Archive for the ‘media’ Category

Obama’s failures during the 2009 pandemic

Posted: March 10, 2020 by chrisharper in media, Uncomfortable Truths

 By Christopher Harper

Just after announcing a national emergency to combat the N1H1 H1N1 virus in 2009, President Obama went out for a round of golf. Later, he appointed Elmo, the Sesame Street character, as the national spokesperson on how to combat the virus. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103135.html

All told, nearly 13,000 died from the virus. But President Obama got nary a mention of criticism during the year-long battle against the virus.

Contrast the media coverage of the 2009 outbreak with the press attacks on President Trump. DaTimes went so far as to call COVID-19 “the Trumpvirus.” See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/opinion/coronavirus-trump.html

After looking through the archives of DaTimes and DaPost, I found almost no serious analysis of what Obama did wrong in 2009.

In April 2009, the virus was a combination of bird, swine, and human flu viruses further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term “swine flu.”

The Centers for Disease Control estimated the following illness and death rates from April 2009 to April 2010:

–CDC estimated that about 61 million people were infected.
–About 274,000 people ended up in the hospital.
–About 13,000 people died, mainly people over 65.

The leading suggestions from the Obama administration at the outset of the pandemic included washing hands and sneezing into one’s arm. 

An internal report, which was completed six months after the outbreak of the virus, suggested that the president appoint one official to coordinate the efforts. See https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/BARDA/documents/2009%20pcast-h1n1.pdf

Trump made his vice president the coordinator almost immediately, although he faced widespread criticism for the choice.

As the crisis worsened, Obama and his team ramped up the production of a vaccine. By October, an estimated 120 million doses were supposed to be available. Only 15 million hit hospitals, with people waiting in long lines to get the vaccine.

In one of the rare criticisms of the Obama effort, DaPost wrote: “The federal government’s unprecedented campaign to protect the nation against the swine flu pandemic has gotten off to a sputtering start, frustrating parents, pregnant women, and others anxious to get immunized against the new virus.” See https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102204707.html

Compare the stumbling performance of the Obama team to the 2009 crisis with that of the Trump administration. Maybe the media should do the same, but that’s not going to happen because today’s journalists don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good story. 

Justice Thomas Doc — Not on Netflix

Posted: January 28, 2020 by julietteochieng in American Success Stories, media
Tags: , , , , ,

Ginny and Clarence Thomas

by baldilocks

J.J. Sefton of Ace of Spades HQ reviews the new Clarence Thomas documentary.

Besides President Trump, arguably one of the most transformative figures to emerge onto the American political landscape in half a century is Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas. Yet, it’s not his stellar legal mind, reflected in scores of brilliant opinions he has penned over the course of his nearly 29-year career at the highest court in the land that earns for him that status. Sadly, it is merely for the fact the he is a black man who, after coming of age in the repressive Democrat Deep South and even embracing the black radicalism of the late 60s ultimately had the scales fall from his eyes and dared reject the political Democrat-Left plantation. But when he was nominated to take the seat vacated by Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court that he became not only their worst nightmare, but an existential threat.

Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, a new documentary slated for release at the end of the month, is a powerful journey back in time, told mostly by Thomas in his own words, and in some segments by his remarkable wife Ginny and mentor and champion, former Senator John Danforth

I’ve always admired Justice Thomas as do most who have read his autobiography My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir. By the way, in the book a reader can find yet another display of the character defects of one Joseph Biden.

And I remember Barack Obama’s public and pointless insult toward Thomas during one of the 2008 presidential debates.

Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, “with all due respect” the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy.

Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that “that’s a good one,” and then adding that “I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don’t think that he, I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretation of a lot of the Constitution.” The Democrat added that he also wouldn’t have appointed Antonin Scalia, and perhaps not John Roberts, though he assured the audience that at least they were smart enough for the job.

The nerve of some people. It was like a donkey trying to squash an elephant.

Oh wait …

Anyway, read the entire review. I plan on seeing the documentary when it gets here on the 31st.

Juliette Akinyi Ochieng has been blogging since 2003 as baldilocks. Her older blog is here.  She published her first novel, Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game in 2012.

Follow Juliette on Facebook, Twitter, MeWe, Patreon and Social Quodverum.

Hit Da Tech Guy Blog’s Tip Jar !

Or hit Juliette’s!

The Virginia #2a Tweet Awards!

Posted: January 21, 2020 by datechguy in culture, media, News/opinion, politics, special events
Tags: ,

Thanks to a combination of a left arm still unable to shovel, a wife deserving a good night’s sleep, the need for additional confession and weekly scheduled adoration I found myself away from my laptop until nearly 2 pm yesterday meaning that the 1st report I had as to what was going on in Richmond Virginia at the 2nd Amendment Rally came from my son repeating what his ultra liberal friend(s) were sending him him about White Supremacists etc when I picked up up just after noon. I told him at the time that because his friends resided in the liberal bubble their information was unlikely to be accurate or complete which proved to be prophetic when we finally got home after picking up DaWife and finally getting to sources of info that were not being censored by youtube or pre-written by folks trying to advance a meme rather that write news.

The 1st clue to the truth of this came at lunch with CNN as usual in the background on one TV at our favorite lunch haunt (the one drawback to the place). The lack of live coverage and breathless headlines during our meal demonstrated that all was not going as the media expected.

It also demonstrated the value of conservatives not abandoning Twitter as it became an excellent avenue to disseminate reality to people who wished to deny it as the 2nd Amendment march in the former 2nd Capital of the Confederacy turned out to be typical of tea party events that I had covered for many years while foiling every hope of a left media breathlessly waiting to proclaim a Charlottesville or a Kent State.

