WTF MSM!? Disney won’t stop filming in Georgia and Bob Iger knows it

WTF MSM!? is a newsletter that puts a dose of sunlight on the mainstream media and exposes how the media twist facts, selectively report, and outright lie to advance their left-wing agenda. You can signup for the WTF MSM!? newsletter here.

Déjà vu …

Hollywood is gearing up for a fight in the wake of Georgia's new "hearbeat" pro-life legislation. Netflix was first out of the gate to say it would reconsider working in Georgia, and Disney CEO Bob Iger followed suit. The threats hinge on whether or not Georgia actually enforces the legislation. Will Disney follow through on its threat, or was it merely virtue-signaling? Based on the other places Disney happily films around the world, it's virtue-signaling.

I was on the Overtime segment for "The Steve Deace Show" on Thursday to discuss this. Deace explained how the noncommittal commitment from Iger was really about putting out a fire that nobody will remember months from now. We know this is true because Disney films in multiple locations around the world with more restrictive abortion laws than Georgia's new law. It also has theme parks in these countries.

For example, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" was filmed in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion was illegal until a recent referendum, but remains against the law after 12 weeks. Disney has a theme park in France, where abortion remains illegal after the 12th week of pregnancy.

This is a play by Disney to intimidate Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) into not fully enacting this legislation. The company thinks it will work, because it has before. In 2016, the Georgia Legislature passed religious liberty legislation. Business groups, led by Disney among others, bullied then-Gov. Nathan Deal (R) into vetoing the legislation.

Disney already does business in places with much more restrictive policies on abortion and places that treat the gay community much harsher than any law in the United States. Iger answers to shareholders first. If Georgia continues to offer tax breaks to the filming industry, films will continue to be filmed there.

The filming trades union isn't buying the bluster either, saying it "expects continuing job stability," despite the threat of boycotts.

As I said on "The Steve Deace Show," Disney will stop filming in Georgia when all the celebrities who said they were moving to Canada if Trump were elected actually move to Canada. Vancouver is the Hollywood of the North already, so what's stopping them?

The law of supply and demand …

Former New Yorker fact-checker Talia Lavin, who smeared Ben Shapiro after the Notre Dame fire, is finding the marketplace of ideas to be uninterested in her wisdom. Lavin had been scheduled to teach a course called "Reporting on the Far Right." Virtually no one signed up for the class, so New York University canceled it.

Lavin resigned from the New Yorker after a false accusation of a Nazi tattoo against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Lavin is a serial fabulist who sees it as her duty to attack conservatives relentlessly. She's a poster child for the sort of activism that masquerades as journalism today.

It's somewhat heartening to see that her message doesn't have appeal, even at a liberal bastion like NYU.

Links …

• NYT reportedly tells its reporters not to appear on partisan cable shows to avoid appearance of bias
• Global editor-in-chief of Business Insider admits he didn't know that all 435 members of the House are up for election every two years
• Vox's Matthew Yglesias weighs in on Ahmari/French debate by claiming that American Christians don't 'face widespread persecution'
• Bill Kristol says Trump 'envies' Kim Jong Un because Kim had 'traitors and turncoats' executed
• Disney threatens to boycott Georgia but partners with China, which puts Muslims in internment camps
• ABC witnesses 'first of its kind raid' of human smugglers in Guatemala
• CBS, NBC tout their parent companies possibly joining Georgia abortion boycott
• MSNBC's O'Donnell promotes getting rid of Trump AND Pence
• MSNBC: What more do Dems need to hear to impeach Trump?
• Cher tweets about wanting President Trump to be sexually assaulted — and deletes the tweet after realizing her horrific mistake. But she's not apologizing.

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