2025 Slanties: New Look, Same Slant

There have been big changes at ConWebWatch over the past year -- while the ConWeb continued to crank out terribly biased reporting and crazy opinions.

Like the ConWeb, ConWebWatch has been through a lot since its founding in April 2000. Our biggest changes have occurred over the past year. ConWebBlog moved from an increasingly rickety platform to a much more flexible and accessible WordPress platform — older posts are slowly being added, but it takes a while to copy and paste 20,000-plus posts into the new system — and the main ConWebWatch site is now located at Substack (though the archive remains at the old website).

Meanwhile, ConWebWatch served up more information than ever. We nearly matched last year’s record content with 166 articles in 2024 — providing even more credible documentation of the shoddiness of ConWeb “news” and “research.” With that, it's time to announce the 22nd annual Slantie Awards, ConWebWatch's celebration of bad journalism and creepy right-wing sycophancy.

With that, it's time to document the atrocities -- er, hand out some hardware.

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The first award is for the most egregious example of bias in "news" coverage. The nominees are:

— WND's pro-Trump propaganda operation. WorldNetDaily never cared that much about producing legitimate journalism, but it abandoned all pretense of doing so by becoming an all-but-official PR division of Trump’s presidential campaign. This includes not only uncritically repeating all his lies and peddling the usual wildly biased “news,” but it also gave away (digital) copies of a special issue of its sparsely read Whistleblower magazine that was dedicated to scaring its small right-wing readership about the purported horrors of “Kamala’s America.” On top of that, Elizabeth Farah replaced her out-of-commission husband to do weekday podcast tirades about what a terrible person Kamala Harris is with various right-wing guests.

— Elizabeth Farah’s Russian propaganda. With Joseph Farah’s health issues keeping him away from running WorldNetDaily, his wife, Elizabeth, tried to fill the void with her shilling for Donald Trump in a pre-election podcast dedicted to smearing Kamala Harris. On top of that, she served as a willing propagandist for Russia: In a July tweet, she posted an image purporting to be from a Bugatti dealer showing that Ukrainian leader Vlodymyr Zelensky’s wife bought a $4 million Bugatti automobile. But it was a fake, apparently part of a Russian disinformation campaign. As of this writing, Farah’s tweet remains live and uncorrected.

— The MRC privileges Trump campaign lies. When J.D. Vance falsely claimed that Haitian migrants Ohiho were eating other people’s pets, the Media Research Center wouldn’t admit he lied — it complained that others called it out. Similarly, when Donald Trump spread the lie that federal disaster response in the wake of hurricanes hitting the U.S. was hampered by federal money going to aid “illegal aliens,” the MRC privileged that too, complaining that his lies were being fact-checked. The MRC also hyped the right-wing narrative that migrant gang were taking over Aurora, Colo. — largely ignoring the fact that it was just a couple of apartment complexes and much more about mismanagement by the owners of the complexes then anything the Biden administration did.

— The MRC’s hysterical meltdown over media literacy (and Germans). The Media Research Center started off last year wildly portraying a State Department initiative to teach media literacy to students, bizarrely declaring it to be “a censorship effort that trains teachers to “inoculate” students against conservative ideas and American ideals.” As part of it, the MRC viciously smeared Germans by suggesting Nazism, in the form of an “Aryan youth movement,” was an underlying motive: “Conducted out of Germany by a German government institution, the State Department event focused on importing German socialism and German censorship into American classrooms.”

And the Slantie goes to … The MRC giving Trump’s campaign lies a pass. It’s fitting that the MRC went from insisting that correcting online falsehoods is “censorship” to tompletely denying that Trump and his team gets anything wrong. This is the Trump Regime Media the MRC has become.

The next award is the LoBaido Award for the silliest statement made by a writer for a conservative news Web site (named after Anthony LoBaido, who wrote a post-9/11 column for WorldNetDaily that was so unhinged -- he blamed the attacks on America's immorality since "all that is evil in the world can be found in New York" and, for good measure, called Hillary Clinton "openly Marxist, treasonous and abortion-mongering, occultic" -- that WND eventually pulled it from its site). Here are this year's finalists:

Julius Caesar and Donald Trump, both supposed to be optimates, were never really accepted by their peers, turning to populism in a bid to challenge the prevailing uniparty system.

