Michael Bloomberg

Hurricane Sandy Relief: Networks Attack GOP, But Mention Pork Only 1.5% of the Time
By Sean Long | October 29, 2013 | 2:10 PM EDT

Striking the Northeast on Oct. 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy tragically devastated communities causing an estimated $50 billion in damages. By the end of January 2013, a relief bill was passed for Sandy aid, after the bill was delayed because of wasteful spending.

House Republicans opposed a pork-ridden $60 billion Senate bill ($10 billion higher than damage estimates) and chose not to vote on it. Politicians, including some Republicans, and the media criticized them for delaying this legislation. A $51 billion bill was passed by both houses of Congress by the end of January, after a $9.7 billion flood insurance bill passed in early January.

Piers Morgan Stumbles Over Second Amendment; Hails 'Most Courageous' Bloomberg
By Matthew Balan | October 15, 2013 | 1:05 PM EDT

Piers Morgan still can't basic details about the gun rights debate right, even after his protracted involvement in the controversy, as he revealed on Tuesday's CBS This Morning. Morgan incorrectly claimed that the First Amendment – not the Second Amendment – protected the right to keep and bear arms: "I have no problem...with a family exercising their First Amendment (sic) right to defend their families with a handgun at home."

The CNN host also praised New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his prominent vocal and monetary support of gun control, and took President Obama to task for his apparent lack of action on the issue: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Ex-CNN's Franken Suggests Bloomberg Waging 'Class Warfare Against Everybody But the Super Rich'
By Brad Wilmouth | September 12, 2013 | 11:05 AM EDT

Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, liberal columnist and former CNN correspondent Bob Franken accused those who complain about "class warfare" against the wealthy of themselves waging "class warfare," but in their case, "against everybody but the super rich class."

Franken's negative interpretation of those who support capitalism came after host Harris-Perry read a quote from outgoing independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg calling Democrat Bill De Blasio's campaign for mayor "class warfare and racist." Franken:

Press Doesn't Challenge Dems' Meme That Historic Recall of Colo. Senators Is Only 'Symbolic'
By Tom Blumer | September 11, 2013 | 11:55 PM EDT

Two Colorado senators have been recalled, and either already are not serving their former constituents or won't be shortly. Yet according to today's Democratic Party talking points, their recalls, the first-ever in state history spurred by the ousted senators' support of gun-control measures passed earlier this year, are only "symbolic" — despite all the money that poured in from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun-control group to save them.

I have found no visible press pushback against this nonsensical claim. How many press members would remain silent if, say, a conservative or Republican special election loser in a congressional race said that his or her loss was "symbolic" because it didn't change who controls the House? (Answer: Zero.) Three reports containing the Dem meme follow the jump.

MSNBC's Hayes Hits New York's De Blasio from Right on Taxing the Wealthy
By Brad Wilmouth | September 10, 2013 | 6:32 PM EDT

Even though MSNBC host Chris Hayes has a history of airing his far-left views and has even admitted to being a "liberal caricature," he does from time to time ask contrarian questions from a conservative point of view, and managed to do so on the Monday, September 9, All In show during an interview with New York Democratic mayoral candidate Bill De Blasio.

On the subject of taxing the wealthy, Hayes brought up criticism from outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the MSNBC host posed:

Columbus OFA Immigration Rally Fizzles; MAIG Rally 'Becomes Pro-Gun Event'; Columbus Dispatch AWOL
By Tom Blumer | August 31, 2013 | 2:52 PM EDT

On Thursday morning, the Columbus Dispatch's Darrel Rowland reported ("Gun battle slated for high noon in downtown Columbus") that "Mayors Against Illegal Guns is coming to Columbus on Friday for an event urging Sen. Rob Portman to support expanding background checks on gun purchases," and that "guns rights groups are planning to make their voices heard, too." There was no follow-up on what happened at the Michael Bloomberg-supported group's rally; we'll see why shortly.

Organizing for Action, the group which exists solely to promote President Barack Obama's agenda, also scheduled a rally to promote illegal-immigrant amnesty in Columbus on Friday. Intrepid center-right blogger Jesse Hathaway reported attendance (HT Twitchy) of perhaps a half-dozen. A search of the first couple of pages (here and here) of results on "immigration" at the Dispatch's web site returned no relevant coverage (results were not sorted by date, but seemed to generally move backwards in time).

