USA Today said it has deleted 23 articles from its website after an investigation found that the reporter who wrote them used fabricated sources. The journalist who is said to have used the fabricated sources was identified as Gabriela Miranda, a breaking news reporter who resigned from the Virginia-based newspaper weeks ago, the paper confirmed Thursday.
— New York Post, 6/16/22

One could blame this latest example of journalism malfeasance on the lazy youth, but we also know some of the experienced have fallen, and some have been allowed to get back up.

Here’s the latest tally of lying journalists provided by the self-policing media….

15 Of The Most Disgraced Journalists In The World
10 journos caught fabricating
The Top 12 Journalism Scandals Since 2000
Winner of CNN’s ‘Journalist of the Year’ Award Admits He Fabricated Stories
Journalists Who Were Caught Lying

At least one instance was immortalized….

New Republic reporter Stephen Glass was caught lying for three solid years, writing articles about events and human beings that never existed. Glass, the associate editor at the time, was fired by in the summer of 1998 and became the subject of the Hayden Christensen movie “Shattered Glass”.
— Ranker, 10/4/21

Again, these are only the instances of journalistic dishonesty we know of and that’s been reported: take their word for it.

These are the same people who believe it’s their job to tear down those who violate societal and/or political norms but when they intentionally mislead, their publications either issue muted corrections or delete pieces altogether to cover inconvenient tracks.

Being a journalist is an immense responsibility best left to those who observe classic professional ethics and proven integrity. Two qualifications that is clearly lacking today and there doesn’t appear to be much that can assure the public that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is something guaranteed to come from the media.

While Massachusetts is home to many fine people, Metropolitan Boston has a history thus reputation. It’s an ugly one, a racist one, a liberal Democrat one, and seeing how the sports media is predominantly liberal, this comes as no surprise.

New England Patriots fans got a whole heaping serving of Cam Newton hate last season from the Boston sports media; in particular the New England Patriots’ own post game show hosted by a conglomeration of out-of-shape blabbah-mouths you’d most likely hear commiserating in a Southie bar during the 70’s and whose comments are almost always preceded with “I think” or “I want to see…”.

Despite all of the challenges Cam Newton absorbed last season, the criticism was merciless. With the addition of 2021 first round draft choice Mac Jones, all knives are really out for Cam as the media sees an heir apparent who looks like them on the horizon; a horizon they can’t get to fast enough considering all they need do is run over a black man to get there.

This time on 98.5 “The Sports Hub (where Cam hate is the ongoing norm), former Patriots QB Scott Zolak may have finally gone too far….

With co-host Marc Bertrand off-air on Thursday, Zolak was broadcasting live from Patriots training camp, while Adam Jones and Rob “Hardy” Poole were in studio. Commenting on the highly scrutinized quarterback battle between Cam Newton and Mac Jones, Zolak offered a curious suggestion.
— Mediaite, 8/27/21

Many Patriots fans live by the slogan, “In Belichick We Trust” and if the coach believed rap music was a distraction, it would have been nixed years ago.

It’s sad that the sports media is populated by (with a few exceptions) the clearly un-athletic and their need for attention has rendered them reckless and looking the fool.

The 53-year-old former signal-caller then said it’s a stark difference when compared to Patriots backup QB Mac Jones, who he said “looks like he came to work again.” But, Cam has noted Jones has a similar love for the music … explaining last month he was “surprised” by Mac’s knowledge of rap.

“You catch him in the locker room every time quoting some Future, some Baby,” Cam said.
— TMZ Sports, 8/27/21

Let’s hope Scott doesn’t react like one of his daughters just brought home a black boyfriend.

While Coach Belichick is evaluating both Newton and Jones to see which player gives the team the best opportunity to win, Zolak may have just backed him into a corner with what was clearly a racist comment meant to justify his personal opinion.

Boston’s reputation for liberal racism means this is an event that was inevitable.

Scott Zolak’s ugly criticisms of Cam Newton for listening to rap music during practice are downright absurd. They also reinforce the age-old notion that Boston is an unwelcoming place for Black athletes.

Episodes like these are why Boston can’t shed its label as a racist sports town, even as we insist the landscape has changed. This is not ancient history. Within the last five years alone, we’ve had Adam Jones, DeMarcus Cousins and scores of Black baseball players talk about their encounters with racism at Fenway. CC Sabathia says it’s the only place he’s ever been called the N-word; Torii Hunter says he requested a no-trade clause to the Red Sox because of his experiences. When Kyrie Irving suggested he may face racial taunts in Boston, what happened when Irving came to Boston? A fan threw a water bottle in his direction. We can argue how one dumb teenager doesn’t represent an entire city, or explain that Celtics fans loathe Irving because he quit on the team — and not his skin color.