They occupied the highest offices, left peacefully, and retreated to proverbial swampy provinces. Nevertheless, they remained highly popular, drawing large crowds and the envy of the political class.

Both endured persecution by the ruling gerontocracy.

[…]

But Trump is a Caesar who never crossed the Rubicon.

Instead, he stands trial, not for attacking democracy, but for refusing to drink the hemlock for having corrupted the blue-collar masses.

His true transgression was liberating the captive working class, leaving the liberals hostage to an increasingly authoritarian claque, haunted by paranoia about the boogeyman under the bed and driven by a personal vendetta.

— Cauf Skiviers, Jan. 5 Newsmax column

The “AWFUL” in the title is not an indictment in se of CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell’s jubilant report on St. Paul, Minnesota’s new, diverse, all-female city council, but an acronym: Affluent, White, Female, University-educated, and Liberal; the type that would reflexively cheer this story. And in O’Donnell’s case, foist it upon others by selecting it to close out the evening newscast.

[…]

The problem with this report, obviously, is that it reduces these elected officials to skin color and genitalia (unless O’Donnell’s trying to slip a “trans woman” by us, which would be a whole other story). O’Donnell doesn’t get into the substance of these women beyond their aforementioned immutability.

And when you look past identity and go to substance, OF COURSE this is a far-left city council. A quick review of each of the candidates’ campaign websites reveals their leftist inclinations and intentions upon taking office.

— Jorge Bonilla, Jan. 9 Media Research Center post

I’m an uncompromising, unwavering born-again Christian American and ordained minister who refuses to subjugated and/or forced into pretending abject insanity is enlightenment. According to the variola usurping authority, that makes me a domestic terrorist.

Well, I’m not just a domestic terrorist; I’m a proud domestic terrorist – I don’t give a rat’s tail who doesn’t like it, and that specifically includes the political combine insultingly referenced as government.

— Mychal Massie, Jan. 22 WorldNetDaily column

The former merit-based standard of hiring “the best and the brightest” has served us well for decades.

However, if we continue to use DEI standards to admit med students, and hire and promote employees in life-and-death positions, we should at least be honest enough to rearrange the words to call it what it is: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity — DIE.

— Michael Dorstewitz, March 1 Newsmax column

As we’ve also documented, Scarborough likes to boast about his masculinity. In that same segment today, he described himself as “a big guy.” Just last week, we caught Scarborough mocking Speaker Mike Johnson as “little.” Scarborough went on to humble brag that he has problems at Morning Joe, and is just trying to avoid “flop sweat,” since, as a “big guy,” he sweats a lot.

Scarborough concluded by claiming, “I’m just trying to not look like Elvis ’77.”

Don’t worry, Joe. You don’t look like any version of Elvis.”

— Mark Finkelstein, Feb. 26 MRC post

On Thursday’s Good Morning America (GMA), the superficial and unserious ABC News program cloaked itself in humor-tinged consumer reporting by using a recent Cookie Monster tweet to talk about the rise of shrinkflation in the current economy, but naturally absolved the Biden administration of responsibility and even eagerly touted the replies of two Democratic senators who happened to be in tough reelection fights.

[…]

Hours later, President Biden invoked Cookie Monster in a speech about the economy. It’s like this was all coordinated.

— Curtis Houck, March 5 MRC post

In 1965, roughly one out of every four black children was born out of wedlock. Today, it is close to three out of four. As Moynihan predicted, the gap between black and white and Asian achievement widened as the black family continued to dissolve.

As the gap widened, frustration grew. Rather than address the core problem demagogues had to invent new outrages like “white supremacy” to explain it away and exploit it. No one has done this more viciously – or ineptly – than Joe Biden.

With the navel-gazing DEI era possibly coming to end, it is time to send Biden packing and give “benign neglect” a fighting chance.

