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By Kyle Drennen
On Monday, NBC’s Today shamefully exploited the deaths of illegal immigrants smuggled into the U.S. to attack the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. After reporting on how 39 people were found in the back of tractor trailer in San Antonio, Texas, nine of whom died due to the extreme 100-degree heat, correspondent Gabe Gutierrez declared: “Some blame the current political climate.”
A soundbite followed of left-wing illegal immigration activist Jonathan Ryan of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, ranting: “The harsh rhetoric of today is exactly what is responsible for tragedies like what happened in San Antonio.” Gutierrez noted: “But human trafficking has been big business for decades....Last year, Homeland Security officials investigated more than 2,000 cases of human trafficking, making nearly 3,000 criminal arrests.”
Rather than rightfully point out the failures of the Obama administration to deal with illegal immigration, instead, a clip ran of Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro lecturing: “It’s a symptom of a broken immigration system which Congress has refused to fix.”
Wrapping up the segment, Gutierrez implored: “And as the immigration debate rages in this country, what happened in this parking lot is serving as a haunting reminder of what’s at stake.”
The biased coverage was brought to viewers by Ford, Toyota, and Citi.
Here is a full transcript of the July 24 report:
7:14 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: A lot more happening this morning and federal charges are expected against the driver of a tractor trailer involved in a deadly and disturbing case of human smuggling in Texas. Dozens of undocumented immigrants were found inside the back of a sweltering 18-wheeler. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez is in San Antonio for us with the latest on this. Gabe, good morning.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Savannah, good morning, it was a truly horrifying discovery, dozens of people crammed into a tractor trailer here in this parking lot, in the stifling Texas heat with no air conditioning. The suspected driver of that tractor trailer is now expected to be formally charged later today.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Nine Dead in “Human Trafficking” Horror; Alleged Driver Arrested After Dozens Found in Truck]
This morning, federal investigators are trying to unravel how a human smuggling operation inside this tractor trailer turned deadly.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Something like out of the movies, you don’t really expect to see that kind of thing around here.
GUTIERREZ: The gruesome scene, a sweltering Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, temperatures reached 101 degrees there on Saturday. Someone climbed out of the back of the tractor trailer parked near the store and begged for water. A Walmart employee called 911. Police found 39 suspected undocumented immigrants crammed inside. Eight were dead, another died at the hospital.
CHIEF CHARLES HOOD [SAN ANTONIO FIRE DEPARTMENT]: They were very hot to the touch, so these people were in that trailer without any signs of any type of water.
 GUTIERREZ: Investigators say the suspected driver, 60-year-old James Bradley Jr. of Clearwater, Florida, will be formally charged later today. Some blame the current political climate.
JONATHAN RYAN [IMMIGRATION ACTIVIST]: The harsh rhetoric of today is exactly what is responsible for tragedies like what happened in San Antonio.
GUTIERREZ: But human trafficking has been big business for decades. It’s eerily reminiscent of a 2003 smuggling case in Victoria, Texas, where more than 70 people were trapped in a semi-truck, 19 died. Last year, Homeland Security officials investigated more than 2,000 cases of human trafficking, making nearly 3,000 criminal arrests.
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO [D-TX]: It’s a symptom of a broken immigration system which Congress has refused to fix.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN [VIGIL PARTICIPANT]: These deaths are preventable.
GUTIERREZ: Late Sunday, a vigil for the victims.
ARLENNE SERNA [VIGIL PARTICIPANT]: They’re willing to risk themselves and their willing to risk their lives for their kids and for their family members just so they can have a better future.
GUTIERREZ: 30 undocumented immigrants, including teenagers, are now recovering at local hospitals. And as the immigration debate rages in this country, what happened in this parking lot is serving as a haunting reminder of what’s at stake. Savannah, Carson?
GUTHRIE: Just awful. Gabe Gutierrez, thank you very much.
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By Scott Whitlock
CBS This Morning on Monday highlighted an abortion battle in Kentucky and the efforts to close the last remaining clinic. Journalist Anna Werner talked to the clinic’s director and pressed her on whether she really “believes” the assertion by a pro-life group that they are non-violent. A CBS graphic for the segment fretted, “Closing the Last Clinic?”