Not News: Obama and Bloomberg Summer Events Spectacularly Fizzling
By Tom Blumer | August 24, 2013 | 7:16 PM EDT

In advance of a month full of events oriented towards demonstrating displeasure with lawmakers who won't give carte blanche to President Obama's healthcare, gun control, "climate change," and immigration agendas, Organizing for Action Executive Director Jon Carson claimed that "We will own August." New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Mayors Against Illegal Guns also anticipated high levels of support during this months's "No More Names: National Drive to Reduce Gun Violence" tour.

It hasn't happened in either case. If right-wing, tea party, or social conservative efforts fizzled as OFA's and MAIG's clearly are, those failures would be making headlines, and shown as proof that support for the related causes is weak. By contrast, the national establishment press is mostly ignoring and in some cases obscuring these left-wing implosions.

Hot Air's Pavlich: Mayor Bloomberg Violates Cardinal Rules of Gun Safety During Press Conference
By Ken Shepherd | August 19, 2013 | 6:05 PM EDT

You'd think Mayor Mike Bloomberg would have learned his lesson after his Mayors Against Illegal Guns group was caught earlier this year running ads with an actor violating the cardinal rules of gun safety. But today's NYPD press conference announcing a major gun-trafficking bust proves otherwise.

For her "photo of the day" entry, Hot Air Green Room blogger Katie Pavlich noted how, "[d]uring the press conference and in an effort to take advantage of a good photo-op, the clueless anti-gun zealots pointed the seized firearms at...the audience." The photo shows rows of handguns resting on a blue-clothed table with the muzzles pointed towards the audience. What's more, Pavlich added in an update linking to pro-gun rights site BearingArms.com,  it appears most if not all of the guns "had the actions/bolts closed and the safeties off."

MSNBC Deceptively Edits Bloomberg to Change Meaning of Statement on Stop and Frisk
By Noel Sheppard | August 19, 2013 | 5:26 PM EDT

The folks at MSNBC were at it again Monday.

During a segment on the Martin Bashir show, the producers chose to air only five seconds of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 65-second answer at a press conference Monday to make it appear that he would have a completely different view of Stop and Frisk if he had a son (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NYC Soda Ban Loses Again in Court; Politico, WSJ Portray as 'Blow' to Bloomberg, Not Win for Consumer Freedom
By Ken Shepherd | July 30, 2013 | 5:45 PM EDT

Today another New York state court upheld an earlier decision in March that invalidated outgoing Mayor Mike Bloomberg's much-maligned "soda ban" which restricts many establishments in the Big Apple from selling soda cups larger than 16 ounces in capacity. As the media report on the court ruling, watch for a) the media to paint the ruling as a "blow" to an "ambitious," well-meaning effort by Bloomberg to save the city from corpulence and b) the ruling as a victory for Big Soda, even though the litigants in the case happen to be the New York Statewide Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

For two examples of this media narrative, I submit for your consideration two wildly different publications, Politico and, sadly, the Wall Street Journal. First Politico. Here's how Kyle Cheney opened his July 30 post, "Appeals court cans N.Y.C. soda ban" (emphasis mine):

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Is Using Taxpayer Money To Fund Anti-Gun Campaign, Who Else Will Report?
By Matt Vespa | July 18, 2013 | 3:15 PM EDT

Imagine if you will a conservative Republican mayor used public employees' work time to advocate stricter state-level abortion regulations throughout the country? The Left would, and to an extent rightfully so, raise a fit, and the liberal media would, again, rightly so, beat the drums and make the abuse of power a major national story.

But when it's liberal independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg doing the same thing to push a gun control agenda, the media are not-so-strangely silent, given the media's push for ever-more-restrictive gun laws.

Politico's Haberman Lets Bloomberg Rant About 'Shoot First' Laws Which Were Not Involved in Zimmerman Case
By Tom Blumer | July 15, 2013 | 10:12 AM EDT

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was predictably unhappy with Saturday's verdict in the George Zimmerman case. He used it as an opportunity to go after what he calls "shoot first" laws, which people in the real world refer to as "stand your ground" laws.

It was an irrelevant rant, as Politico's Maggie Haberman pointed out: "In the Zimmerman case, neither the defense nor the prosecution ultimately used “Stand Your Ground.” Zimmerman’s attorneys ... presented a conventional self-defense strategy." Problem is, Haberman waited until her final paragraph to note that, and gave readers every impression that the case was about "stand your ground" up until that point (presented in full for fair use and discussion purposes; bolds are mine):