Major Newspapers

This category contains postings about the largest newspapers in America. For other papers, look under "Regional News" for each state.

NY Times Blames Dylann Roof's Gun Purchase on 'System' Loophole, Then 'Law' Loophole
By Tom Blumer | July 11, 2015 | 11:54 PM EDT

Apparently nothing is ever the government's fault during the Obama era — even a clear failure by authorities to prevent an alleged mass-murderer from acquiring a gun, and their failure to retrieve it once he obtained it.

Earlier today, before it went down the paper's frequently used memory hole, reporter Michael S. Schmidt wrote in his second paragraph that alleged mass murderer Dylann Roof got a gun despite having a disqualifying drug-possession arrest because of "A loophole in the (national background check) system and an error by the F.B.I." After apparently pushback from some readers, Schmidt revised his report, moving his "loophole" language to a much later paragraph, and characterized it as a problem with "the law," which is still completely wrong.

CNN, Others Go Light on Hillary's 'Not Subpoenaed' Lie
By Tom Blumer | July 9, 2015 | 10:57 PM EDT

One would think that a presidential candidate falsely claiming that she never was subpoenaed would be bigger news story than people in the opposing party criticizing that candidate after the fact for her obviously false statement. As Tim Graham at NewsBusters noted late this afternoon, that's not the case. This post contains several more examples.

At CNN, the network's own Brianna Keilar, who conducted the interview during which Hillary Clinton denied ever receiving a congressional committee's subpoena for her work-related emails, "sharply criticized the Democratic presidential contender’s performance" for failing to answer several questions satisfactorily and for not even "engaging" when asked others. Despite Keilar's disappointment, beat reporters Jeff Zeleny and Tom LoBianco at CNN.com went light on Mrs. Clinton, and highlighted Republican critics.

AP Admits: Obamacare Is a Likely Factor in 'Increasing Part-Time Employment'
By Tom Blumer | July 6, 2015 | 12:25 PM EDT

Though the Associated Press is now basically admitting it, we all knew it. Obamacare's 30-hours-per-week definition of a "full-time employee" for employer health insurance coverage purposes has been responsible for one of the fundamentally negative changes in the American workforce — a noticeable move away from full-time to part-time employment.

In a report with a current Saturday morning time stamp at the AP's national web site which originally went up on Friday, the wire service's Christopher Rugaber and Josh Boak covered the "new normal" in the job market. This writeup will receive yours truly's fuller attention later. But for now, I must note that the pair's report largely abandoned the AP's and the establishment press's years of near denial (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Former Obama Official Asks: 'Can Gay Marriage Defeat the Islamic State?'
By Tom Blumer | June 30, 2015 | 2:46 PM EDT

In a column at ForeignPolicy.com, a former Obama administration defense official who "served as a counselor to the U.S. defense undersecretary for policy from 2009 to 2011" has asked: "Can Gay Marriage Defeat the Islamic State?"

Rosa Brooks, who "is a law professor at Georgetown University," is serious. Her earnestness and deep ignorance are especially troubling, because it's clear that there are many people who "think" just like her who are still in the Obama administration and at the State Department (See: John Kerry's slow-motion sellout in Iranian negotiations).

NY Times Wonders How Trillions Can Be 'Spent' But 'Crises Like Greece Persist'
By Tom Blumer | June 30, 2015 | 11:47 AM EDT

The current headline at a June 29 New York Times story by Peter Eavis, also appearing on the front page of today's print edition, is "Loads of Debt: A Global Ailment With Few Cures."

But the last portion of the story's web address is "... trillions-spent-but-crises-like-greeces-persist.html." That's because the original headline, the one used at the Times's Twitter account — was "Trillions Spent But Crises Like Greece Persist." Of course without admitting it, Eavis's writeup is an ode to the worldwide failure of Keynesian economics — a term which naturally never appears in any form — and the closed minds of those who don't understand why shoveling vast sums of money created out of thin air into the financial system is only marginally helpful in the short-term, and serious harmful, over the long-term.

AP Writer Dodges Own Question About the State of China's Slowing Economy
By Tom Blumer | June 29, 2015 | 3:12 PM EDT

The world's financial markets had a terrible Monday. The debt crisis in Greece (population: 11 million) has been dominating the headlines and the press's attention, while serious deterioration in China (population: 1.36 billion) is getting short shrift.

