NB ToonsDay | Life in Obama's USA (Under Surveillance, Always

For today's NB ToonsDay, what else but a collection of cartoons about the Obama administration snooping around on civilian phone calls, emails, etc. Click "read more" to see them, but beware, the government is watching you laugh!
NB Staff
June 11th, 2013 7:35 PM

Gore Accuses Koch Brothers of Being 'Purveyors of the Dirtiest Energy

Former Vice President Al Gore made some disgraceful statements about the Koch brothers Tuesday. Participating in a Google+ Conversation, Gore accused two of the nation's largest employers of being "purveyors of the dirtiest energy on earth" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
June 11th, 2013 7:17 PM

MSNBC's Wolffe Compares Darrell Issa to IRS Corruption

Appearing on Monday's The Last Word show, MSNBC.com Executive Editor Richard Wolffe -- formerly of Newsweek -- joined MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell in defending the actions of IRS employees who focused on Tea Party groups for scrutiny, and ended up suggesting that it was Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, rather than the IRS, that was "acting out of public view for purely partisan reasons…
Brad Wilmouth
June 11th, 2013 6:42 PM

NYTimes, WSJ Fail to Quote Critics of Plan B in Story About Obama Back

Yesterday evening the Obama administration announced it would back down from plans to fight a federal judge's ruling that the Plan B emergency contraception pill must be made available over-the-counter and without age restriction in U.S. pharmacies. Previously the FDA permitted over-the-counter sales to girls and women aged 17 and older and the Obama administration wished to revise that age…
Ken Shepherd
June 11th, 2013 6:26 PM

Was Martin Luther King Wiretapped ‘Because He Was Campaigning for Ci

With attention drawn to government surveillance of citizens, some in the media are recalling that this has long been an issue.   Columnist Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star, a publication of the Chicago Sun-Times, did so in a recent column, "Do you want security or freedom?":  When Communists were suspected of conspiring to undermine our country, innocent political activists were targeted in…
Mike Bates
June 11th, 2013 6:17 PM

Puzzled Matt Lauer to O'Reilly: 'You Think There's Been Less Transpare

In an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer seemed perplexed by the Fox News host asserting that "the Obama administration doesn't tell us anything" about numerous government scandals: "So you think there's been less transparency under this administrations than there has been under past administrations?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump…
Kyle Drennen
June 11th, 2013 5:13 PM

CBS Hounds Rand Paul on NSA Spying Scandal: 'Why Only Now Raise These

Norah O'Donnell unsurprisingly conducted a confrontational interview of Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, pummeling the Kentucky Republican for his strong opposition to the National Security Agency's controversial PRISM surveillance program. The anchor played up how "all three branches of government have approved this surveillance" after Paul asserted that "we don't want the…
Matthew Balan
June 11th, 2013 4:48 PM

MSNBC Anchor Tries, Fails to Get Guests to Blame Bush For NSA Snoopin

MSNBC anchor Alex Witt took it upon herself to defend President Obama’s reputation on Saturday’s Weekends with Alex Witt. To do so, she employed a favorite liberal tactic: blame George W. Bush for what goes wrong in the Obama administration. Witt was chatting with David Nakamura of The Washington Post about the NSA’s secret surveillance programs that have recently come to light. It’s a topic…
Paul Bremmer
June 11th, 2013 4:31 PM

ABC Gushes Over Hillary on Twitter, a Sad Sam Champion Laments: Clinto

  Good Morning America hasn't made time to cover a possible prostitution scandal involving Hillary Clinton's State Department, but the show's hosts gushed over the politician's debut on Twitter. News reader Josh Elliott thrilled, "Hillary Clinton has arrived on Twitter. And, boy, does she have people talking because in part of her description of herself." After reading the description of…
Scott Whitlock
June 11th, 2013 4:18 PM

Russell Brand: Conservatives are ‘Perverts

Russell Brand is living up to his raunchy reputation of cracking sex jokes about conservatives.  The crass British comedian today announced that he thinks conservative republicans with traditional views on sexuality are “perverts.” Interviewing with HuffPo Live’s Josh Zepps, Brand said that he doesn’t know anyone who isn’t interested in sexuality. When host Zepps replied that he knew “a few…
Lauren Enk
June 11th, 2013 4:00 PM

Time.com Still Fawning Over Hillary Clinton Twitter Account While Igno

Yesterday, my colleague Matt Vespa noted how Time writer (and former BuzzFeeder) Zeke Miller had room to fawn over Hillary Clinton setting up a Twitter account, yet no space to mention allegations of widespread drug and prostitution use by her security detail when she was Secretary of State. Checking back at Time.com today and searching for "State Department," I found that the magazine has…
Ken Shepherd
June 11th, 2013 3:48 PM

CNN Touts Hillary Clinton's Twitter Account; Barely Reports Accusation

[UPDATED BELOW] For hours on Monday and Tuesday, CNN hyped a positive Hillary Clinton story while ignoring a negative Clinton story. While both stories broke on Monday morning, CNN only touted one of them on Monday: Clinton joining Twitter. And the network spent almost 10 minutes discussing it on Tuesday morning. In contrast, it took until 11 a.m. on Tuesday for CNN to even mention serious…
Matt Hadro
June 11th, 2013 3:43 PM

PBS NewsHour Plans First Layoffs in Two Decades as Revenues Decline

After being able to avoid ups and downs in the economy, the PBS NewsHour nightly newscast is laying off employees for the first time in nearly 20 years. According to the New York Times, the show's production company will close its two offices outside of the Washington, DC area. The show is facing a significant budgetary shortfall of almost one-fourth of its $28 million annual budget:
Matthew Sheffield
June 11th, 2013 3:22 PM

FNC's Goldberg: 'I Don't Understand' Why Obama 'Doesn't Like the Press

Appearing on Monday's The O'Reilly Factor, FNC contributor Bernie Goldberg commented on the dominant news media ignoring or downplaying congressional hearings on the Obama administration IRS scandal, and wondered why President Obama is so critical of the media as he asserted that the President's approval rating would be 20 points lower if the media covered Obama scandals "honestly." Goldberg:
Brad Wilmouth
June 11th, 2013 2:40 PM