Speaking of Operation Save America, Werner asked Anne Ahola: “One of their activists told me they don't espouse violence. Do you believe that?” She continued that Ahola “has been the clinic's director for 17 years" and wondered, "How do you feel about being a target?”
She then featured unchallenged reply:
AHOLA: It's offensive because there are people outside who believe they have a monopoly over God and they don't understand He is in there too. God is everywhere. You know, those people outside aren't the only Christians in the world.
CBS has previously decried the GOP’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
In March, This Morning co-host Gayle King wondered if Republicans were planning a “war on women” with the effort.
A transcript of the segment is below:
 CBS This Morning 7/24/17 7:16am ET
CBS graphic: Closing the Last Clinic? Anti-Abortion Activists Target KY’s Final Provider
GAYLE KING: Kentucky has become ground zero for the abortion debate and the state. It’s sole remaining abortion clinic is under threat and the state could become the first in the nation without an abortion provider. Hundreds of protesters from a national anti-abortion group are gathering there this week. They're making the state and the clinic their target. Anna Werner is in Louisville where she’s been talking to the clinic’s director and those who want to shut it down. Anna, good morning.
 ANNA WERNER: Good morning, Gayle. And what you're looking at here, this black and yellow tape on the sidewalk, this is a buffer zone. It was put into place by a federal judge late last week because back in May protesters actually blocked patients' access into this abortion clinic. Now what the protesters have been doing is lining up along the edge talking to patients as they go in. Their goal is to shut this clinic down. Abortion opponents started gathering at churches in Louisville over the weekend, gearing up for citywide protests. Evangelical activists Jason Storms and wife Sarah brought their eight children with them from Milwaukee along with a firm belief.
JASON STORMS: We have the wholesale, legalized, protected, tax-subsidized killing of little human beings in the womb is, to me, deplorable.
WERNER: The group he belongs to, Operation Save America, calls Roe V. Wade, a covenant with death, and wants to close down the clinic, the last remaining abortion provider in the state.
GOVERNOR MATT BEVIN: This is exactly why this matters.
WERNER: Kentucky's abortion landscape is changing. Republican governor Matt Bevin publicly opposes abortion and the GOP-controlled legislature has passed new restrictions on abortion. In May, nearly a dozen protesters were arrested for blocking entrance to the clinic. Storm says they plan to be peaceful this time.
STORMS: Well, there’s certainly not going to be any violence by anybody on our side.
WERNER: One of their activists told me that they don't espouse violence. Do you believe that?
ANNE AHOLA (EMW Women’s Surgical Center Director): No.
WERNER: Anne Ahola has been the clinic’s director for 17 years. How do you feel about being a target?
AHOLA: It's offensive because there are people outside who believe they have a monopoly over God and they don't understand He is in there too. God is everywhere. You know, those people outside aren't the only Christians in the world.
WERNER: So the U.S. marshals are here to help keep the piece today. Also later today the federal judge is going to decide whether to keep this buffer zone in place for a long period of time, but protesters don't just plan to be here. They plan to go to the clinic doctors’ home as well, Jeff.
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By Scott Whitlock
According to CNN’s Brian Stelter, the reason journalists cover Russia non-stop is because they “love America.” The liberal Reliable Sources anchor battled with Kellyanne Conway about the cable network’s priorities on Sunday. Conway blasted ObamaCare, saying, “You can't sit here, Brian, and deny the fact that 19 of the 23 co-ops under ObamaCare have failed. They're gone.”
Stelter sputtered, “There's plenty of time to cover both. There's plenty of time to cover both.” After the Trump 2016 campaign manager told him, “But you don’t and you know it,” the journalist replied, “Russia is a big story because... journalists love America and America was attacked last year.”
See, it’s simple patriotism?
Stelter then made a conspiratorial prediction about the midterm elections and Russia: “And America's probably going to be attacked again next year around the midterms, when you call it a hoax.”