So today let’s look at five of those tweets and my responses that in my opinion illustrated the events of the day so well.

Don’t touch that Play Button, Part 1

Twitter is in many ways a lazy medium where many people will send a tweet with a link and video and people will either not click the video or follow the link allowing you to make any meme you want stick. That strategy however fails pretty miserably if people do

There are few things less frightening that a video of people walking down the street doing absolutely nothing threatening

Don’t Touch that Play Button 2

If you’re going to be a blue checked NBC reporter tweeting out clips of chants at a live event it does behoove you to match the chant with the clip you claim to be tweeting out to make the media’s contention that unlike bloggers you have layers of fact checkers credible.

The Scott Brown Election Night Memorial Clip

The saddest look I ever saw on the MSM’s face was the election night when Scott Brown won in Massachusetts but this one wasn’t all that far off. it’s even worse when the 1st guy interviewed is named Manny Cruz. Maybe he’s one of those “White Hispanics”. Anderson Cooper was even more taken aback here

His face says it all it looks like he’s going to throw up.

DaTechGuy’s Laws of Media outrage in Action

Nothing gets a story demoted faster on a MSM webpage than a Democrat/media narrative that is unmet by reality.

Moment of Accidental MSM/Left Clarity #1

Don’t you dare get the idea that the right isn’t violence just because there wasn’t any. Yeah there was no violence by the right, but that’s only because the tolerant and noble left wasn’t there to cause it!

Moment of Accidental MSM/Left Clarity #2

I remember covering a big tea party event during the 2012 primaries in NH that some expected trouble at. There was a single cop and not a harsh word to be said. The police at these events know when they’re in danger and when they’re not

I am the Ghost of Teaparties Past

Maybe Baltimore or SF can invite these folks to rally for gun right there. It will save them millions from their sanitary budget.

600 miles away the crime wave begins…

Why do I have the feeling channel 7 Boston would have been highlighting something different if the narrative had been met?

We’re all gonna die! Again!

One of the problems of constantly predicting doom a/la Peter Cook in the Secret Policeman’s Other Ball over the course of several years is that when voters who expected to be imprisoned, starving or living in a state of anarchy surrounded by the dead tend to notice when on election day they find themselves with good jobs in a booming economy on election day with nary a body in sight.

Meanwhile back in Bubble World…

My son’s friend’s likely only source of news but in fairness somewhere in the multiverse this reality might exist, perhaps in the same reality where the Crisis on Infinite Networks Letterkenny & the Witcher crossover is taking place.

The “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” award

Or, if you can’t get the nonviolent ordinary citizens who are opposing you to display the violence you insisted was inherent in their system you might as well blame said lack of violence on your decisive actions and forethought.

They mentioned the fence the Governor put up in that clip and I’ll close with a tweet commenting on that.

9th surprise, Adam Who? CNN as Tragedy, CNN as Comedy and two SB stats Under the Fedora

Posted: January 20, 2020 by datechguy in media, News/opinion, nfl, politics, Sports
Tags:

If you want to know why the left is so afraid of Donald Trump this headline says it all:

9th Circuit Dismisses Climate Change Lawsuit Brought By Kids

The idea that a federal court would dismiss a frivolous lawsuit is in general not all that odd a thing, but that the 9th circuit, the historical court of liberal insanity is doing so is a sign of the difference Donald Trump is making.

This was the fun story of the week.

Let’s point out that Congressman Schiff was on TV constantly, the media was pushing him constantly, newspapers were mentioning him constantly and three contestants on Jeopardy, the folks who know everything about everything had no idea who the hell he was, even with a picture. included.

That’s how little impeachment means to the public.

Speaking of things nobody cares about the media outrage over Senator McSally putting media hack Manu Raju in his place is really funny:

Given the abysmal ratings of CNN these days, the complete disintest by the country in impeachment and the low opinion the press is currently held while their anger is in fact a “tale told by an idiot” or rather idiots and does “signify nothing” I don’t think it their whining rises to the level of being “full of sound and fury” although it is full of something.

I’m really enjoying all of the outrage by the Bernie Sanders fans and others over CNN as being biased:

The big loser of the night was the network that hosted the event. CNN was so consistently aligned against Bernie Sanders that it compromised its claim to journalistic neutrality.

That’s from that well known right wing bastion the Nation in fact some Bernie sites are taking direct action:

A Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) subreddit has banned all content from CNN over the network’s coverage of the presidential candidate.

A moderator with the r/SandersForPresident subreddit, which has more than 373,000 members, announced the decision on Wednesday following the presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa.

The post argues that CNN, which hosted Tuesday evening’s debate, has “abandoned their journalistic integrity” in an effort to derail Sanders’ campaign.

The level of outrage is really amusing as much worse than all of this is the kind of treatment that any conservative who isn’t willing to attack conservatives is subjected to daily.

Of course the Sanders crew has never been outraged over this kind of behavior as long as it’s directed at conservatives, but the idea that they might be the target, is beyond the pale.

cue the Troll in chief

Point and laugh time.

Finally it’s the Chiefs vs the 49ers in the Superbowl in two weeks. Basically an unstoppable offense vs an impenetrable defense but there are two stats that I find amusing going into this game

Stat 1: Going into the playoffs there were four QB’s in the playoffs that are locks for the hall of fame. Brees, Brady, Rogers and Wilson. Only Rogers made it to the final four and none of them made it to the big game suggesting this will be the passing of the torch.

Stat 2: If San Francisco wins this will be Jimmy G’s 3rd Superbowl ring as he won two with the Pats, one as a backup all season and the other starting a pair of games without losing one (he gone by the time they lost to the Eagles) that will put him at a full half Brady and he’s just getting started.

Older Entries
Newer Entries