Tag Archives: chris rodda

MRFF Makes Veiled Threat Against Critics

Joan Slish has long been a source of fascinating inside information at Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF.  She sometimes seems to tell it like it is, even to the MRFF’s detriment (see here, here, and here, for example).

Slish is one of several people who “corresponds” with those who write hate mail to the MRFF — even if it comes from a supposedly fake email address. (Her 1500-word responses are almost precisely the same copy/paste text every time.) Why bother “writing” to a junk address? Apparently, the correspondence is distributed among the MRFF faithful as some sort of mark of pride. Fair enough, if that’s really where you want to exert your energy.

But what if the email address is legitimate?

That’s what makes this thinly veiled threat from Slish concerning:  Read more

Transgender Controversy Gnaws at Military Morale, Readiness

While the issue of transgenders in the US military has been at a low simmer for more than a year, it continues to be a source of consternation and angst within the military itself, just as any unresolved policy matter would be. While it seems transgenders would ultimately contribute little in the form of military readiness (some public reports indicate actual transgenders in the military number in the high-two digits), the manner in which to address this demographic continues to substantially draw on senior leader time and every troops’ moral conscience.

In an apparent effort to establish their argument as one beyond Donald Trump, the LGBT community Read more

Chris Rodda Rebuilds, Destroys POW/MIA Bible Strawman

Chris Rodda — Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s sometime research assistant — wrote a column yesterday at the Washington Examiner saying “Bibles don’t belong on POW remembrance tables.” (Two years ago Rodda said the same thing, though it was only self-published on the Huffington Post. The Examiner opportunity was apparently created by Mike Berry’s article on the same website.)

It’s possible an editor chose her title (and also word-limited the normally very verbose Rodda), but it’s worth noting Rodda never gets around to saying why Bibles ‘don’t belong on POW tables.’

First, she says that, historically, early POW/MIA remembrance tables didn’t have Bibles.  She revisits her previous strawman by saying the American Legion doesn’t include Bibles in its remembrance ceremony, as if that is remotely relevant. Her point was long ago rebutted: The issue isn’t what the Legion — or any other group — chooses to do; it’s what they prohibit others from doing.

No one is traipsing around the country demanding Bibles be included on POW/MIA tables — at the American Legion or anywhere else.  What some Americans are doing is Read more

Mikey Weinstein Goes after Okinawa POW Bible. Again.

By now you’ve probably seen the reports saying Michael “Mikey” Weinstein filed a complaint (PDF, through his lawyer) about a Bible at a POW/MIA display at Okinawa, Japan. What these reports don’t seem to convey is this is just Mikey being Mikey. Every couple of months he makes these kinds of complaints; they hit a high point every now and then, fade into the background later, and maybe catch peoples’ attention again.

The POW/MIA display is a piggy bank for Weinstein. If his coffers get low, he can pull one of these from his files and try to get attention.

To prove the point, consider that the subject of this latest complaint at US Naval Hospital Okinawa is a POW/MIA table that is on permanent display. It’s been there for years. Nothing Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s John Compere Schooled by ACLJ. Again.

John Compere is a bit of an oddity at Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s MRFF. Like many in Weinstein’s circle, he flaunts his credentials, choosing to anoint himself with this byline:

Brigadier General John Compere, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired), former Chief Judge, US Army Court of Military Review, disabled American veteran (Vietnam), MRFF Advisory Board Member & Texas rancher

(Run by a man whose ego knows no bounds, humility seems to run deep at Mikey Weinstein’s MRFF. In another example, Weinstein disciple Greg Petrequin frequently, and humbly, introduces himself as a “retired senior military officer.”)

Compere — who is otherwise unknown to anyone — never really gives anyone a reason to understand why they should listen to him, and his writings certainly don’t help. While Compere beats out compatriot Chris Rodda’s writings by actually having a point, he appears to borrow from both Rodda and Weinstein as he lets obtuse wording, word count, and pithy quotations pass for supporting a thesis.

And, of course, Compere believes he cannot be wrong.

Thus, when the ACLJ’s Skip Ash wrote a lengthy and thorough rebuttal to a Compere piece in 2016, Compere responded by saying the very fact anyone would dare to critique his position confirmed the piece’s “accuracy”:  Read more

Chris Rodda Has Dramatic Grammar Fail in Attack on President Trump

Chris Rodda, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant at the MRFF, fancies herself a distinguished, if somewhat self-styled, author. On Friday, though, her failures in basic grammar and research made her boss look like an idiot.

Late on Friday Chris Rodda published a blog entitled “Trump Cites “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day” Law to Order Flags Flown at Half-Staff for Billy Graham.”

It doesn’t sound particularly egregious, but it does sound stupid. Presidents don’t even write those things, so some staff weenie really messed up and made President Trump look bad, didn’t they?

Except they didn’t.

President Trump’s message was actually published more than a week prior, and it made no reference to any law. Rodda hand-waved the apparent contradiction of her argument with a mysterious [emphasis added]

Trump also issued an extra special version of this order to the military.

As is standard Chris Rodda practice, she Read more

Mikey Weinstein Misses Another Military Prayer Luncheon

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein tried to stop Kenneth Copeland from speaking at Fort Jackson’s Prayer Breakfast in February, apparently believing he needed to protect US troops from Copeland’s religious beliefs regarding faith, healing, and PTSD. While Weinstein’s pleas were loud and desperate, the event went on regardless.

Not much later, David Barton — seemingly Chris Rodda’s sworn enemy — spoke at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, but the MRFF was apparently unaware. Since no one complained, Weinstein and Rodda were unable to protect the troops from Barton’s — presumably offensive — Christian beliefs and presentation on the history of prayer in America.

At about the same time, another prayer luncheon occurred at Fort Hunter Liggett, where a keynote speaker held politically sensitive views and religious beliefs opposed by a substantial percentage of American citizens — and, yet again, Mikey Weinstein was silent.

This time, the speaker Read more

David Barton Speaks at Military Prayer Breakfast, and Chris Rodda Doesn’t Notice

After Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently decried the National Prayer Breakfasts at both Fort Jackson and Whiteman AFB, one might have thought US troops were stumbling over each other to beg for his help in the face of religious oppression and pancakes.

In actuality, National Prayer Breakfasts are happening at military facilities around the country — entirely without incident. Even the ones Weinstein complained about so boisterously occurred without so much as a ripple.

Why the disconnect? Aside from the obvious answer that Weinstein doesn’t always tell the truth, the simple fact is US service members aren’t coming to Weinstein in droves to complain about these events — or anything else, for that matter — despite Weinstein’s claims to the contrary.

Rather, Mikey Weinstein finds out about an event — even if just from a simple internet news alert — socializes it among his followers to create “complainants”, and then tries to ride the complaints about the event for publicity (and his personal benefit, of course).

In other words, the “complaints” are essentially manufactured. But for Mikey Read more

1 … 7 8 9 10 11 … 41