In the same interview, Stelter told Conway that Trump’s “rhetoric” is a scandal. The Media Research Center’s Brent Baker told the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard:
Talk about a lack of self-awareness. CNN, and the MSM, long ago lost the trust of much of the public because they so obviously favored liberals and denigrated conservatives. Trump is not the cause of distrust in the media or a poisoning of discourse, but someone who successfully exploited the table set by too many politically-driven journalists."
This biased CNN segment was brought on to you by Tums and Purina.
A partial transcript follows:
 Reliable Sources7/23/17 11:05am
KELLYANNE CONWAY: you and I have health care benefits that are given by our employers. You and I have great jobs and we're safe in our jobs. You and I have disposable income. God bless you and your wife, Jamie, and your new daughter. We are people who are not struggling paycheck to paycheck and not worried about paying the rent or the mortgage or the student loan voucher or the tuition payment this very month. We're not deciding between groceries and health care benefits.
I'm there for those people. And, Brian, if we can rely on your help at CNN, not to do our PR, that's silly. That's nonsense. To connect America with the information they need. If you're going to cover Russia, Russia, Russia, while we're talking about America, America, America, we're always going to be like this. If you actually look at the polls —
STELTER: This country --
CONWAY: — this great polling analysis where they said six percent of Americans, six percent said Russia was the most important issue to them and, yet, the mainstream media has given it 75 percent of coverage. They said 35 percent of —
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: In that same Bloomberg study -- yes, that's right.
CONWAY: And you're not covering health care.
STELTER: Eleven percent for immigration.
CONWAY: Yes.
STELTER: But that same Bloomberg poll found that only 40 percent of Americans approve of this president. Is your strategy now and Scaramucci's strategy only to play to the base or you try to reach 100 percent of Americans, not just 40?
CONWAY: No. I thank you for putting the poll up because I want your viewers to see, I appreciate that, 35 percent health care. The only coverage CNN really gives health care is whether or not it will pass, whether or not they have the votes, whether or not this will be a colossal legislative failure.
STELTER: And it collapsed this week, a stunning failure, one of the biggest stories of the year.
CONWAY: No, it didn’t. So, there you go, using those words, stunning failure. But, look, if you want it to be a stunning failure or you're going to insist it is a stunning failure, you are denying literally the millions and millions of Americans who were lied to by the last president. “You like your plan, keep your plan. If you like your doctor, keep your doctor.” They don't have health care benefits through their employer like you and I do. They don't have --
STELTER: That was 2009, it's 2017. Let's look forward and not backwards all the time.
CONWAY: We're living with ObamaCare. Yes, let's look forward, let's look forward, and let's look at all the people who did not benefit from ObamaCare. You can't sit here, Brian, and deny the fact that 19 of the 23 co-ops under ObamaCare have failed. They're gone. Eighty- three insurers have pulled out of the exchanges with dozens more promising to do so this year and next year.
We have — if ObamaCare is not repealed by 2018, we will have over 1,300 counties where there is one choice which means there's no choice. Right now, we have 40 bare counties with no choice. Medicaid is unsustainable. We're trying to save it for the future. We're trying to give flexibility to the governors. Help change the accounts.
STELTER: I appreciate that.
CONWAY: Well, but the reason, the only time you're going to cover that because I'm here.
STELTER: There's plenty of time to cover both. There's plenty of time to cover both.
CONWAY: But you don’t and you know it.
STELTER: We're on a 24-hour channel with an infinite Website.
CONWAY: I agree.
STELTER: Russia is a big story because --
CONWAY: Why?
STELTER: — journalists love America and America was attacked last year. And America's probably going to be attacked again next year around the midterms, when you call it a hoax.
CONWAY: And that has what do with our campaign that I managed? I managed the winning campaign. It has what to do with that campaign?
STELTER: That may be because by the time you became campaign manager, the deal was already in. The conversations were already had.
CONWAY: That's just not true.
STELTER: We don't know, Kellyanne, but shouldn't we find out?
CONWAY: Are you actually alleging there was active conversations with Russians trying to change the election results? Because very few people are actually saying that. Are you saying that, or are you just trying to put it out there because you guys are so invested in there being something there?
STELTER: We don't know.
