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My late father served on a bomber crew during World War II. When I asked him, he told me that the saying “You know you’re over the target when you’re taking flak” was absolutely true. Today media flaks are working hard to annihilate conservative voices who threaten their liberal narrative. Which means conservatives must be over liberal targets.
Take, for example, what happened to John Kass of the Chicago Tribune. Kass has served for 23 years as a conservative columnist at the Tribune; moreover, his articles always ran on page two, since he reigned as the paper’s lead columnist.
But that was then. On Monday, editor-in-chief Colin McMahon announced that Kass would be relegated to the opinion section of the paper. McMahon’s explanation was the usual corporate PR bullshit:
“Those changes speak to our need and desire to be transparent with readers about what we do. And, I believe, they will help us maintain the credibility of our news coverage with our online audience, our print readers and our communities amid what is by all accounts a raw and hyper-partisan political environment.”
In the evening edition of the Tribune — perhaps after hearing from outraged Kass admirers — McMahon explained away the the move as No Big Deal:
“This move is not directed at any single column or single columnist, nor is it a decision taken lightly or made hastily: We’ve been working on this structure and on a prototype page for months.”
Sure thing, dude *eyes rolling.*
What really happened, of course, was something completely different. It’s because Kass recently dropped some truth bombs much too close to the targets.
It was sparked by a July 22 column titled, “Something grows in the big cities run by Democrats: An overwhelming sense of lawlessness.” Not only did Kass indict Democrats, but he also used the S-word. As in “Soros:”
“But these Democratic cities are also where left-wing billionaire George Soros has spent millions of dollars to help elect liberal social justice warriors as prosecutors. He remakes the justice system in urban America, flying under the radar.”
“The Soros-funded prosecutors, not the mayors, are the ones who help release the violent on little or no bond.”
Kass also pointed out that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, notorious for letting Jussie Smollett walk, received Soros money.
“In Democratic Chicago, for example, the Soros prosecutor is Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. In her 2020 campaign, she reportedly received at least $2 million from a Soros backed political action committee.”
Kass was correct here. In February, Soros gave $2M to a a committee that backed Foxx.
But media flaks — Kass’s colleagues at the Chicago Tribune Guild — screamed “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory!” They wrote a scathing letter to the staff, demanding that Kass apologize. They also wanted to lecture him.
The letter read, in part:
“The odious, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire George Soros is a puppet master controlling America’s big cities does not deserve a mainstream voice, especially at a time when hate crimes are rising. . . . .”
“We ask that the paper, and Kass separately, apologize for his indefensible invocation of the Soros tropes. And we would welcome the opportunity to speak with him and with newsroom management about the matter.”
So now John Kass, a bold outlier at a paper which was once reliably conservative, finds his commentary buried deep within its pages.
Kass’s Facebook page on Monday featured his image and an ominous message.
Screenshot: Facebook.
Media flaks are also trying to take down upstart voices in sports media, too.
The website Outkick does sports news, of course, but they also take shots at liberal sports media like ESPN, and even at professional sports leagues. Outkick uses the hashtags #Fearless and #DBAP (don’t be a pussy), and partners Clay Travis and Jason Whitlock live up to those principles.
Thus, The Daily Beast, a liberal website, took aim at Outkick. They published a hit piece on Sunday, after contracting freelance writer Robert Silverman to ice the Outkick team. His attack? Outkick is “pushing COVID Trutherism.”
“Move over, Fox News, there’s a new bullshit peddler in town.”
That’s because Clay Travis refuses to live on the Fauci Farm. Silverman didn’t like it either when Travis called media “coronabros” who peddle “fear porn.” He also accused Jason Whitlock of adopting the “GOP death cult” by opining that high school and high school sports should resume in the fall. Silverman also mocked Whitlock’s deep Christian faith:
“. . . pronouncing journalism “dead” — as is the American experiment—brought to an end by those who “reject the word of God,” specifically, Jesus Christ. . .”
Not only that, but both Clay Travis and Jason Whitlock have appeared on Fox News. For example, Whitlock recently called out the NBA, Nike, and ESPN on The Ingraham Angle.”
Media flaks were outraged.
But neither Clay Travis nor Jason Whitlock flinched. Travis defended his comments on COVID-19 in a lengthy article at Outkick, wherein he also stated the obvious:
“Life requires risks.”
As for Whitlock — well, he has some choice words for Silverman and The Daily Beast hit piece:
“A more accurate headline would be: “A Racist Attempt To Punish Clay Travis And Jason Whitlock For Partnering.”
“That is what this is all about. Robert Silverman and The Daily Beast are openly racist. They work at the behest of and collaborate with other anti-black racists who hide their agenda under the hood of the label “liberal.”
That’s the heart of what the Beast article is really about. It’s an end run to discredit Whitlock for not adhering to the Black Lives Matter credo. But Silverman couldn’t openly say so because. . . well, black.
Whitlock continues:
“Silverman, The Daily Beast and white liberals specialize in intentionally misleading black people.”
“They celebrate young, easy-to-manipulate athletes as thought leaders and denigrate any accomplished black man or woman who dares to publicly challenge their destructive strategy for black people.”
Despite the criticism, the Beast media flaks missed their target. Outkick has attracted huge numbers of new readers, especially since the addition of Whitlock in June.
As for John Kass, if comments at his Facebook page are any indication, the Chicago Tribune may be losing a bunch of readers. Lots of them are pissed off at the way the paper treated its conservative columnist.
My father told me that when his crew returned from a mission their B-17 always had holes from flak. But they kept flying and dropping those bombs. Likewise, Kass, Outkick, and other conservative writers need to keep flying and dropping their bombs on the liberal media. That’s the way you win.
Featured image: National Museum of the US Air Force/wikimedia commons/cropped/public domain.
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