Category Archives: Media Criticism

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Transparency

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Amazingly, a frequent commenter actually posted this (presumably with a straight face):

Obama set a standard for his administration that no other president has even tried to meet, and fell short of it, while still offering more transparency than any previous administration.

Josh Earnest (I still can’t believe that hired someone with that name for the job of presidential spokesman) repeated it.

But really, as Glenn notes, picking the biggest whopper of the Obama era is a tough task. I guess they’re operating on Goebbels’ Big Lie theory.

Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

Mann Suit Update

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I didn’t mention it last week, because I’ve been busy dealing with life, but both we and National Review submitted our brief in the case to the DC Court of Appeals last Monday. I’m not sure if the CEI brief has been discussed anywhere, but here’s a discussion of National Review’s. We requested that the lower-court ruling to refuse dismissal be overturned and the case dismissed (implicitly) with prejudice. That means that if the appeals court agrees, we can go after Mann for legal costs.

Anyway, the reason I mention it now is that Alliance Defending Freedom has filed an amicus brief today on our behalf. I’ve got the filing, but haven’t seen any links to it yet. We also have one from Reason, Cato, Goldwater Institute, and the Individual Rights Foundation.

[Late evening update]

OK, we’ve got a couple more. One is from Newsmax Media, Inc., Free Beacon,LLC, The Foundation for Cultural Review, The Daily Caller, LLC, PJ Media, LLC, and The Electronic Frontier Foundation. The other is from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and twenty six other media organization, which I won’t list here.

Also, as with the last time, the District of Columbia has filed an amicus on our behalf to defend its anti-SLAPP law.

I’m guessing that a lot more media organizations are filing this time because they they were shocked at the ruling the last time, and wanted to make their views clear to the appellate court.

[Wednesday-morning update]

CEI has links to all the legal filings in the case to date, including Monday’s amici.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Obama Endorsements

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“Run away! Run away!!!”

Abercrombie, a longtime Democratic officeholder in the state, was ousted by state Sen. David Ige. That makes Abercrombie the first incumbent governor in Hawaii history to lose his primary.

Ige handily defeated the sitting governor, winning 67 percent to Abercrombie’s 32 percent of the vote.

Last year, Obama, who was born in Hawaii, endorsed the governor’s re-election.

“I’ve known Governor Abercrombie for decades,” Obama said at the time, “and I’ve come to appreciate him not only as a friend, but as an extraordinary public servant who has never let politics get in the way of serving the people of Hawai‘i.”

Remember, Democrats. This will be different than 1994 because “You’ve got me.”

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Islamism

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At what point is the world going to recognize that this totalitarian ideology is at least as bad as Nazism?

By the way, for those who want to devalue the word “genocide,” does this count?

“We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic State have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar,” he said

“Some of the victims, including women and children were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar.”

But other than that, it’s totally a religion of peace. Good thing that these guys aren’t a real threat, like Al Qaeda. Like the president says, they’re just junior varsity.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society

The Obama Administration As Criminal Enterprise

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Yup, looks like it:

See a tree with 20 apples hanging on it and reasonable people conclude it’s an apple tree. So is it a criminal conspiracy when 20 government employees illegally destroy important official emails?

If that seems like an extreme question, consider the steadily accumulating evidence about the Obama administration’s modus operandi with potentially incriminating documents subpoenaed by Congress: A scandal erupts. Congressional hearings are held. Documents are requested and withheld. Subpoenas are issued. Contempt charges threatened. A few documents dribble out.

Then come the admissions that, oh by the way, emails required by multiple federal laws to be preserved have either been destroyed or “lost.”

Oh, don’t be ridiculous. People lose emails under subpoena all the time. In the mob, anyway.

[Sunday-morning update]

Inspector Generals say that Obama aides obstruct investigations.

[Update a few minutes later]

Elusive federal documents: Six serious questions:

In Fast and Furious, President Obama declared executive privilege to withhold documents in a controversy that the White House claimed revealed no evidence of White House involvement. Of course, if all the evidence isn’t turned over, then how is one to be confident no evidence exists? Further, multiple federal agencies have refused to turn over many documents requested in the case under the Freedom of Information Act as far back as 2011.

In the instance of Benghazi, the Obama administration failed to turn over requested documents when asked by Congress and requested under Freedom of Information law. Only recently, nearly two years after-the-fact, under court order, did it produce some withheld material to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which sued the State Department for failing to respond to its Freedom of Information requests. The documents continue to contradict the Obama administration’s narratives surrounding the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks.

With the IRS, President Obama insisted there wasn’t a “smidgen” of corruption surrounding the tax agency’s targeting of conservatives. But a key IRS official, Lois Lerner, refused to testify to Congress. And the IRS “lost” subpoenaed documents generated by Lerner and other key officials. These may include documents that Lerner sent to outside agencies and officials. Though the IRS says it will turn over tens of thousands of other documents, it’s hard to feel confident that the most damning ones, if any existed, will have been miraculously saved.

Now, HHS–which has stonewalled subpoenas and Freedom of Information requests in the investigation of HealthCare.gov–has likewise announced that it probably destroyed some materials that have been subpoenaed in that probe.

All just coincidence, I’m sure. After all, if we just happened to “lose” documents that the IRS demanded from us, nothing would happen to us except that we would be “retrained.” Right?

You don’t say.