CONWAY: What is there? What constitutional crisis are we facing right now? I tell you what, I tell you what we do know --
STELTER: I'm going to leave that to Jeffrey Toobin and the law expert. But many people are afraid that if this President fires Robert Mueller we will be in a constitutional crisis.
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By Alex Xenos
 CNN Newsroom host Poppy Harlow made the ridiculous claim last Thursday that The New York Times is an "unbiased" publication: "I'll just say, it's good that he's giving an interview to a, you know, down the middle, unbiased publication like The New York Times."
This wasn't the first time that the media has pushed their delusional belief about the Times.
Benard Goldberg recounted a discussion in his book, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, he had with disgraced CBS anchor Dan Rather:
"What do you call the New York Times editorial page?" I asked him, since he had written op-eds for that paper.
"Middle of the road," he said without missing a beat.
"You don't think the New York Times has a liberal editorial page?" I asked him, not believing what I had just heard.
"No," he said, "middle of the road."
Of course, the New York Times is anything but "middle of the road," as you can see here.
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By Brad Wilmouth
On Sunday's AM Joy, recurring MSNBC guest Lawrence Wilkerson used an anonymous quote to actually portray "the Jews" in Israel as being the "biggest enemy" of Christians "in the region" as the former Colin Powell aide accused right-leaning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to provoke Palestinian Arabs so that Israel can "react viciously and violently" against them.
Reid -- who last April agreed with guest Howard Dean's ridiculous claim that Trump advisor Steve Bannon "hates Jews" -- apparently saw no anti-Semitism in her left-leaning guest suggesting "the Jews" are the "biggest enemy" of Middle East Christians.
After Reid recalled that the Israeli government installed greater security in Jerusalem holy sites in response to several Israelis being murdered by Arabs, with Arabs then rioting against the new security measures, the MSNBC host went to her guest for his reaction.
Wilkerson -- the variety of self-described "Republican" that MSNBC typically likes to give air to -- immediately blamed Netanyahu for the violence as he began:
The pressure is building incrementally. Bibi Netanyahu and his government have been moving to make sure that the pressure builds -- the tension builds. The ultimate goal with regard to the mosque is to drive the Palestinians and Arabs in general out completely.
He then recounted an anti-Semitic quote from an unnamed Catholic bishop in Ramallah as he added:
I recall that when we were working with then Yasser Arafat -- in Ramallah in 2002 or '03 as I recall -- a Catholic bishop actually told me that the biggest enemy for him -- for Christians -- in that region was not the Arabs, it was the Jews. So we have a real problem with this government. We don't have a problem with Israelis in general, but, with this government which they don't seem to be able to rid themselves of.
After host Reid injected, "Yeah," Wilkerson continued his demonization of Israel.
Its ultimate -- its ultimate goal is to cause the Palestinians to react in a way that it can then react viciously and violently -- as it has in Gaza repeatedly -- and reassert itself and essentially put the Palestinians down.
Not mentioned was the substantial history of the Palestinian Arab leadership inciting and defending violent actions undertaken by Arabs in the holy sites and other parts of Jerusalem.
Reid had no problem with Wilkerson blaming Jews for the tensions with Arabs as she followed up by fretting over Israelis wanting to keep control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem:
And we know the annexation of the West Bank and of all of Jerusalem has been a goal of the Likud government -- of the current Israeli government. Jared Kushner is supposedly in charge of this -- in charge of Middle East peace. And I'm wondering if Netanyahu's conception that they have a free hand now -- a Washington that now completely backs them up no matter what they do -- has an impact on the way that the Netanyahu government then behaves.
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By Kevin Baker
 On Monday July 24, the parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard released a statement that they would be withdrawing their petition to have their son treated. Citing the deterioration of Charlie’s condition and the loss of a "window of opportunity" they have instead opted to spend what little time they have left with their son. While many in the UK and across the world mourned the travesty and injustice of the court’s decision, others sought to justify the reasoning behind it. In a piece for The Guardian entitled “Despite Charlie Gard’s Tragic Story, We Must Respect The Process Of Our Courts,” UCL health professor, Ian Kennedy, expressed sympathy for the plight of Charlie, but ultimately justified it on the basis that “children do not belong to their parents.”