— Jack Cashill, March 6 WorldNetDaily column

Network television regularly portrays illegal aliens as sympathetic characters. Last night’s episode of CBS’ FBI did exactly that.

In the episode, “Sacrifice,” the FBI is called in on a kidnapping case. The victim is Matthew Sawyer (Christian Conn), director of a New York City shelter housing “migrants.” “Migrants” is deceptive left-wing code for illegal aliens.

The mayor’s office called the FBI because the “migrant thing’s a hot button issue for them.” Footage of the overcrowded shelter had been leaked to the press, embarrassing the mayor, so cameras outside the shelter were disabled. Virtue-signaling as a sanctuary city has its costs.

— Elise Ehrhard, March 20 MRC post

The metaphor between what they put Jesus Christ through and what they put Donald Trump through just jumps out at you. The idea of everybody in authority, everybody in a position of power, doing everything they can to torture him, scourge him, strip him of his property, debase him, degrade him, and ultimately defeat him is so clearly what the Democrats are doing to Donald Trump. And the metaphor to me was just very striking.

— Dick Morris, March 30 Newsmax TV appearance

Restaurant observations: Failure to eat properly by both parents and children. With some exceptions most diners stuffed their big-bite food and chewed with open mouths; forks disappeared within clutched hands.

Noise levels were deafening as laughing and shouting were emitted by all ages, but none of the uproar seemed to bother some families where every member was glued to their cell phone while eating without engaging in any conversation at all.

Obesity was less prevalent in Vermont — skiers — but in Florida alarmingly common. Bikinis were as popular with waddlers as with the slim.

What to make of all this? One might be able to explain one ornamental tattoo, but dozens of overlapping designs? Even primitive tribes display affiliation or communal identity in an arranged manner.

Addictions to “more is better?” “Monkey see monkey do?”

In the past, obesity was frowned upon as not only unhealthy but unattractive (both of which are still true even if ignored). Respect for the context of other people — manners — used to be expected. No longer.

— Alexandra York, April 5 Newsmax column

Before many common crimes became “socially acceptable” to ruling-class Democrats, the nation’s prisons and jail populations were dominated by blacks. So, the Democrats declared from every rooftop and every podium this population disparity was the result of a racially biased justice system, based upon racist law, and those arguments have now spun into the claim American was founded by racists for racists.

Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, and there is zero evidence to support this attack upon America – but this theme is now, by executive order of President Biden, included in the mission statement of every agency, bureau and department of the federal government. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion order supersedes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

— Mike Pottage, April 11 WorldNetDaily column

The narrative surrounding transgenderism mania could only have happened in a culture completely dominated by left-adherents who live by the slogan: No enemies to the left.

In practice that means no matter how absurd, untrue, or dangerous the assertion by a group of fringe left-adherents is, the establishment left-adherents controlling government, media, and the non-profit cabal will not criticize the fringe.

To do so would risk the fate of the first apparatchik to stop clapping after Joe Stalin’s speech. And if there is money involved in the movement, the speed with which the new narrative is adopted can be breathtaking.

And that’s where we are today with the transgender movement.

It has everything going for it; think of lies, damned lies, and experts.

— Michael Reagan, April 13 Newsmax column

The Democratic Party is now the existential threat we face. It truly encompasses all our worst enemies and diabolical foes.

That’s because we “skipped” the election of 2020 – though not by choice. President Donald Trump would have won the election outright – securing at least 74,224,319 votes, far more than any previous candidate for president. How many votes did Joe Biden have to get to beat him? A staggering 81,284,666 – about twice as many as Barack Hussein Obama. Does that make sense to anyone? Yes, it does. IT WAS RIGGED! That’s the only explanation. The Democrats illegally changed the entire election process under the of darkness night during the manufactured crisis of the worldwide pandemic. How else could they have done it? They extended our traditional voting day to voting weeks. Voter fraud was rampant. Then they induced the so-called “insurrection” as cover.

— Joseph Farah, May 6 WorldNetDaily column

“Happy International Day Against homophobia, biphobia, & transphobia” … said no right minded person ever.