It isn't just that the mainland Chinese stock market has broken the bear-market decline threshold of 20 percent in less than three weeks, dropping 21.5 percent from its June 12 peak. Its underlying economy, to the extent that such things can be ascertained in an information-controlled and news-manipulated society, appears to be in serious trouble. Associated Press reporter Ken Sweet, in a Friday Q&A writeup, emulated the worst tendencies of politicians. He posed a question about China's economy, "answered" it with a complete dodge, and pretended that its economy hasn't started slowing yet (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Bob Costas Rips Cubs Pitcher, Unmasks Intense Hostility Towards Religious Expression
By Tom Blumer | June 29, 2015 | 8:57 AM EDT

To be clear, professional sports broadcasting is thankfully long past the time when the announcers would annoyingly sugarcoat dismal player performances. (Though I would prefer that those who actually played the game engage in this criticism, and that play-by-play announcers who haven't try to stay away from it.)

So it would have been somewhat acceptable if veteran NBC broadcaster Bob Costas, as he was doing the play-by-play for a Friday night Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals game, had merely stated the obvious, i.e., that Cubs relief pitcher Pedro Strop, after giving up a home run, hitting a batter, and walking one while only getting one out, had an "atrocious" outing. But that's not what he said. Costas ripped into Strop for (imagine that) looking up and pointing to the heavens as he headed towards the Cubs' dugout.

Dear NY Times: Who Has Been in Charge All This Time? After 8 Years of 'Financial Downturn,' Far More Americans Delay Major Life Events
By Tom Blumer | June 26, 2015 | 8:40 PM EDT

There may no better illustration of how much harm the economy has inflicted on the American people during the Obama era than a March 2015 Harris survey commissioned by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The AICPA's Thursday press release reported that "a majority of American adults (51 percent) have delayed at least one important life decision in the last year due to financial reasons ... an increase of 20 percentage points from a similar survey conducted in 2007."

Covering the survey's results, Ann Carrns at the New York Times, in an item carried at CNBC (also found at the Times's web site), waited seven paragraphs to note a particularly damning statistic about a situation Obamacare advocates like to claim has already been solved.

Harrisburg, PA Newspaper Will ‘Strictly Limit’ Op-eds, Letters for Traditional Marriage
By Curtis Houck | June 26, 2015 | 4:02 PM EDT

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to make gay marriage legal nationwide, the Harrisburg, PA newspaper The Patriot News announced that both they and their online site PennLive.com “will very strictly limit op-Eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.”

NPR Calls Hillary's 'All Lives Matter' Statement a '3-Word Misstep'
By Tom Blumer | June 24, 2015 | 10:56 PM EDT

The politically correct speech police are everywhere these days. Many members of the leftist establishment have taken it upon themselves to aid in their enforcement efforts. No one is safe — not even the person they want us to believe is destined to be the Democrats' 2016 presidential nominee.

Yesterday, at a Florissant, Missouri church only five miles from Ferguson, Hillary Clinton uttered the following words in succession: "All lives matter." NPR's Tamara Keith and Amita Kelly devoted much of their four-minute "Morning Edition" report on her appearance to what was described as a "3-Word Misstep."

Jonathan Who? AP, NY Times Set the Stage For Gruber News Blackout
By Tom Blumer | June 23, 2015 | 10:55 PM EDT

Two recent NewsBusters posts have demonstrated that the major broadcast networks other than Fox News have failed to cover new information reported Sunday evening at the Wall Street Journal. Newly available emails reveal that MIT's Jonathan Gruber "worked more closely than previously known with the White House and top federal officials to shape" the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Monday afternoon, NB's Scott Whitlock noted that "All three network morning shows on Monday ignored" the clearly newsworthy revelations. Very early Tuesday morning, NB's Curtis Houck observed that "The top English and Spanish-language broadcast networks" did the same thing Monday evening. The Associated Press and the New York Times, the nation's de facto news gatekeepers during the Obama era (far more the former than the latter, in my view) were instrumental in this deliberate averted-eyes exercise. Neither outlet has printed a word about what the Journal found.

Stephanie 'Space to Destroy' Rawlings-Blake to Head U.S. Mayors' Group, Safe From Concerns About Media Scrutiny
By Tom Blumer | June 22, 2015 | 11:01 PM EDT

The left's "screw up, move up" principle for career advancement appears to be at play again. Of course, the press is playing up the move-up, and ignoring the screw-ups.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, whose statements and strategies inarguably led to more property destruction and civil disorder than would have occurred if someone more responsible had been in charge during that city's April riots, has been named the next national president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. This means that the person who on the first night of rioting in that city publicly admitted that she "gave those who wished to destroy space to do that," and who a couple of nights later, according to a Maryland county sheriff, "gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out," will now presume to speak for the Democrat-dominated group.