American media beclowns itself again - mistakes fireworks in England for a celebration of Biden

An annual celebration that takes place in England that can last for several nights if it falls on a weekday happened on schedule this year. Guy Fawkes Night, also called Bonfire Night, coincided with the calling of the election by the American media over the weekend. American media outlets assumed that the fireworks displays overseas were in recognition of Biden’s victory. The media was wrong about that assumption and they should be ashamed of themselves.

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Americans are well aware that the media did the bidding of the Democrat Party to bring about a victory for Biden. More than 70 million American voters now consider the media’s declaration that Biden is the winner of the presidential election a premature one. There are legal challenges in several states that must play out now due to the appearance of irregularities (fraud) and this will likely take some time. President Trump is entitled to use the process to get to the bottom of the claims of Democrats brazenly stealing the election, mostly due to the high volume of mail-in ballots.

The media is giddy with delight that Biden won, though, and they cannot contain themselves. Journalistic professionalism vanished during the Obama years when reporters took a nice long eight-year nap instead of doing their jobs. Then, President Trump came into office, and suddenly reporting on the sitting president was back in style. The crazier the story, the better. Legit news sources? We don’t need no stinkin’ on-the-record sources. Story after story used anonymous sources. Stories are often flat-out wrong. Yet, the media persists. So, when the media jumped the gun and their guy Biden declared victory, it is only normal that the media celebrated along with the Biden campaign.

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There was just one problem with all the festivities being reported. The fireworks that the networks were gushing over in London were not in joyful reaction to Biden’s election victory. The fireworks were in recognition of Guy Fawkes Night. Since 1606, Brits have celebrated November 5 as Guy Fawkes Night when Parliament so proclaimed the date. If that date falls on a weekday, celebrations usually continue through the weekend. So, this was not a new, spontaneous celebration. Breitbart has a short history of Guy Fawkes Night:

Guy Fawkes Night, also referred to as Bonfire Night, is celebrated every year in the UK on November 5th and its closest weekend with fireworks, public bonfires, and burning effigies of political figures as well as the traditional Guy.

It commemorates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot 0f 1605, when Catholic Robert Catesby and his co-conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, plotted to blow up King James I and Members of the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5th. Catesby planned the terror attack because the King did not support tolerance for Catholicism in the country.

The conspirators were betrayed and the attack foiled, with Guy Fawkes being caught in Parliament’s cellar the day before, where 36 barrels of gunpowder had been planted. Others in the plot either died resisting arrest or were tried, found guilty of high treason, and executed.

Parliament then proclaimed that the 5th of November should be recognised, with the first Guy Fawkes celebrations taking place in 1606. The tradition of using fireworks represents the explosives that were never detonated under the Palace of Westminster. Guy Fawkes Night quickly spread to the American colonies, too, where since the 17th century it was known as Pope Day, though its celebration died out by the 19th century. Guy Fawkes Night is still held in New Zealand.

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Alas, outlets like ABC News, besotted with the vote count in Pennsylvania and the declaration that Biden won the election, went off the deep end and noted the fireworks but got the story wrong. Naturally, some tweets have now been deleted.

“Fireworks lit up the night sky over London, England, after Joe Biden was characterized to be the apparent winner of the presidential election,” the supposedly worldly network wrote on social media in a since-deleted Tweet.

ABC wasn’t alone. On Saturday night, CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny was enchanted as well: “We heard church bells in Paris, fireworks in London. This is indeed a moment the world is watching!”

The church bells that Zeleny references were not for Biden, either. I’ll get to that shortly. Fortunately, an Australian journalist knew the real story and corrected the others. She clearly doesn’t suffer fools lightly. Good for her.

The church bells in Paris that were reported to be ringing for Biden also was a false story.

Even the establishment Associated Press ran a fact-checker piece that labelled as “false” claims that French churches rang their bells on Saturday evening in celebration of a Biden ‘victory’. The Paris Diocese and the Diocese of Nanterre, a Parisien suburb, told the wire service that the claims were not true, and churches had not been instructed to ring their bells for Biden.

While France’s lockdown forbids public worship, the dioceses’ spokesmen said the bells of some churches were still automatically scheduled to call worshippers to Saturday evening service.

“This is the case for the bells of the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church in Meudon, which can be seen and heard in a video shared on social media by a resident of the city,” the Diocese of Nanterre told AP. “As every Saturday evening at 5:45 pm, bells of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church in Meudon rang to announce the Mass at 6 pm.”

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ABC News and CNN weren’t alone. Fox News ran the same story, as did The Hill. This is the kind of unverified media behavior we have come to expect. They walk in lockstep to favor only one side, the Democrats.

The process has not played out yet. President Trump deserves his day in court to contest the irregularities that have been reported. The Democrats have conveniently forgotten the 2000 election when Al Gore was given all the time he wanted to contest that election. The final election results were not declared for 36 days and centered on one state – Florida. This election is focused on irregularities in several states. This week is crucial for Team Trump. Let them have the time.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
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