By Debbie Schlussel
USA Today’s TV sports columnist, Michael Hiestand, reports that the NHL has found “a legitimate suitor,” the Outdoor Life Network, for it’s national TV rights. This is how low this “major” sports league has sunk–the Outdoor Life Network.
Remember that, the next time you are asked to fund–through your taxes–the playing palaces of these millionaire players and their billionaire team owners, who, respectively, wouldn’t agree to a salary cap and won’t cut ticket prices.

By Debbie Schlussel
As Israel continues its embarrassing kowtowing to terrorists–forcing its citizens to give up their Gaza homes to those who NEVER owned the land beneath them, ask yourself why America was so up in arms over the Supreme Court decision in Kelo, but not more angry when our government pressures Israel to do the same in Gaza–this time, based on ethnicity.
Imagine if the Kelo case had the government condemning homes in suburban Connecticut because the owners were White, and they wanted to give them to Muslim Arab relatives of Mohammed Atta to develop them. Not a stretch, because the terrorists won here, and the Jews in Gaza are being forced to turn over their homes to those who support terror.

Then there are the LIES the press is pimping us on. Here are a few of the most blatant ones:
* Detroit News (a/k/a Detroit Spews) Halal “reporter” Gregg Krupa, in a front-page story on the Gaza pull-out, again, lies about the number of Palestinians in Metro Detroit. He claimed, “there are 15,000 to 20,000 people of Palestinian descent,” but in fact, the 2000 Census says there are only 3,275 persons of Palestinian descent in Metro Detroit, and less than 4,000 in the ENTIRE State of Michigan. Did Louis Farrakhan use Krupa as his people-counter at the “Million” Man March, too? (Only 100,000 attended.)
This is not the first time. Krupa constantly pulls these phony Arab population numbers out of his rear end. When I once called him on it, he responded by telling me that I was “the dumbest woman alive” (wait, aren’t some of his gullible editors and readers women?) and that he was going to call the police on me. A little insecure on your apocryphal “reporting”, aren’t you, Gregg? (Tight with “former” Palestinian terrorist, FBI Award revokee, and now Islamic leader Imad Hamad, tows whatever is the Islamic community’s party line, in all of his slanted–that’s being charitable–stories.)
* USA Today’s front-pager, “Historic Pullout Begins,” shows a photo (on the cover of the print edition) by Ronen Zvulun of Reuters, clearly showing Israeli settlers throwing the belongings they cannot salvage into a fire. Except, that’s not what USA Today wants you to think. The lying caption says, “In protest: Jewish settlers opposed to the forced withdrawal start a fire Sunday near Neve Dekalim, Gaza.” WRONG.
As reported on NBC’s Sunday Night newscast, as well as in many other media sources, these fires are for that property which they cannot move. And who can blame them for not wanting to leave it for the Palestinians who murdered and maimed many in their midst for decades? USA Today, apparently. Even at one of the darkest moments in Israeli history, the Gannett national jewel cannot stop its continued .
* In news stories of the Gaza surrender, how many times have you heard reporters say, “giving Gaza back to the Palestinians”? I counted at least ten such reports on TV, radio, and in print–and I was barely noticing (that includes Monday’s NBC Nightly News report by Martin Fletcher, who stated, “and handing the land BACK to the Palestinians”). Yet, what was Gaza before Egypt attacked Israel in 1967? It was EGYPTIAN land. NOT Palestinian land. The idea that it is now being “GIVEN BACK” to the Palestinians is a LIE. It was never theirs in the first place. And, by the way, where was that pressure from the State Department on Egypt to give the land “back” to the Palestinians for the decades that Egypt held it? Only when Israel does so.
The color of my t-shirt, today, is ORANGE.

By Debbie Schlussel
Is there really equality for women in the military? The firing, this week, of four-star Army General Kevin Byrnes, shows that the equality may only be present in the benefits. It certainly isn’t there in the punishment.
Byrnes served 36 years in the Army and was three months from retirement when he was suddenly fired. The cause was a sexual relationship he had with a woman who was not his wife. Adultery regulations prohibit such a relationship, but Byrnes was legally separated from his wife and was going through a divorce. Experts say firing for this for a four-star general is rare and that early retirement or a letter of reprimand was more appropriate.
Clearly, Byrnes is a victim of media and feminist pressure to make examples out of military men–in a torrent of whining–including on “”–about the sex scandals and alleged sexual assaults at the U.S. Air Force Academy (many of which have turned out to be consensual “he said, she said” encounters).
Compare Byrnes’ treatment with that of Lt. Kelly Flynn (has also been spelled “Flinn” in a number of news stories), a much bally-hooed female Air Force pilot who had a similar relationship with a married man (who was NOT separated or divorcing). Flynn was allowed the luxury of being warned first–an order from her commanding officer to stop dating the man. She chose to disobey. As a military JAG friend of mine said, “Do we really want a B-52 pilot who may be carrying nukes unable to obey orders!?”
But the female Flynn did not get the Byrnes treatment. The Air Force dropped the case against her and allowed her to leave the service.
The double standard is even more noxious when considering that Flynn was having an affair with the husband of an Air Force enlistee, a double no-no. Byrnes’ girlfriend had no connection to the military.
That’s important because, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery, in order for it to be an offense, must not only be adultery, but the act must be either service discrediting or conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. A sexual affair with the spouse of an enlistee would certainly be prejudicial to good order and discipline. But how did Byrnes’ relationship discredit the service (it wasn’t public) or prejudice good order and discipline? The Army didn’t establish that.
After 36 years of loyally serving his country, General Byrnes deserved better. The Army’s punishment was out of line.
And Oprah is nowhere to be found to save his career.

