Failed ‘Fact-Checker’ Gets A New Gig With Media Matters

Media Matters just got a whole lot more sucktastic.

First, the backstory.

A few months ago, ICE tweeted this.

Learn more about HERO Child-Rescue Corps, a program for wounded, injured & ill Special Ops Forces to receive training in high-tech computer forensics & law enforcement skills, to assist federal agents in the fight against online child sexual exploitation https://t.co/g0DpFeb3fE pic.twitter.com/b7qTIbnuRR

— ICE (@ICEgov) May 25, 2018

Libs everywhere freaked out. They were all, “OMG NAZI TATTOO! ICE hires ACTUAL NAZIS!!!”

I know I’m a leftist, “D List” actor, so my twitter feed is probably deceiving me, but is that an iron cross tattooed on this hero’s arm? This is a mistake, right? Cuz the Iron Cross was a symbol of Nazi Germany.

Gotta be my twitter feed is leaning left again. https://t.co/qsA6ynOfzB

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) June 18, 2018

Except…it’s a military tattoo.

Read the full ICE statement regarding erroneous attacks on ICE employee for #military tattoo: pic.twitter.com/BwA8kFWNFV

— ICE (@ICEgov) June 18, 2018

Per Gaertner, the tattoo on his left elbow is “Titan 2,” the symbol for his platoon while he fought in Afghanistan. The writing on his right arm is the Spartan Creed which is about protecting family and children. pic.twitter.com/qs8H3tkd6l

— ICE (@ICEgov) June 18, 2018

Guess who else assisted in spreading the nasty rumor that it was a Nazi tattoo? Now FORMER New Yorker fact-checker Talia Lavin.

Again. She was a FACT-CHECKER. She deleted her original tweeted and provided this explanation:

some vets said this ICE agent's tattoo looked more like a Maltese cross than an Iron Cross (common among white supremacists), so i deleted my tweet so as not to spread misinformation pic.twitter.com/xaR6bqzSoP

— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) June 18, 2018

I'm sorry to have contributed to it — I usually try to be more careful with what I share. Thanks for your expert perspective, as always.

— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) June 18, 2018

credibility > sweet sweet favs

— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) June 18, 2018

If she cared at all about credibility, she wouldn’t have accepted a new job at Media freaking Matters.

Some personal news: I'm delighted to be joining Media Matters (@mmfa) next week as a researcher on far-right extremism and the alt-right, part of a brand-new team. I'll be working full-time with some of the smartest, most passionate people in media right now and I'm psyched.

— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) July 20, 2018

ICYMI: Media Matters has hired Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) as a "researcher" on "far-right extremism," despite the fact that her only claim to fame here was falsely accusing a disabled war veteran of sporting a Nazi tattoohttps://t.co/wwLOdWIaDm

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) July 21, 2018

What a joke.

RIP, Talia Lavin’s “credibility.”

h/t Twitchy