Though May 17 may be a regular day for you and me, for the left, May 17 marks International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Since the gays apparently need ANOTHER made-up holiday, the left, our administration especially, celebrated the occasion on social media.

On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided that homosexuality is no longer classified as one of the items on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Apparently now, the alphabet mafia has taken it over to celebrate themselves and fight back against anyone who disagrees with their delusional sense of identity.

[…]

While I don’t think that any one of us wants to conduct any harm or have any malicious intent towards people who don’t agree with us, I can’t help but wonder what was not being done in our country while our administration was so heavily focused on a made up holiday for gender and sex? Don’t we have huge things to worry about, like the border, abortion and the economy to name a few? Not to mention two wars raging overseas?!

Geez louise, our country’s gotta get our priorities (and our people) straight.

— Tierin-Rose Mandelburg, May 13 Media Research Center post

But Hitler was a raging psychopath who murdered 11 million people, while Trump is a successful, much-loved American president who murdered zero people. Comparing the two is therefore not only obviously insane, it’s also straight-up evil – because it implicitly encouragesunstable, confused and rage-filled people to consider assassinating Donald Trump.

— David Kupelian, July 14 WND column

Now lets look at the players on the present stage. It’s not a perfect analogy but fits the pattern in several essential respects. The Grand Narcissist Obama is clearly in the Hitler role, both in the common grandiose vision of “fundamentally transforming” the world to suit his personal vision, and in the (barely hidden) dysfunction of homosexuality – masked by what I believe is a female beard in both cases (Eva Braun and Michelle).

— Scott Lively, June 24 WND column

So, when 100,000 people froze in the exact moment gunshots rang out this past Saturday, few moved, few ducked, all seemed transfixed with laser-like focus on our leader. That’s all we cared about. It was an astonishing thing to witness.

When he rose, surrounded by his protective detail, and struggled through the 1,500 pounds of men and women protecting him, to raise his fist, mouth the words, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and walk on his own two feet to the motorcade, we all knew he would be back to fight the spiritual war we’re fighting against unspeakable evil in America.

And in those moments that followed, it dawned on most of us, that finally, President Trump had taken a bullet for us. He shed his blood to Make America Great Again.

He had fulfilled his promise to us, just as he fulfilled all his previous promises.

Now, I think, the majority of America is ready to take a bullet for this man, this superb leader.

“We will not give up; we will not give in and we will not back down,” as Trump classically begins the conclusion to his oratories. This is the Trump mentality that is so infectious; his refusal to stop fighting, his relentlessness is transferable.

It also dawned on the good citizens of this country that something very singular had happened to save the life and legacy of Donald J. Trump: the hand of God and the eyes of Jesus had saved him. Our God and Savior had saved this man so that America itself might be saved.

Our opponents can never overcome this heavenly advantage bestowed upon us by God Almighty. This is why we must be prepared for a spiritual war, which can’t be lost.

— Jim Darlington, July 16 Newsmax column

I’m not sure the lesson quite applies to the end-time references to the “Whore of Babylon,” but if it does, we might just be witnessing her grand entrance on the world stage in the form of Kamala Harris – “sex-worker” to the elites – whose payment wasn’t money (so far as we know) but political advancement. It’s pretty much common knowledge that Kamala “sex-worked” her way up the political ladder from total obscurity to where she currently has a reasonable chance of becoming the most powerful political figure in the world. Indeed, the fact that this IS common knowledge and apparently ISN’T a disqualifier in the minds of so many voters (and leaders) says more about the state of degeneracy in the U.S. and the world than just about anything else we’ve previously seen – that depraved moral standard being the primary identifying factor of the biblical “Whore” in question. (See Revelation 17 for color context.)

— Scott Lively, July 29 WND column

The American left is fond of equating the MAGA movement with fascism, when they themselves are the true Brownshirts as proven by their actions. The common impulse when being falsely accused of “hatred” is to take some step of compromise to try and prove you’re not. IT’S A TRAP. They’ll never concede you’re not a hater, no matter how much you pander, and you’ll end up just diminishing your inherent moral authority as a Normie.

