Media BiASS: Not News…

NYT: Paul ‘Sloganeering’ to Boost ‘Flagging’ Campaign; Sanders Riding ‘Contact High’ of Acclaim

Two U.S. Senators — one Republican, the other a socialist who votes with the Democrats — are outside candidates for president. Both were profiled in Monday’s New York Times, but with quite different results. While Rand Paul’s anti-surveillance crusade was caricatured as cynical "sloganeering," socialist Bernie Sanders’ modest Iowa crowds (100 people instead of 50?) were hailed as a liberal insurrection.

Newsweek’s Burleigh: McVeigh’s ‘Ideals’ Now Mainstream of GOP; Conservative-Fostered Gridlock Is ‘Metaphorical Truck Bomb’

Newsweek writer Nina "Kneepads" Burleigh would have her readers believe that today’s Republican Party is ideological soulmates with Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber: "McVeigh was executed in 2001, but since then, some of his militia ideals have gone mainstream and even been introduced as laws in many states, including Oklahoma. Legislators in dozens of states have submitted proposals to nullify or block federal laws — a longtime goal of militias. These have included exempting states from federal gun laws and educational standards, as well as, of course, Obamacare."

CBS’s Palmer Laments ‘Pain’ of Iran Sanctions; Kerry Injury Hurts ‘Dynamic’ of Nuclear Talks

On Monday’s CBS Evening News, fill-in anchor Charlie Rose and foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer bemoaned the impact of international sanctions on the Iranian economy with Palmer also fretting that Secretary of State John Kerry’s leg injury could hurt the “dynamic” of nuclear talks between the U.S., its allies, and Iran on a proposed deal. Prior to Palmer’s report from Tehran, Rose noted that “[t]he deadline for concluding a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program is June 30” and could mean that “painful economic sanctions would be lifted.”

Atlantic Editor: Taliban Five Just ‘Paper Pushers’; Gitmo Detainees ‘Political Prisoners’

Appearing on MSNBC’s The Rundown on Monday, The Atlantic’s Washington editor-at-large Steve Clemons dismissed criticism of the Obama administration trading five Taliban prisoners for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl: “Well, look, I think we need to turn this on its head. There’s been a lot of conventional reporting about the Taliban Five….These are important people, but they were largely paper pushers.”

CBS’s Gayle King Hails Communist China’s Smoking Ban

On Monday, CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King gushed over a smoking ban in Communist China that would forbid the use of tobacco in all indoor public spaces, calling the move “a good way to start.” While King was quick to hail the Draconian smoking ban in China, CBS has taken a far different approach to the recent legalization of marijuana in the United States, with CBS This Morning running multiple segments promoting the emerging business over the past year.