By Debbie Schlussel
In its rush to properly criticize Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Charles Rangel, and other public figures who’ve improperly used the Holocaust in comparisons between us and the Nazis, the Holocaust, etc., the Denver Post improperly lumped me in.
In an editorial, last Saturday, the Denver Post, wrote:
“Even cultural commentary is tainted by this lazy habit. Conservative commentator Debbie Schlussel, in calling the film ‘Million Dollar Baby’ a ‘million dollar lie,’ said the movie delivered a ‘left-wing diatribe’ indistinguishable from the message sent by the Nazis when they ‘murdered the handicapped and infirm.'”
Well, at least the Post got my name right. That’s about the only thing they got right about I wrote about “Million Dollar Baby.” I did NOT compare the movie to the Nazis. I merely said that the Nazis practiced and supported euthanasia, a major issue endorsed by the movie. I discussed euthanasia, describing the Nazis’ practice, as well as that currently practiced in the Netherlands, today.
Has it come to the point that, because Durbin and Rangel utter extreme idiocy in comparing our brave troops to the Nazis, that I cannot now discuss the ACTUAL Nazis and their euthanasia practice? Again, the Nazis did, in fact, practice euthanasia. Our courageous troops (in Gitmo, Iraq, and elsewhere), on the other hand, bear NO resemblance to the Nazis. To lump me in with those who claim that is just plain wrong.
One would think the fact that my grandparents, Holocaust survivors, endured the ACTUAL Holocaust and the REAL Nazis–and that my mother was born in Bergen Belsen CAMP–would have earned me the right to write about this evil era in history, without evoking the ire and false analogies of the lazy Denver Post editorial writers (Julia Martinez and her editor, Todd Engdahl)–too busy to read what I ACTUALLY wrote.
Even the liberal reporters and writers at The New York Times (twice–including the Times’ famed columnist Frank Rich), Telegraph of London, and USA Today (twice–here and here)–all of whom quoted from that identical “Million Dollar Baby” column–characterized my writing correctly. Why is it that, months afterward, the “conservatives” at the Denver Post editorial board failed?
Thanks, Denver Post, for spelling my name correctly.

By Debbie Schlussel
If you love America, “The Great Raid” is the movie for you.
If you love freedom and appreciate the fight it takes to sustain it, you’ll love this movie. But if you don’t appreciate what it takes to protect our life as free Americans–the sacrifices our military men and women make every day, then you must see “The Great Raid.”
In theaters, today, “The Great Raid” is–hands down–the best movie of the year. It has drama, action, a love story, heroes and villains.
And it makes you proud to be an American.
But much more important, it is a very accurate depiction of an important event in recent U.S. military history: the rescue of U.S. Prisoners of War in Cabanatuan, Philippines (based on the books “The Great Raid on Cabanatuan” and “Ghost Soldiers“).
Emaciated, ill with diseases like malaria, and tortured by the Japanese, American POWs in the Philippines during World War II–and their dramatic rescue with the help of heroic Filipinos–comprise a little known chapter in American history.
Unfortunately.
Now, at the skillful direction of Director John Dahl, the story will be told. “My brother said Hollywood only knows how to make one kind of war movie . . . an ANTI-war movie,” Dahl told me, during a recent promotional trip to Detroit. But Dahl, the son of a World War II vet who fought in the Philippines, wanted to change that. He wanted to tell the true story of what really happened to friends of his father who actually were POWs and endured the Bataan Death March.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel
My friend, Newsweek’s star reporter, Michael Isikoff, just sent me this EXCELLENT and SCARY scoop he wrote on , –the man I’ve been writing about and the man to the world as a “journalist.”
Mike’s article, in the latest Newsweek (out soon), shows that Hamdi–the close Bin Laden associate (who provided the satellite phone battery to Bin Laden to order the U.S. embassy bombings in 1998, worked for Islamic Jihad chief Sami Al-Arian, and worked for a charity raided for laundering money to Al-Qaeda)–NOW WORKS FOR THE NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT! So much for getting rid of Qaeda from Iraq.
Another interesting bit of info that Mike Isikoff reports is that former CIA official and ABC consultant Vincent Cannistraro is a GOOD FRIEND of Hamdi’s. Keep that in mind the next time you: 1) see Cannistraro on TV; and 2) hear the initials C-I-A.
Both are tainted by Hamdi, apparently (just like ).

