Brian Williams bizarre penchant for making up stories of derring-do, as bad as it is, is not the worst of his journalistic crimes.
Far more damning is the spiking of legitimate news stories that put his political ally, Barack Obama, in an unflattering light.
New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman has revealed that Williams twice in 2013 refused to air major stories about significant occurrences that made Obama look bad. One concerned a Justice Department memo justifying drone strikes against American citizens. The other was about how the Obama Administration had known since 2010 that ObamaCare would cost millions those insurance policies that Obama promised repeatedly that they could keep.
Obviously, these stories were reported elsewhere but not by the then most watched newsman in America.
The only reason Democrats win elections is because information is kept from the voters.
We are not sure if the looming SEPTA ad features this photo of Adolph Hitler with Haj Amin al-Husseini or another.
U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg has ruled that SEPTA must accept advertising featuring a photo of Adolph Hitler with friend and ally Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, with the tagline “Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran.”
SEPTA had rejected the ad on the grounds it violated “minimal civility standards”. SEPTA says it is considering an appeal.
The ads are produced by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a New Hampshire-based group that opposes U.S. aid to Islamic countries and has filed similar lawsuits in New York and other cities.
Judge Goldberg noted that SEPTA has run viewpoint ads on public issues including animal cruelty, birth control, religion and fracking.
Look for it on a trolley or bus or El train near you.
Yesterday (March 11) morning I had a handful of protestors at my Senate district office in York criticizing me over the principled stances that I have been taking in Harrisburg on your behalf, including my efforts to enact Paycheck Protection legislation to prevent taxpayers from paying to collect political money for government unions.
During the demonstration, York County’s Democratic Party Chairman Bob Kefeaver made the claim to me that unions cannot use their member dues for political purposes under current law.
To hear his exact words, click here and you will be taken to York Daily Record reporter Ed Mahon’s website where you can listen for yourself (it is the second video down).
Chairman Kefauver either knows that his comment is untrue or is completely naive as to how dues money is used.
Union dues that have been deducted from teacher paychecks that are sent to the PSEA (Pennsylvania State Education Association) are repeatedly used for political activities – even drawing national attention to this issue by Yahoo News.
The Yahoo News article notes that Mary Trometter, an assistant professor of culinary arts at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board alleging the state’s largest teachers’ union violated a law that says union funds cannot be used to support political candidates.
The PSEA sent a personalized letter to her husband asking him to “join Mary” in voting for Tom Wolf, even though she did not support Tom Wolf and never specified who she was voting for to her union.
In addition, the PSEA acknowledged that similar letters were sent to other PSEA members’ spouses.
Also noted in the Yahoo News article, the November edition of the PSEA magazine featured numerous pro-Wolf ads, potentially violating the Public Employees Relations Act.
And this is just one incident – under the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the dues portion of member dues is eligible for use in SuperPACs.
It is time to correct the lie that union dues are not used for political purposes and put an end to using taxpayer resources to collect money used for political purposes.
In addition, Mr. Kefauver wanted to challenge me over the minimum wage issue and the fact that some people are just unemployable because they cannot pass a drug test and they do not show up for work.
I asked Mr. Kefauver, “How many people do you employ?”
“I don’t employ anybody,” Mr. Kefauver replied.
As an employer, I live with these issues every day.
I have a tough time listening to criticism from someone who does not have first hand experience with it.
That being said, I am not going to let a handful of union protestors intimidate me into backing off of fighting for you and I have every intention of seeing Paycheck Protection make it across the finish line.
Party Boss Gets Schooled In York County
Ed note: I misread Sen. Wagner’s column. The headline has been corrected and my comment below edited.
You don’t need to work in a high-powered law firm to live in Pittsburgh.
A survey by HSH.com, a mortgage research site, indicates that Pittsburgh has the most affordable housing with regard to major metropolitan areas.
HSH.com says that one can buy a home in the Iron City with an income of $31,716 placing it ahead of such garden spots as Cleveland ($32,010), St. Louis, (33,323), Cincinnati ($33,485) and Detroit ($35,521).
Worst on the list is San Francisco where one needs to make $142,448 to buy a house, followed by San Diego at $95,433. You need gold to live in the Golden State. At least if you want to do it legally.
This one-mile island has just appeared off of Tonga in the South Pacific according to The Telegraph.
For the last decade-plus we have been told the islands of the South Pacific are going to disappear due to global warming. Here’s a whole website devoted to the plight of Tuvalu. Ignore the fact that it hasn’t been updated since Nov. 20, 2010.
But what about the islands that are appearing? It sort of puts paid to the idea that “change” is a one-way street.
United Kingdom-based The Telegraph, yesterday, March 11, featured a nice story regarding the appearance of a new one-mile island off Tonga along with its exploration by Tonga residents Gianpiero Orbassano and Branko Sugar along with an unidentified friend.
Of course, maybe the island was there all along and is just moved around by some guy in its basement turning a giant wheel. No mention about any smoke monsters, though.
It’s a two-person, two-part composite shell that measures 9 feet 6 inches by 8 feet 4 inches and is 8 feet 4 inches tall. It weighs about 400 pounds. It features beds, heating and electricity.
One problem is that it gets very hot in the day time. Here’s a thought, Michael, put anchor points on top and include a 8 feet 4 inch aluminum, or even plastic, frame for a reflective canopy to fit on them.
Sharyl Attkisson, Emmy-winning reporter and author of the best-selling book Stonewalled, will be among the speakers at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, April 17-18 at the Radisson Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill.
Other speakers will be Sen. Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai, Phelim McAleer, producer of the film Gosnell and Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center.
While Sears and Boscov’s will remain open along with the connecting halls, according to a cashier at Boscov’s, the J.C. Penney store which has been an anchor since 1974 will be demolished to be replaced with a multi-screen movie theater and retail space.
The existing AMC movie theater will be ripped down for an apartment building. A four-story apartment building will also be placed on the site of the long-gone Chi Chi’s restaurant on Route 352.