But the other side always has a viable counter. Now, they have another one: Scott Zolak.
— WEEI, 8/28/21

Zolak will get the exact type of reaction a local host of such a style desires. While there will be a bunch of public criticism, the commentary will be appreciated by a very specific audience. There tends to be a method to the madness.
— MSN, 8/27/21

That “very specific audience” showed up for the Patriots’ first preseason game.

Whether it was the planned longshots of fans giving Mac Jones a standing ovation when he took the field during his first NFL preseason game and the cameras panned the stadium, or now this, it’s also unfortunate the position Jones has been thrust into. Zolak’s big mouth may have inadvertently cost him any chance to be the starting quarterback on Week 1 because of unnecessary public relations fallout. Despite that. if you consume any Boston sports media, the Mac Jones lobbying continues unabated.

Should Cam Newton be named the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots and he performs well, the bloated may actually start rooting for the team to lose so Mac Jones will get the job and they can boast they were right all along. That appears to be what’s most important despite the fact that while the Patriots were loading up with high-priced talent during the off season, almost all chose to come to New England to play for Coach Belichick and with Newton as QB.

Not sure how many players ever publicly stated they wanted to come to a team to play with Scott Zolak.

As far as his comments, the world outside Boston is taking notice and it’s not pretty.

Others suggested that maybe Zolak’s career stats would have been better if he’d listened to rap music.
— Atlanta Black Star, 8/27/21

In all seriousness, Zolak, as a high-profile analyst and at least secondary member of the team’s official media staff, needs to pull his head out, realize the weight of what he’s insinuating here, and make a very quick backpedal and apology. I’m not advocating that Zolak lose any jobs or responsibilities over this. This is not “cancel culture.” The Patriots’ organization, and the other organizations that pay Zolak to provide analysis will or will not continue to make that call based on a number of factors. But this entire sequence is wrong, and it’s dangerously bad “analysis” at a time when we’re all supposed to be a lot smarter about these things.
— USA Today Sports, 8/27/21

I’m not a mathematician, but we don’t need to be to see that Newton’s single-season totals dwarf what Zolak produced his entire career. It’s not that an inferior player has no place criticizing one who is more gifted and accomplished, but if you are going to go that route, you’ve got to come with something better than this, Scott.
— Heavy, 8/27/21

Valid point.

You know Scott Zolak? Pittsburgh guy. Former Patriots quarterback from the 1990s. He does the color commentary for the New England radio broadcasts and two years ago accused the Eagles of pumping in fake crowd noise at Lincoln Financial Field. Keep in mind, the New England radio dudes don’t seem to like Newton very much. In the past, they’ve complained about him dabbing, and one guy was close to tears when they brought him back this season. Zolak’s take seems to fall in line with Felger, Mazz, and the other doofuses up there.
— Crossing Board, 8/27/21

It wasn’t the first time Zolak melted down over Newton. He called him “absolutely putrid” and openly called for his benching during a game broadcast last year.

He did not appear on “Zolak & Bertrand” on Friday.
— New Hampshire Union Leader, 8/27/21

Scott’s a recognized, shit talking coward.

Former Patriots QB (!!) Scott Zolak, a man who is prone to sticking his foot in his mouth on almost a daily basis, claimed that Newton is not the right man for the job because of his … love for hip hop?

Zolak has never been a fan of Newton, and he’s clearly trying to stir up even more interest for ditching him in favor of Jones. Newton has been dealing with doubters mocking his flashy style of play and penchant for celebrating in elaborate fashion for years now, and Zolak is just another hater to add to the pile. It’s hard to fathom Belichick considering taste in tunes as one of the factors that help him pick a starting quarterback. Newton may very well lose this competition to Jones, but Zolak insisting that some dancing in between plays is the reason why Newton is unqualified to start is … asinine.
— Fansided, 8/27/21

So a 53-year-old white man in Boston has a problem with a local team’s most prominent Black player picking tunes that he likes. The point is that we need to stop giving oxygen to stuff like this. In addition to the not-subtle racial overtones, it’s flatly stupid.

