Thanks for clearing that up

And we all know who to blame for that, don't we?

Naturally, the Alinskyites at the Financial Times (to which the headline takes the curious reader) are deflecting blame to, in effect, an update in the Big Mac Index.

Two things

Just a couple things here, Fair 'n' Balanced Network:

1) Are you sure you don't mean "blaming film for Benghazi," rather than "blaming Benghazi for film"?

2) Spinwise -- gosh, what was it that appeared under the hed "Muslims Angered by Anti-Islam Film Posted to Web Attack US Embassies" at the top of the Fox homepage on Sept. 12, 2012? Could it have been ...

URGENT: Unconfirmed reports of US envoy, three others killed in attack on American embassy in Libya as Muslims angered by online film ridiculing prophet Muhammed launch violent and deadly protests in Libya and Egypt.

That's going to be a challenge going forward, I think. However exclusive your exclusive might be:

Newly released emails on the Benghazi terror attack suggest a senior White House aide played a central role in preparing former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice for her controversial Sunday show appearances -- where she wrongly blamed protests over an Internet video.

More than 100 pages of documents were released to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Among them was a Sept. 14, 2012, email from Ben Rhodes, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

The Rhodes email, with the subject line: "RE: PREP Call with Susan: Saturday at 4:00 pm ET," was sent to a dozen members of the administration's inner circle, including key members of the White House communications team such as Press Secretary Jay Carney.

... Benghazigate boils down to a claim that the Kenyan usurper and his minions said the same thing Fox News did, only four days later. Which makes neither the usurper nor the minions look especially bright, but it ought to leave Fox News in a slightly uncomfortable position as well. Deranged Muslim hordes seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Step right up, step right up!

Ermagerd did you see what the gummint did NOW?!?!?!??? It stopped an innocent woman from spending her foreign money here because some foreign words they can't pronounce at the Fair 'n' Balanced Network sound like some other foreign words they can't pronounce at the Fair 'n' Balanced Network either!

And if that don't fetch 'em, I don't know Arkansaw. But before we go to the comments, let's get to the substance of the piece:
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The children are all above average

Looks like there's a hitch in the fabric of space-time over at the Foremost Newspaper of the Carolinas:

A two-bedroom apartment in one of north Charlotte’s largest complexes could cost you about $900 a month. Next week, it might run you hundreds of dollars more.

Apartment shoppers in Charlotte are finding that prices on units they’re interested in can vary dramatically from day to day, even hundreds of dollars in the span of a week. Driving the price swings are algorithms that track apartment supply and demand using dozens of variables.

Starting to see a problem?
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Today in visual journalism

A: The number of times Eric Holder is mentioned in this morning's top story at the Fair 'n' Balanced Network.

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Today in press freedom

Q: What could be a healthier sign of the democratizing power of new media than a plug-in meant to "replace the maddening face of Tony Abbott with cute little kittens"?
A: A Freedom of Information request for correspondence about "Stop Tony Meow" within the prime minister's office!

Give us the rundown there, Sydney Morning Herald:

Staff at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have used up more than 130 pages of correspondence talking about a web plug-in that replaces pictures of Tony Abbott with ‘‘cute kittens’’.

But after charging the program’s creator $700 for access to those pages, what they actually said is a mystery, for now.
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Life is skittles and life is beer

I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring. Don't you? The sun is shining, the birdies are singing in the trees, the toilets are exploding, and somebody downtown is struck with a burst of totally unique hedsmithing genius: The Russian dude has a funny name! Thus:

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No, but thanks for askin'

A simple rule is hereby proposed for stylebooks everywhere:

When in doubt, use the grownup spelling.

I'm certainly not suggesting there's no g-droppin' in hockey. (Just heard a nice fat one midway through the second period here). If you wanted to bet that it's unusually frequent among hockey announcers, though, I might suggest that's not only a dumb bet but a pretty boring one. If that's the most interesting thing you hear, you need a lot more Don Cherry in your life.

This isn't even a pickin'-and-grinnin' g-drop -- the sort presentation editors use as a way of showing they respect your people's quaint habits and didn't really just ride in on a turnip truck from New Jersey. Rather than a dumb excuse, it has no excuse at all. (OK, maybe one -- another capital letter actually won't fit in the reefer. So shave the picture or shrink the hed a couple points.)

 As for the stupid question, let's not be too quick to assume a winged victory would be an "upset." Datsyuk just made it 1-0.

Playoff preview: Deke of Earl

Let's start with a few questions for language fans:

• How well do you get the summary deck shown at right?
  Dissidents and supporters abroad are determined to deke the communist regime's security agents (Miami Herald, 1A Sunday)
• Where are you from?
• What's your favorite sport on TV?

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Today in question design

Hey, kids! Who wants to guess at the wording of the question that produced Wednesday evening's top Fair 'n' Balanced story?

Here are the three preceding questions:

23.-25. Do you think [NAME] is honest and trustworthy, or not? (ROTATE)

• Jeb Bush
• Hillary Clinton
• Chris Christie

Ready to try?

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How to lie with (other people's) statistics

One of the reasons Fox News and its bedmates are able to pass themselves off as news organizations so effectively is the Emperor's New Clothes effect. If somebody calls out an authority figure or declares that the official version of something ought to be in doubt, the journalist's job is to pass out the pitchforks and torches -- not to ask whether the numbers might say exactly what they appear to say. It's sort of like that first cry of "-gate" over some publisher's favorite scandal-in-the-making: Your watchdog reputation is at some risk if you point out that it's bogus, even when it is.

Hence, even though in this case it's an out-and-out lie, "another phony poll" doesn't just resonate around the echo chamber; it puts a bug in the grownup world's ear too. It looks like what journalism is supposed to be doing. Polls are suspect anyway (being based on data, which is inferior to gut feelings and news sense), and catching a fake one is a triumph of  the common man over the spinmeisters -- right, The American Thinker?

This week brought news of Obamacare securing 7.1 million enrollees and the expected jubilation from the White House. ... The veracity of these numbers is questionable, as many have pointed out. But predictably, the media is doing its best to paint a rosy picture of the success of Obamacare, sharing all of the “good news” of the enrollment numbers.

ABC News and the Washington Post piled on with a poll of their own, demonstrating how public opinion has shifted in a favorable direction coincident with the President’s announcement of the enrollment numbers. “Public support for the Affordable Care Act narrowly notched a new high in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll” they gleefully report. But a closer look at the poll suggests otherwise.
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No comment

What depths of unspeakable evil must be on display for the Fair 'n' Balanced Network to close reader comments on a story?
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