My appeal to the MAGA patriots is this: Don’t fall prey to the leftist narrative that “sexual orientations” are harmless equivalents to normal sexuality and the natural family. Don’t give in to virtue signaling impulses on, for example, so-called “gay marriage” to try and “soften” your stance against transgenderism. Always say YES to sympathy, compassion and reasonable tolerance for those who suffer from Gender Identity Confusion and/or SSADness, but never shrink from your duty to protect society from the harmful LGBT political and cultural agenda.

Scott Lively, Aug. 26 WND column

I make no apologies for holding Kamala “the Cackler” Harris in the lowest of contempt. She is boorish and fatuous. She gives new meaning to morally opprobrious. She epitomizes conspicuous autoecious, i.e., a parasite who has spent her entire life feeding off the taxpayers.

And, even worse than the grotesquely hideous Ho Chi Minh commie pantsuits she wears, is her sickening guttural cackle of a laugh. Her face slowly distorts as she bares her teeth and emits a repulsive low guttural cackle that causes her body to convulse.

Harris in the White House would spell unparalleled changes, hardship and government overreach for We the People; but, it would spell horror and suffering for Israel of biblical proportions.

— Mychal Massie, Sept. 23 WND column

Many Christians are declining to vote in the presidential race this year, with a considerable number citing what they find as inappropriate behavior by Donald Trump. But is this attitude biblical? The Apostle Paul, considered one of the greatest men in history and revered in the church for spreading fledgling Christianity throughout the Middle East, murdered Christians under his former name, Saul, before he became a believer.

King David ordered the husband of a woman he lusted over and impregnated to the front lines of battle in order to kill him, which happened. After repenting, God still allowed David to remain king, but four of his sons suffered untimely deaths. David was considered one of the greatest leaders in biblical times. He defeated the Philistines, founded the Judaean dynasty and united all the tribes of Israel under a single monarch.

[…]

Some evangelicals are quick to point to rumors of Trump allegedly having extramarital affairs as their reason for not supporting him. Never mind that most Democrats and Republicans – including evangelicals – revere JFK, who was notorious for multiple extramarital affairs while president.

In contrast, none of these rumors about Trump occurred when he was president. The most recent alleged affairs, with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, were in 2006. Trump wasn’t even a Republican at the time; he was a Democrat from 2001 to 2009. Nor was he a born-again Christian.

— Rachel Alexander, Oct. 14 WND column

In many ways America’s most fateful election was granting women the right to vote against the wishes of their husbands in matters specifically ordained as his area of responsibility. I believe every evil turn in public policy has occurred as a result of that election (technically a state-by-state series of them) because subjective emotionalism replaced objective rationalism as both the standard for policy and the means for swaying public opinion. This is not to say that all women are equally susceptible to subjective emotionalism or all men are equally driven by objective rationalism but these are obvious and valid stereotypes generally speaking, and that’s all that matters to social engineers. In a “representative democracy” it’s all about getting a simple majority – so “empowering” women to shape public policy while emasculating men to promote emotionalism in them is a win/win for them.

That’s why we’re largely ruled today by irrational raging Feminists and Beta-Male “Soy Boys.” And those are the very people who hate and fear Trump the most because he is an unashamed Alpha-Male who symbolically and practically represents the return to patriarchy.

I believe that the 19th Amendment would never have been ratified if the voters of that day could have looked into the future and seen its consequences.

— Scott Lively, Oct. 24 WND column

I have been a psychotherapist evaluating patients for over 30 years, and have little doubt that Kamala Harris may suffer from serious cognitive issues.

Before assuming the most powerful job in the world, Harris has exhibited serious cognitive deficiencies that should set off alarm bells for any health professional.

I am not diagnosing the vice president.

But I am saying there are serious issues the American people have a right to know about a major public official.

[…]

Harris’ unusual laughing fits do not necessarily reflect a happy mood.

Harris, in fact, may have a condition known as pseudobulbar affect (PBA), a neuropsychological disorder that arises from trauma, most often from a lesion to the head resulting in damage of neuro fibers transmitting motor instructions from the cerebral cortex to the lower brain stem.

