It was the news item that eclipsed all others: Ben Carson lied.

He didn't walk it back.  He didn't correct the record.  He didn't make excuses about misspeaking, misrepresenting, misremembering, or misunderstanding.  He didn't even apologize for making a mistake.

He is standing by the story he remembers: someone he thought was General Westmoreland told him he could get into West Point and he wouldn't have to pay for it.  Few students are familiar with the USMA's unique application process until they actually apply.  To most college students, if someone says you don't have to pay tuition, that's a scholarship, even if "technically" it isn't.  Add a few stars on a suit and a little awe, and maybe Carson wasn't processing information 100% that day.

Except for the fog of youth, there is no reason to doubt that, in some form or other, this conversation took place.  I have yet to hear a credible reason why Ben Carson would have fabricated this story. 

When a young, naïve college kid attends a fancy military gala with bigshots, it's a big deal – especially if he's dirt-poor.  It's easy to get caught up in the delirium of mingling with people of great accomplishment.  He might have thought he was talking to General Westmoreland.  Maybe he wasn't properly introduced and never really knew the guy's name.  Maybe he heard the name mentioned and just assumed it was the name of the man with whom he was speaking.  It's not that far-fetched to confuse names when attending events such as this.    

But let's imagine that the press account is true and Ben Carson – that scoundrel above all others – lied, misspoke, or exaggerated.

Where's the beef?  Who was hurt by this?  Lying is noxious – so much so that it made it to the top ten things you shouldn't do to rattle the Big Guy upstairs.  I wouldn't mind it if Hillary, Bill, Barack, and Joe "Plagiarism Is a Form of Lying" Biden had to spend some quality time in the stocks for their lies.  But if no one is hurt – if it's just a lie or, in this case, more of an exaggeration – is there a punishable infraction?

If he told this fib on his med school application and he was accepted, it might matter if he pushed out an equally qualified truth-telling candidate.  If he made up this malarkey to get a job, or a loan, then maybe there'd be some beef.

But this story broke not because Carson lied in order to bolster his campaign or raise money under knowingly false pretenses and was "found out."  It broke not because someone discovered he was lying about his past to get ahead, receive special treatment, or secure the nomination. 

This story was unearthed by the Media Mob.  It was tucked away in Carson's book, Gifted Hands, and Charlie "Still Stupefied that Rubio Thinks Hillary Lied" Rose asked him about it.  This is what the Media Lynch Mob does.  It is their raison d'être.  They are programmed to annihilate Republican candidates, all the more worthy of destruction if they are female, black, Hispanic, or any other minority.  Under no circumstances can they allow this religious zealot to continue to surge in the polls.  Every day Ben Carson is in the news, his very presence and list of accomplishments threaten the liberal narrative about conservatives, conservatism, and what it means for the black community.  This.  Man.  Is.  Dangerous. 

Rather than report the news, they create it, and they whack whoever gets in their way.  The "Democrat-Media Complex" is way too nice a euphemism for what they do. They are the Media Mafia.  La Stampa Nostra.  

Viewed through the litany of lies repeated by Obama and Hillary, it's like living in Bizarro-World. 

Ben Carson is not my first pick, but we should put him in protective custody and form a protective barrier around him while he is being hunted.  We should not stand by while the Mafiosi take him out to the "Republicans Only – Extra Points if You Are Black" woodshed for the sin of maybe having exaggerated an inconsequential encounter of 50 years ago.

And I've got a bone to pick with The Donald.  It's not cool to make a deal with the Media Mafia when they've put a contract out on your fellow candidate, just so you can benefit by having him eliminated.  When it comes to rubbing out Republicans, we have to form a united front.  Join forces with the same La Stampa Nostra you excoriated during the CNBC debate and you become just another Don. 

When the media is ready to report about the Big Lie Hillary confessed to during the Benghazi Hearings, and the endless trail of lies about emails and servers from Hillary, Koskinen, and Lerner, and the lies about ObamaCare, TPP, and the Iran deal, I'll be ready to listen.  Until then, fuggedaboutit.  I'm tired of being muscled by a bunch of lowlifes masquerading as legitimate journalists.  And I'm tired of double standards, like this one: 

If a candidate blatantly lies about something that has very serious consequences and everyone is there to hear it, but the media doesn't care, did she really lie?  Of course not. 

But if a candidate may have possibly exaggerated about a conversation he had 50 years ago that was of no consequence to him or anyone else on this planet, but the media cares a great deal, did he really lie?  Of course he did.     

If you are a Republican, watch out for the Media Mafia.  Like Ben Carson, you just might wake up one morning with a horse's head in your bed.