Do you think that Zolak would have any problem with it if Newton wanted to hear some classic rock during practice? Zolak, after all, is the guy who got the Patriots to start playing “Your Love” by The Outfield during the fourth quarter of games in Foxboro. No, the problem isn’t “the music,” the problem is “the rap music.” And also the man doing the dancing, because, yeah, Tom Brady was a dancer himself.
— Deadspin, 8/27/21

Rap/R&B playing over a loudspeaker during a Patriots’ practice obviously was routine and it didn’t appear to bother Scott Zolak then.

Newton has been criticized for celebrating in the end zones and the way he handled the Carolina Panthers’ Super Bowl 50 loss to the Denver Broncos, but his choice of music appears to be a first. Newton and Jones are in the midst of a quarterback competition. It probably won’t come down to who listens to the least rap music.
— WCSI, 8/27/21

We’ve seen plenty of awful football takes in the past, but the latest remarks from Scott Zolak might just take the cake. At the end of the day, Newton’s taste in music has no effect on whether or not he plays well. As for Zolak, he’ll eventually have to explain why he felt the need to make this comment about Newton.
— The Spun, 8/27/21

With the shift, every Black quarterback is watched under a microscope and criticized for just about anything. One QB who has always dealt with the repercussions of this is Cam Newton. No matter what Cam does, it upsets people and rubs them the wrong way. From the way he dresses to his victory dances, it just makes the racism flare-up.

According to TMZ, recently, former New England QB Scott Zolak decided to publicly offer his opinion on Cam with just enough dog whistles to show us we still have a ways to go.
— Bossip, 8/27/21

“We”?

I’m not calling for Scott Zolak to be fired because I really don’t think it will happen. As of the late night hours of August 27th and you go to any of Boston’s local news channel’s websites, the Scott Zolak story is nowhere to be seen and 98.5 The Sports Hub (where this whole episode began) is all-in on pro-Mac, anti-Cam. What does that tell ya? They can’t blame it on a Fenway drunk or Celtic fan with a water bottle. Zolak is one of them, one of the media, and they probably feel they same way he does but would never say it on the air.

It can’t be fun having the “Patriots All Access” television program now having to scramble to find a temp co-host for the show, having to address Zolak’s commentary, and decide if he’ll be back after an adequate time out because you know the Patriots’ players are well aware of this.

So, stand by for Scott’s “That’s not who I am” liberal standard punchline when they get publicly busted and a career may be on the line.

Then again, a white man losing his job for racially insulting a black man in Boston… seriously?

BTW — ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is pushed as this knowledgeable pundit, consistently dissing Cam Newton in favor of Jimmy G. and now Mac Jones. Like Zolak, Orlovsky is no one to judge anyone considering how mediocre a QB he was as well.

Monica Cannon-Grant is the founder of the non-profit Violence in Boston, a campaign organizer for Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and Senatorial candidate Joe Kennedy, and is arguably the face of the black lives matter movement in Boston. She’s been legitimized in the media, having written several op-eds for the Boston Globe, and has taken part in interviews on several stations including public television WGBH. She’s organized several large protests in Boston with crowds over 50,000 in size, including a 2017 anti-free speech rally, and numerous BLM protests in Boston since the killing of George Floyd.

Congresswoman Pressley is facing a challenge in November from Republican Rayla Campbell, a black mother of three from Randoph. Cannon-Grant responded by posting a viciously racist 30 minute video on Facebook, which she has since removed.
— TurtleBoy Daily News, 7/17/20

Sit back. You can see why….

Meanwhile, the damage has been done.

A Black Republican who’s challenging U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley says she’s fled her Randolph home in fear for her life after a Boston activist’s video went viral questioning the woman’s Blackness and making crude references to her sex with her white husband.

“This is racism to the ultimate level. … Racism is racism no matter where it comes from,” Rayla Campbell, the Randolph Republican, told the Herald on Tuesday. “I was horrified and absolutely terrified. I had to uproot my family and just stay elsewhere.”

In a Friday video widely disseminated by the blog Turtleboy over the weekend, Roxbury community activist Monica Cannon-Grant repeatedly called Campbell a “heifer” and made frequent crude references to Campbell’s white husband. Rollins has quickly distanced herself from the video, telling the Herald and Campbell herself that the attacks on Campbell’s family life are deeply inappropriate.
— Boston Herald, 7/21/20

As usual, the distancing from the words only come after they were made public.

