Stephen Braun

AP: Bill Clinton's Shell Company Only Evidence of 'Complexity'
By Tom Blumer | May 27, 2015 | 3:57 PM EDT

The Associated Press and Stephen Braun did all they could to cover for the Clintons yesterday.

First, the wire service attached the most boring headline imaginable to Braun's story about Bill Clinton's shell company shenanigans: "Bill Clinton company shows complexity of family finances." The message to subscribers, particularly the broadcast networks: "This is boring and time-consuming. Don't waste your time reading this, let alone using it." As Scott Whitlock at NewsBusters noted early this afternoon, "All three networks on Wednesday ignored the latest questions to hit the Clintons and their foundation." So if there was a strategy, it worked. Braun's story was seemingly designed to induce a MEGO (my eyes glaze over) reaction:

AP Rips Hillary's E-mail Claims: 'Striking Departure From the Norm'
By Matthew Balan | March 11, 2015 | 12:49 PM EDT

On Wednesday, Jack Gillum and Stephen Braun of the Associated Press fact-checked five of Hillary Clinton's claims about her e-mail scandal from her Tuesday press conference. Gillum and Braun spotlighted that Clinton is "the only secretary of state known to have conducted all official unclassified government business on a private email address," and pointed out her "striking departure from the norm...to rely exclusively on private email for official business."

AP, Politico, Others Ignoring CNET Scoop: 'NSA Admits Listening to U.S. Phone Calls Without Warrants'
By Tom Blumer | June 16, 2013 | 12:17 PM EDT

In a four-paragraph "Big Story" item time-stamped 10:48 a.m. ("CURRENT, FORMER OFFICIALS BACK SECRET SURVEILLANCE"), Stephen Braun at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, names several Sunday news program guests who he writes are "are supporting the government's collection of phone and Internet data following new revelations about the secret surveillance programs aimed at disrupting terrorist plots." Meanwhile, the Politico is hyping former Vice President Dick Cheney's characterization of Edward Snowden as a "traitor."

Both outlets, and thus far most of the establishment press, are ignoring a report by CNETs Declan McCullagh Saturday afternoon which I believe would be dominating the news by now if anyone except Barack Obama were President. It directly contradicts an assertion Obama made -- "Nobody is listening to your phone calls" -- shortly after the NSA-Snowden story broke, and one of Congress' most liberal Democrats is the source (links are in original; bolds are mine):

Let's See How Many in the Press Go After Obama for Misery Inflicted on Delphi Salaried Workers
By Tom Blumer | August 7, 2012 | 11:59 PM EDT

Since Mitt Romney is supposedly responsible for the death from cancer of a woman who died in 2006, seven years after the presumptive GOP nominee left Bain Capital, it seems more than fair to talk about what has resulted from the Obama administration's blatant favoritism towards UAW members while shafting former Delphi salaried workers.

Tonight, the Associated Press's Adwatch entry by Stephen Braun actually calls out the Obama super-PAC Priorities USA, specifically saying that the assertion by Joe Soptic, the woman's widower, "that Romney bears some blame in his wife's death is not backed up factually in the ad." Fair enough, but, especially because it was in the news today, let's look at the Delphi situation.

New Scientist Names Liberal Wingnut a ‘Science Hero’ of 2008
By Rusty Weiss | December 22, 2008 | 11:17 AM EST
Looney LeftIt would seem New Scientist magazine recently decided to sacrifice credibility in the field of research.  Journalistic research, anyway. 

In their recent article titled, "Science heroes and villains of 2008," New Scientist has taken the liberty of naming some noteworthy individuals in the field.  As their opening salvo states (emphasis mine): 

The collective brain of New Scientist has come up with 8 scientist heroes of the year and people to look out for in 2009, 3 non-scientists who deserve special mention - and two possible bad guys.

Apparently, the collective brain has recently slipped into a vegetative state.

Of the three non-scientists who deserve special mention, one is Philip Munger, an editor of the Progressive Alaska blog, guest of Air America radio broadcasts, and Daily Kos loon.  His contribution to science that earns him the status of hero?  Claiming that Sarah Palin once told him that dinosaurs and humans coexisted.  Ah, my hero.  Einstein, Newton, Hawking... and Munger, of course!