By Debbie Schlussel
Star Detroit News “reporter”/, who–as I reported here–made up a whole story a la USA Today’s Jack Kelley and now , had a story in Tuesday’s Detroit News that is newsworthy only in so far as Shepardson made himself a part of the story.
Shepardson asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to apologize “for the government’s mishandling of the Detroit terror case.” Is Shepardson reporting the story, or trying to insert himself into it? The latter. Reporters aren’t supposed to ask officials for apologies. They are supposed to REPORT the news. But, then again, Shepardson also fabricates stories out of wholecloth–another thing that is a major no-no in reporting.
And he’s still employed. Can you believe anything he writes?
Oh, and by the way, the REAL story on the alleged “mishandling” of the terror case to which Shepardson refers–another story he failed to accurately report.

By Debbie Schlussel
You’d think USA Today learned after the Jack Kelley fiasco. Kelley, USA Today’s star investigative reporter, made up multiple stories out of wholecloth and/or plagiarized true ones, a la Jayson Blair. After a long reluctance by Gannett, the paper was forced to investigate after Kelley made up a militant Israeli settler who described plans to kill Arabs. The settler never existed–because, like most of his stories, that one was a fake.
Now, USA Today reporter Stephanie Armour wrote a full-page story in Monday’s paper profiling Larry Twombly, alleged CEO of a soda company, Hat Trick Beverages. Armour verified almost nothing in the story she reported. And it all turned out to be phony, including the existence of Hat Trick as a company, and the millions in soda sales Armour reported.
In today’s USA Today, Armour writes that most of the details in her piece were false–but she accepts NONE of the blame, pimping it off on Twombly’s publicist. In fact, she doesn’t even reference that she was the author of the original full-page set of lies.
Armour reported that Twombly was a Harvard grad, played hockey for the Crimson, was drafted by the NHL’s Boston Bruins, and played minor league hockey with the AHL’s Providence Bruins–all facts easily checked. But Stephanie Armour did not check them. Instead, she printed them as fact. But none of them were true. I wondered, being a college and pro hockey enthusiast (and former sports agent), why I never heard of Twombly.
Note to Stephanie: Publicists lie. They embellish, exaggerate, and, yes, even make things up. Note #2 to Stephanie: Reporters are supposed to verify facts that publicists feed them. When they don’t, it is their fault–NOT the publicists’, who–it is no revelation–lie for a living.
If USA Today is true to its new, revised commitment to accuracy in the post-Jack Kelley era (apparently, the fact-checking by editors is still non-existent), the paper will fire Ms. Armour immediately. They fired Kelley (after much resistance to doing so) and fired political correspondent Tom Squiteri for plagiarizing.
Let’s see if the female reporters at USA Today get equal treatment. If they do, Armour will be gone by day’s end. (Ditto for her editors.)
I’m not holding my breath.
Apparently, something is in the water at Gannett. A few months ago, I reported on Detroit News (then owned by Gannett and sold recently) “star” reporter –completely un-fact-checked, a la Armour–and he’s still working there, too.

By Debbie Schlussel
Since U.S. Customs Office of Investigations became ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), agents have been getting new ICE credentials to replace their old Customs ones. New ICE credentials say the same thing on the back that the old ones did, minus one sentence (which is now absent):
“THIS OFFICER POSSESSES INTEGRITY AND IS WORTHY OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE.”
Given guys like now running things at ICE, is there any question why this sentence was removed?
As one agent told me, “It’s interesting that the one thing I was most proud of whenever displaying my credentials is the one thing they left off of the new credentials.” I’ll give you a hint: The agent who said this is NOT .

By Debbie Schlussel
Did “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” take over the Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof”–the musical about a traditional Jewish family in Europe?
USA Today reported that gay activist/”comedienne” (who is not funny) Rosie O’Donnell will take over the starring female lead in Fiddler, opposite gay activist/actor Harvey Fierstein. It will be hard to suspend belief as she sings, “Sunrise, Sunset.”

Rosie recruiting a new female paramour?
A gay Tevye AND Golde? Mix that with “Rich Girl,” the hip-hop rip-off of Fiddler’s “If I Were a Rich Man” sung by Eve and No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, and somehow I really don’t think this was what Shalom Aleichem (the Yiddish author who wrote “Tevye’s Daughers” on which “Fiddler” is based) had envisioned.