As Turtle Boy also meticulously documented, Cannon-Grant has received monetary and community support from a who’s-who of Boston’s political, media, social, and business elite including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Altman Vilandrie & Company, The Network/La Red, Alpert Cohen Charitable Fund, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Shell Oil Company Foundation, Boston Circus Guild, Strand Therapeutics Inc., Trillium Asset Management LLC, Lyft, Fidelity Investments, and more.

But perhaps the most suspicious thing she’s done to date happened last year after a shooting took place at the Warren Garden housing projects where she lives with her husband and 6 kids.

Although the shooting had absolutely nothing to do with her, Monica made it sound to her followers that she was targeted, and thus needed to move because she was unsafe living there. Two separate fundraisers raised close to $10,000 for her moving expenses and hotel rooms where she would stay until they could find a place to live.

Knowing liberals as we do, they probably won’t throw this Boston racist opportunist under the bus, in fact they’ll find a way to support her and succumb to the woke.

Bostonians of the Year are selected by the editors of the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com

They know what they’ll be called if they don’t.

UPDATE

A federal grand jury has indicted Monica Cannon-Grant, a high-profile local activist in Boston’s racial justice movement, and her husband on allegations they defrauded donors of the nonprofit they founded, Violence In Boston; committed unemployment fraud; and lied to a mortgage lender, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Cannon-Grant, 41, and Clark Grant, 38, were charged in an 18-count indictment alleging the couple spent financial donations to the nonprofit on themselves, using the cash to pay for hotel reservations, gas, restaurant meals, food deliveries, nail salon services, and personal travel, while concealing their transactions from bookkeepers, directors, and financial auditors.

The two also received roughly $100,000 in unemployment benefits they were not entitled to, officials allege.

Both were charged with two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of conspiracy, 13 counts of wire fraud, and one count of making false statements to a mortgage lending business, according to Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office.
— Boston.com, 3/15/22

The indictment alleges the couple used the funds to pay for personal expenses including, hotels, car rentals, auto repairs, restaurant meals, nail salons and personal travel, prosecutors said.

Cannon-Grant also allegedly paid herself $2,700-a-week and treated herself to a $450,000 five-bed house in Taunton, Massachusetts, last year. She is accused of using much of the $1 million raised by her nonprofit Violence in Boston for good causes. Her salary jumped from $25,000 in 2020 to $170,000 in 2021.
— Daily Mail, 3/15/22

The arrogant almost always go too far.

FYI — Bob was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts

UPDATE

Monica Cannon-Grant, the founder of the nonprofit Violence in Boston, plans to plead guilty to federal charges of defrauding people who donated to her organization. In a one-page document filed in federal court in Boston on Friday, Canon-Grant requested a change of plea hearing.

Cannon-Grant faces a 27-count indictment on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements, and filing false tax returns, among other offenses.
— Fox 25, Boston, 9/12/25

Justice may be slow but it does eventually catch up.

UPDATE

“Bostonian of the Year” ordered to pay back $224K she stole from her own nonprofit
Monica Cannon-Grant was ordered Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley to forfeit every dollar she made from her crimes — from diverting donations from her own nonprofit, collecting fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits, and pocketing rental assistance she wasn’t entitled to.

The forfeiture amount includes roughly $181,000 in diverted donations from Violence in Boston Inc., the nonprofit she founded, more than $33,000 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits, and about $12,600 in rental assistance benefits, according to a copy of the court order. That’s on top of the $106,000 in restitution Kelley already ordered at Cannon-Grant’s sentencing in January, when the judge gave her four years of probation, six months of home detention, and 100 hours of community service — no prison time, despite prosecutors requesting 18 months behind bars.
— Mass Daily News, 3/23/26

Screaming racism won’t work this time.

VIDEO: Josh Gordon Traded to Patriots!

Not making excuses for Gordon’s numerous off-the-field issues but his head should turn around in New England. He knows, like many before him, he’s got a golden opportunity to be with a team that consistently wins which is huge compared to where he’s been for all of his career.

“We’ve done all we can do for Josh,” said Cleveland coach Hue Jackson, who didn’t provide any specifics about Gordon’s issues over the weekend. “We tried to provide the right environment. It just didn’t work out. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery and hopefully things work out for Josh.”
— YourErie.com, 9/17/18

They did all they could for Josh. Winning would have helped and let’s also allow holier-than-thou sports writers to pontificate.