Citing a similarly difficult case involving the death of a young boy from New Zealand, Kennedy rationalized that in certain situations parents cannot be relied upon to act as “the ultimate arbiters of their children’s interests.” His words were as follows:
...As a society, we must choose how to decide such heartbreaking cases. Of course each child is different, but do we accept that there should be principles and rules, whatever the circumstances, that guide us as we try to work out what’s best? We can, of course, reject such a view and choose to go with the heart and emotions. But if we do, whose heart should prevail when there are conflicting views? Where there is conflict, how do you resolve it? Alternatively, we can reason our way through, cold as this may appear. We can accept the idea of principles and rules. And, if reason is to prevail, you need to analyse how to proceed.
These are the steps. The first is to recognise that children do not belong to their parents. Second, when a claim is made that parents have rights over their children, it is important to step back and examine the language used. We need to remind ourselves that parents do not have rights regarding their children, they only have duties, the principal duty being to act in their children’s best interests. This has been part of the fabric of our law and our society for a long time. Third, if we are concerned with the language of rights, it is, of course, children who have rights; any rights that parents have exist only to protect their children’s rights.
Now, in giving effect to a child’s rights, the parents’ views as to their children’s interests should usually be respected. But parents cannot always be the ultimate arbiters of their children’s interests. If parents, for example, insist on subjecting their child to a particular diet that, in the view of others with acknowledged expertise in the subject, will cause the child harm, we do not stand by. We intervene to safeguard the child.
When such concerns arise, there has to be a mechanism to decide the circumstances in which parents’ views should not prevail. That mechanism has to be a trustworthy and independent source of authority, sometimes a local authority, but ultimately, as ever in a civic society, a court. The court’s sole concern must be, can only be, for the child and the child’s interests.
While many will no doubt consider Professor Kennedy’s words to be outrageous and alarming, they ought to be taken quite seriously. The fact is that his words represent a point of view within liberal and academic circles that is well-established and slowly becoming more mainstream. As a result, the possibility of a Charlie Gard incident happening in the U.S. is a reality that should actively be considered in the health care debate going forward. In fact, some on the left have already been pushing the idea that children do not belong to their parents, and that thinking otherwise is simply "right-wing rhetoric."
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By Alex Xenos
 Last week, Bustle.com published an interview giving insight into the detached reality of two members of Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Desi Lydic is a field correspondent and Michele Wolf is a writer and on-screen contributor for the not-so-funny comedy show. Here are just a few comments made by the pair:
DESI LYDIC: How did you feel the day after the election?
MICHELLE WOLF: I was so sad. That’s when I cried on camera.
(...)
LYDIC: My husband and I, we looked at each other [On election night] and we were like, oh my god we just brought a child into this world. Maybe that’s dramatic, but it really felt like that.
Well, it's better than bringing a child into a world where Iran has nukes, illegal immigrant criminals are allowed to run free, and I have to wait months to receive adequate health care. But Trump is a meany head, right?
WOLF: We’re clearly a liberal leaning show, but I would argue we are the most factually accurate news source. Like we have a fact checker, and he won’t let anything slide by that’s not accurate.
This coming from the show that claimed Fox News is just like North Korean propaganda.
Among other things they also whined about the demise of Planned Parenthood:
LYDIC: Sometimes it’s inspired because it’s something that I care about, but also you immediately see the comedy in it. Like there was this idea [where states] were trying to make it harder for women to go to Planned Parenthood. But they were saying, "Here’s this list of other places where you can go and get your health care services." The places they listed were like a dentist's office, the Salvation Army, the school nurse of a high school. I’m like, this would make a great field piece, because not only is this absurd and crazy, but I want to go to a Salvation Army and ask for a pap smear. Like, I want to try and get a pap smear at the dentist’s office.
Uhhmm....what? No serious person is suggesting you go to the dentist for a pap smear. That is not what the vast majority of Planned Parenthood critics are arguing. There are plenty of health service providers for women that don't use taxpayer dollars to perform abortions. I would tell these two to stick with comedy, but they aren't particularly good at that either.
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