Sweet Little Lies

And CNN's giant whoppers...

(Image: Substack AI)

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

~ Mark Twain

Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Houston, Texas...

Gold soaring… oil rocketing… bombs away in the Middle East…

… and debts and deficits as far as the eye can see…

In other words, just another day on this pale blue dot called earth.

We’re en route to Panama today, where we are scheduled to speak at a conference hosted by our friends at International Living. Our subject?

Life in Argentina, of course, where we’ve been following along with The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age. Long term readers are no doubt familiar with our theme… Free Markets, Free Minds and Free Individuals.

Lime all countries, Argentina naturally has its share of problems. But all of a sudden, the world appears turned on its head. And with the northern hemisphere under the dense cloud of war, the End of the World doesn’t look like such a chaotic place to be!

We’ll report back from the International Living conference in due course, letting you know about any hot foreign real estate tops and budget boltholes we hear of along the way. Meanwhile, we take a break from our regular scheduled programming today to bring you episode number infiniti-plus-one in our little series titled:

You Simply Don’t Hate the Mainstream Media Enough.

Yes, dear reader, the legacy media’s unassisted suicide continues apace. And we are here to help them fix the noose, and wobble the chair...

Jihadi Footstool

The latest self-inflicted wound comes after two men – Emir Balat (18) and Ibrahim Kayumi (19) – were arrested and charged with terrorism after attempting to bomb an anti-Islam protest out front of Gracie Mansion in Zohran Mamdani’s New York City over the weekend.

Professional protester and all round useful idiot, Walter Masterson (pictured in front, below), was in the middle of whining “as a born and raised New Yorker, we welcome everyone into this city” when Balat conscripted his services as a human stepladder, yelled “Allahu Akbar!” and then launched a homemade explosive device into the nearby crowd.

Here’s the exact moment, caught on Masterson’s own selfie cam, when Balat launched the fragmentation IED (which, mercifully, did not explode).

If there were ever a better meme for the concept of “terminal empathy,” we have yet to see it.

Balat admitted to being inspired by the designated terrorist organization, ISIS, and even flashed the group’s handsign as he was being escorted by police. The NYPD said it was the first time an improvised bomb had been used in the city in nearly a decade.

Quite a story, no?

Islamic terrorism in the Big Apple... and out front of the residence of the city’s very first Muslim mayor? One might think the mainstream media would have a duty to inform the public, to let the facts be known.

What We Don’t Know So Far

Naturally, gushing agitprop spigot, CNN, was on the case... ready to distort the facts, skew the narrative and run cover for the perps. Their post on X:

No sooner had the post gone live that astute “netizens” began mocking the formerly relevant news outlet, spawning a whole new genre of absurdly sanitized historical coverage in kind. A few of our favorites...

From Efficient Market Hype:

Adolf Hitler, an avid painter, crossed into Poland Friday for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the country during abnormally drizzly weather.

But in less than a week, his life would drastically change as he would have to relocate and handle millions of Jewish refugees before 26 other nations drove him to suicide. Here’s what we know so far.

From Jay Plemons:

John Wilkes Booth strolled into Ford’s Theater, eager for a relaxing night out enjoying the arts and a star-studded performance of the play “Our American Cousin.”

But in less than an hour, his life would drastically change after “protesting” the president, who was also in attendance. Here’s what we know so far.

And from Libs of TikTok:

Mohamed Atta boarded a plane on September 11, 2001, for what could have been a normal flight enjoying the friendly skies.

But his life would drastically change when he found himself in the cockpit of the plane right outside a New York skyscraper. Here’s what we know so far.

Digging In

Rather than issue an apology for the plainly ridiculous post, and plainly unaware of the First Rule of Holes (when you’re in one, stop digging!), CNN doubled down when it decided to pull the original story, only to further muddy the water by blatantly misrepresenting the original misrepresentation.

Fellow Substacker, Konstantin Kisin, was quick to call them out (again):

And lo! Won’t you believe it... now the retraction notification has, itself, been retracted. From an inquiry using ChatGPT:

War is Peace

As if that weren’t bad enough, within hours of the disgraced network’s online retraction-a-thon, came CNN NewsNight’s host Abby Phillip, who went on air and “informed” viewers that the terror attack – again, the bomb thrown by ISIS devotees shouting “Allahu Akbar!” – was actually an attack, not on the protestors... but on Mayor Mamdani! (Who was not even present at the protest.)

Phillip, reporting from downside-up world:

“Two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing, really, to condemn those comments.”

She, too, was forced to issue a retraction and an apology... which she, too, appeared incapable of accurately conveying:

Faux retractions on faux retractions... fake apologies on fake apologies... then onto the next bogus Newspeak story. Rinse and repeat.

Say what you will about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (really, have your say in the comments, below)... at least he had the nerve to leave his own ridiculous reframing of the event on his X account for all and sundry to see and mock...

What do you think, dear reader? Did New York City’s own Supreme Leader leave out any relevant details? Any glaring lies of omission leap out at you?

If this was the first notification you read about the event, and you had no other information regarding it, who would you think perpetrated the violence in this case, based on Mandani’s representation of it?

When Legacy Media finally breathes its last, it will have only itself to blame. For decent people who just want to know the facts, that day can’t come fast enough.

In then meantime, why not support independent writing instead, like these here Notes?! Your patronage keeps us ad and influence free. Thanks in advance!

And stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

P.S. Truth, as they say, is often the first casualty of war. But it’s not just the one-sided coverage of foreign conflicts that has hampered America’s once proud Fourth Estate.

From the fake-news-a-thon during the general elections… to the Covid hysteria… to ongoing cultural wars… to slanted and partisan coverage of every aspect of daily life, even down to the weather itself… people are growing tired of being fed “The Message.”

Indeed, the latest polls from Gallup show American’s Trust in Media at a well-deserved, five decade low. See for yourself…

As depressing as this might seem at first, the appetite for honest, independent reporting has not diminished. If anything, the massive growth of platforms like Substack shows rather the opposite.

These humble Notes are now read across all 50 US states… and in no fewer than 140 countries around the world, something that would have seemed like an impossible proposition just a few years ago.

That in mind, allow us to offer a huge “thanks!” to our Notes Members for all your support… and for helping us deliver our message of Free Markets, Free Minds and Free People.

If you too are sick and tired of the mindless mono-messaging of the unarmed sock puppets in the mainstream media, kindly consider the alternative… and join our growing community of independent minds and critical thinkers, right here. Cheers!