Make no mistake – the 27-year-old Gordon is an athletic freak. If he can indeed buy into the Patriot way, he could be just the football answer they’ve been looking for. His production when he’s on the field is ridiculous. Among active players, Gordon’s average of 92 receiving yards a game is fourth only to Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, and Odell Beckham Jr., otherwise known as the three best receivers in the game.

Of course the operative phrase is “when he’s on the field.” Gordon missed all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons because of suspensions and rehab for substance abuse (he has admitted to regular use of marijuana).
— Boston Globe, 9/17/18

Not sure how many football games the Globe’s Tara Sullivan has under her belt, but anyone who’s played any team sport knows how deflating and toxic a consistently losing environment can be, especially when the losing occurs for years.

Imagine being one of the most talented players in the league, playing for a Cleveland Browns team that hasn’t won a regular season game since December 24, 2016, which incidentally ended a 17-game losing streak. The Browns are 1-32-1 since 2016. Which one of us wouldn’t take a toke or two?

When reminiscing over previous troubled players who had their careers turn around in New England, remember that they almost all had one thing in common: they were immensely talented and played for reliably shitty teams. We’re dealing with successful athletes, most of whom are initially drafted into consistently bad organizations. Sometimes a great paycheck isn’t enough, especially when everyone around you, from the top down, are numerically-proven losers.

Josh Gordon isn’t stupid and it would have been illuminating to hear his phone conversation with Coach Belichick prior to the trade being inked in stone. The Patriots seldom make personnel moves out of desperation so they, as usual, see something the rest of us missed.

When Gordon plays, he is one of the NFL’s best players. He just rarely does. But when veterans get to Foxboro, the Patriots tend to bring out the best in them. That has the rest of the league terrified of the possibilities of what Gordon might do as a Patriot.
— 24/7 Sports, 9/17/18

Gordon knows if he’s dumped by the Patriots, his career is as good as done. He’s now walking into the day after years in the night; something he’s never experienced until now and buying-in to a winning, no-bullshit culture should be a refreshing motivator. It’s all up to Josh.

For all the geniuses who said this trade would never happen, imagine Gordon lining up near Rob Gronkowski with Dez Bryant on the other side of the field. I’m not the only one thinking this.

Tom Brady barks out signals from the shotgun. Rob Gronkowski is on the line of scrimmage as an in-line tight end. Julian Edelman is in motion. Chris Hogan is already wide on Gronkowski’s side of the formation. Dez Bryant is on the opposite side of the field on an island. If Bryant is doubled, that would make life difficult for any defense that wants an extra set of eyes on Gronkowski or Edelman. If he isn’t, then Bryant has an opportunity to feast in one-on-one coverage.
— NBC Sports

The Patriots are not done yet. They have a workout planned with Dez Bryant this week.
— Adam Schefter Tweet, 9/17/18

Josh Gordon proved the doubters wrong and his skills were a noticeable contribution to the team, while he was allowed to play.

VIDEO: “Josh Gordon – Every Catch as a New England Patriot”

UPDATE

It looks like there could be good news for Patriots Nation and Josh Gordon.

Brady posted a GIF of himself throwing to Gordon on Instagram Wednesday with this caption alongside it: “Practice makes perfect.”
— Boston.com, 6/19/19

And seeing how little with the New England Patriots happens randomly, the following news story makes a lot of potential sense.

It’s unclear when receiver Josh Gordon will be cleared to return to the NFL. It is clear that Gordon is trying to get back in. Charean Williams of PFT reports that Gordon has applied for reinstatement.
— Pro Football Talk, 8/3/19

Josh appears to have gotten his mind right and Tom Brady wouldn’t be devoting valuable off-time with him if he wasn’t someone who’d be a target in a few weeks.

UPDATE

What a coincidence…

New England Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon has been reinstated to the National Football League on a conditional basis. Effective Sunday, Gordon may rejoin the Patriots to attend meetings and engage in conditioning work and individual workouts.

Gordon will be permitted to participate in team activities, including practice, as long as he makes the appropriate progress on clinical care and other arrangements. However, he will not be allowed to play in the Patriots’ Aug. 22 preseason game against the Carolina Panthers because he will not have had sufficient conditioning and practice time, the NFL said. Gordon will be allowed to attend the game at Gillette Stadium.
— WCVB Boston, 8/16/19

How many covering the National Football League have suddenly had to reassess the whole thing about Tom Brady not having any reliable wide receivers to throw to in 2019?