This neurological disorder and accompanying compromised intellectual grasp may have been induced by a severe blow to the head with a rock incurred by Harris at the age of 5 during a quarrel at school.

— G. Heath King, Oct. 25 Newsmax column

First, we should all start planning for President Trump to be added to Mount Rushmore.

The guy just became the G.O.A.T. – “the greatest of all time.” The greatest legend ever. The greatest comeback kid ever. The greatest winner ever. The greatest politician ever. The greatest Republican ever (move over, Reagan). The greatest salesman ever. The greatest marketer ever. The most unstoppable and relentless human of all time. The list is endless.

No one has ever done the things President Trump has done. And now a landslide!

Just stop arguing. There’s no longer any debate. Trump is amazing. Trump is remarkable. Trump is superhuman. The man belongs on Mount Rushmore.

Or maybe give him his own mountain: “Mount Trump.” I like the way that sounds.

Besides, I want to see the faces of the hosts on CNN, MSNBC and “The View” when they hear my plan!

— Wayne Allyn Root, Nov. 9 WorldNetDaily column

WND’s motto is “A Free Press for a Free People,” but I am virtually certain that our government today, in cooperation with radical leftist groups like the SPLC, is using its power to limit WND’s reach. This affects me personally. To whatever extent government officials or agents are defining my speech in this venue or any other as “disinformation,” “misinformation,” or “hate” to justify suppressing it, they are violating the plain meaning of the First Amendment. Indeed, grassroots political opinion like mine was THE speech at issue in the days of the founders – not news reporting by corporations – meaning I (and all citizen editorialists) should have greater standing in this matter than all the multinationals combined. I’m pretty sure Thomas Paine would agree with me.

— Scott Lively, Nov. 18 column

Yes, Nov. 5 represents a great battle decisively won. The normal people are in charge again. But the larger war will continue, and as Trump said so memorably right after being shot in Butler, Pa., all good Americans must continue to “fight, fight, fight” for their beloved nation.

After all, most of America’s key institutions, from the “mainstream media” to Big Tech to academia are still almost entirely in the hands of the Left. “Drag queen story hour” brainwashing sessions intended to corrupt the nation’s toddlers will still take place. Ivy League colleges will still be full of unhinged Marxist professors obsessed with indoctrinating America’s young people. And of course, the more out-of-view realms of dark power projection – of big money, of the Deep State, of globalists, of foreign plots, of would-be assassins and every other kind of opposition – are still out there.

And of course, media personalities will continue to defame and try to tear down the Trump administration whenever possible, and to turn Americans against it.

And yet, it won’t work.

Why? Because the credibility of the “enemy within” has been destroyed; tens of millions of Americans simply do not believe them anymore. Reports of CNN preparing to fire “hundreds” of staffers and MSNBC’s ratings falling by 50% testify to the reality that Americans have finally awakened to – and firmly rejected – the lies being directed at them daily by the Left.

In light of all this, it’s reasonable to take a leap of faith and simply dare to affirm that America is back.

— David Kupelian, Dec. 2 WorldNetDaily column

And the Slantie goes to … Scott Lively. He said so many outrageous things last year that we violated our usual guideline of just one statement per person and included a whopping five from him. They’re all pretty bad, but his likening of Barack Obama to Hitler and Michelle Obama to Eva Braun may be the most offensive of the bunch.

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Our final award is the Slantie Award for Career Achievement in Conservative Bias. This goes to a reporter or commentator with a consistent record of biased and slanted reports that fly in the face of time-honored journalistic practice, the truth and/or common sense.

This year’s honoree is … Michael Brown of WorldNetDaily. He has been a longtime WND contributor, moving from pretending he doesn’t hate LGBT people to pretending he might not support Donald Trump with the ease of a practiced member of the Trump Regime Media. But his career as a pundit and minister hit a major bump in the road when when it was revealed he engaged in an emotional affair with a secretary at a ministry he was affiliated with a couple decades ago, which he thought was safely in the past but resurfaced after the woman told her story. Brown hasn’t written a WND column since that news came out in December, and he is taking time off from public ministry.