Bill O’Reilly Kinda Sorta Supports Gun Control
I get the feeling it just kills Bill O’Reilly to admit he supports a limited form of gun control. Or maybe he’s just worried it will kill his fans. In any event, we’ve seen it coming on since at least the Aurora, Colorado shooting. And it also explains his recent buddying up to Bob Costas. In any event, while O’Reilly made a point of pretending his Talking Points commentary was about “What do we do about violent evil?” It soon became clear he meant, “What do we do about guns?”
Read moreFinally, On Fox News, A Rabbi Speaks - But Only In Tandem With Fr. Morris!
Given that one of the victims of the Connecticut massacre was Jewish and the shooting occurred during Hanukkah, it would seem appropriate for Fox News to have a rabbi provide his or her spiritual perspective on the tragedy. But Fox's *initial religious analysis was very Christian with several homilies from Fr. Jonathan Morris, an interview with a Newtown Catholic monsignor, an interview with a crisis counselor from the Billy Graham ministries, and some controversial commentary from evangelical Mike Huckabee. But yesterday, Fox finally decided to speak with a rabbi - but Rabbi Moffic was not alone. He had to share the Fox pulpit with - you guessed it - Fr. Jonathan Morris who, according to his **Facebook, had a total of four regular slots during the week-end in addition to being part of Bret Baier's Sunday evening special that covered the Memorial Service at which the president spoke.
Read moreMegyn Kelly Revives Benghazi ‘Controversy’ As Respite From Newtown Shootings
Today, on America Live, host Megyn Kelly closed one of many reports on the Newtown shootings with, “It’s just important not to spend all day, every minute on this. You know, there’s only so much the human spirit can take.” So to uplift the spirits of her viewers, Kelly trotted out conspiracy-theorist extraordinaire Monica Crowley to attack the Obama administration with baseless speculation over Benghazi.
Read moreWhile Murdoch Tweets To Promote Gun Control, His Fox News Demonizes Reform
Rupert Murdoch may not know it but his own Fox News has been against gun control since long before he recently tweeted about being for it. Yes, while Fox News' "Medical A Team" psychiatrist Keith Ablow gratuitously announced last week, "Those who call for gun control after incidents like this contribute nothing to the solution," Murdoch was one of those calling for gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings. He tweeted, "Terrible news today. When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons? As in Oz after similar tragedy." Murdoch also tweeted, "Nice words from POTUS on shooting tragedy, but how about some bold leadership action?"
Read moreFox Attacks Obama’s Anti-School Shooting Policy Before Anyone Knows What It Is
Fox News may have broken some kind of record tonight when, after President Obama finished his address in Newtown, Connecticut at a vigil for the school shooting victims, Fox's “fair and balanced” panel began attacking President Obama’s forthcoming policy to prevent such tragedies before anybody knew what it was. It may well have been before Obama even formulated it.
Read moreWatch President Obama Speak In Newtown, Connecticut
President Obama will be making an address from Newtown, Connecticut shortly. We'll be streaming it live after the jump. Share your thoughts and observations with us in our Comments section. I'll be watching the Fox News coverage and doing some live blogging.
UPDATE: Video of President Obama's touching speech is after the jump.
Read moreFox "News" Advances Faith Theme By Promoting Billy Graham Emergency Chaplains
Is Roger Ailes engaging in evangelizing on his "news" network? While reality based networks are having discussions on American gun violence and the ready availablity of high powered weaponry, Fox News is turning to God by preaching the necessity of faith in times of crisis. And while 70% of Newtown's population is Catholic there are other groups - 6%, Jewish and 10% of the 24% of "other" groups are liberal mainline Protestants as well as 2% Muslims. But on Fox, the religious perspective, so far, has been from the Catholic Fr. Jonathan Morris and the evangelical Mike Huckabee. And in further promoting Fox preferred Christianity, fundamentalist Christian Shannon Bream interviewed the head of a group of Billy Graham's crisis counselors who have swept into Newtown to comfort the afflicted by giving them hope in the lord.
Read moreGeraldo Rivera Says 'Faith Based' People Can't Commit Mass Murder?
Has Roger Ailes instructed his staff to cite lack of "faith" as a reason for the horrific, Connecticut school massacre committed by somebody who might have had a serious mental disorder and who had access to some very efficient weaponry? Reason I'm asking is that it isn't just Mike Huckabee and Fr. Morris who are bringing "faith" into the discussion. During a discussion with Mike Huckabee, even Geraldo Rivera, one of the more rational actors in the Fox studio, got in on the "godless" act with a reference to the apocalypse and the extraordinarily ridiculous statement that "...it is impossible for me to miss the point that were this a faith-based young man he could not have possibly perpetrated this evil." History says otherwise; but in pushing Fox propaganda, who cares about that!?
Read more‘Legal Analyst’ Peter Johnson Jr. Helps You Find (Christian) God In Newtown, Connecticut
Peter Johnson, Jr., the Fox News “legal analyst” who is reportedly a Roger Ailes surrogate, was in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, presumably to report on legal issues. But in the meanwhile, he took an opportunity to promote Christian Godliness with Monsignor Robert Weiss.
Read moreFr. Jonathan Morris Promotes God In Response To Shooting
For the second day in a row, the principal religious perspective being provided for the Fox News audience is Catholic, via Fr. Jonathan Morris who is the only clergy who appears with regularity on the network. Obviously, there are many folks who are comforted by the words of a Catholic priest; but, the reality is that there are others who, for whatever reason, do not seek solace in religious faith - or if they are religious, their ways of coping with grief are not those of the Catholic Church. But Fox News clearly has a Christian and very Catholic bias which, I believe, is being shown in Fr. Morris' homilies during which he focuses on the need for people to connect with God, which isn't always the answer - and as such, how appropriate is that for a "Fair & Balanced" news network?
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