inconsistent testimony. Indeed, he rashly declared Lewandowski guilty of assault before sufficient video evidence had surfaced. Then once the video which clearly showed that Lewandowski had committed no crime Shapiro very weakly (and with apparent ill-grace) changed his demand of firing Lewandowski over an alleged crime to a demand for an apology for possibly (and, if so, clearly inadvertently) bruising Fields' arm. If that's how Shapiro approaches a legal matter in an unofficial capacity we can only be grateful that he never practiced! I hope the police prosecute Fields for filing a false report, which will then implicate Shapiro since he was the one who urged her to do it. It looks like a conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is Ben is kind of suffering from Sunken Cost Fallacy and his legal training. The "I'm already in so much! I have to stick to it in order recover and gain some ground." This is typified in most Problem Gamblers. The guy sees everything as a lawyer and is too deeply committed to change course.
DeleteThe Fields fiasco continues. You've probably already seen that Jupiter police have actually charged Lewandowski with battery. A new angle of the event has surfaced but it SHOWS that when Lewandowski pulled Fields away from Trump he touched her UPPER ARM. (Mark Dice has helpfully put up a YouTube video dissecting the footage.) Trump is standing by Lewandowski. Meanwhile, Kasich and Cruz are so desperate that they're leaping on this.
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI after your first article, Ben Shapiro's podcast EP 91 uploaded March 17th at 15:15 in he says
ReplyDelete"By the way, I've been very open about the fact that I support Ted Cruz. Full disclosure, the people who back the daily wire, back Ted Cruz. A lot of people who are my friends back Ted Cruz. It turns out, I like to hang out and like to work with people who share similar values"
I wonder if he saw your article... I don't know if he said anything like this before you posted your article or not.
Probably someone told him about it and he ran quickly to Ted Cruz who slapped him in the face. Then Shapiro said, "please sir, can I have another"... Then he slapped him again and said "repent and make a podcast to announce your full disclosure and such"
Then he ran up a flight of stairs in philidelphia, ran into a meat shop and punched meat with a picture of Trump taped to it until his hands got bloody, ran back to his studio, slapped Michelle Fields on the way, blamed it on Trump and then ran into the studio and said "I'm the most honest and open about my Ted Cruz bias, yo"
And proceeded to laugh like Bernie Sanders or Doc Brown (same person) until his chest inflated to the size where he floated away on his own hot air he was full of.