Will the New York Times ombudsman respond to this serious charge from a fellow mainstream journalist — or will it be whitewashed away? David Newhouse, editor of the Patriot-News, has blown the whistle on the Fishwrap of Record’s reckless disclosure of identifying details about one of Penn State accused child predator/rapist Jerry Sandusky’s victims: The Patriot-News, the newspaper that broke the story of the child sex-abuse case against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, has been careful not to reveal the names of the alleged victims in its reporting. But David Newhouse, editor of the Patriot-News, is livid that the New York Times revealed too much information about one of the alleged victims in a story last week. Newhouse says that a Times’ piece (“For a Reported Penn State Victim, a Search for Trust”) written by Nare Schweber and Jo Becker published Wednesday is “so detailed,” a simple Google search of its contents “results in the young man’s name within seconds.” Newhouse’s open statement is here . A damning indictment: n Wednesday’s story in The New York Times, for example, a profile entitled “For a Reported Penn State Victim, a Search for Trust,” reporters Nate Schweber and Jo Becker write a profile so detailed that, even though they do not name him, googling certain information in the profile results in the young man’s name within seconds. The Patriot-News has learned that other news organizations, which did not have the young man’s name, have already done so. Although the Times story has been all over the web, and of course the Times web site draws a huge amount of traffic on its own, we decline to link to it here. The story quotes his next-door neighbor and names his neighborhood. It describes the detailed circumstances of a car accident which was reported in local papers at the time. It says he liked to wear tie-dyed socks. None of these details have the slightest to do with why or how the boy was allegedly befriended and then assaulted over several years by Sandusky. They do not serve the story of Jerry Sandusky. They only serve to make an alleged victim of sexual assault easily identifiable. You could call the anonymity maintained in the story a polite fiction, but there is nothing polite about it. To be clear, the Times story is not alone. It is just the latest and most prominent example so far of such reporting. The pledge of most news organizations to withhold the names of sexual assault victims – men and women, children and adults – is not some journalistic game of who can say the most while following some arbitrary rule. Most media have adopted it because, tragically, reporting sexual assaults still carries a stigma. It is no accident that Victim One was only the second boy to come forward to authorities in what is alleged to have been more than 15 years of assaults by Sandusky. Stories like these, if anything, could discourage future victims from speaking up. Victim One told the grand jury that he had been victimized by Jerry Sandusky. Now one could argue that he is being victimized again – this time, by frenzied news media who essentially name the victim in the pursuit of salacious details, all done in the name of anonymity. Via The American Thinker’s Thomas Lifson: “The Times is now under the supervision of executive editor Jill Abramson, the first woman to occupy this post. She’s not off to a good start.” Over to you, NYT ombudsman.
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Charge: Fishwrap of Record virtually outed Sandusky rape victim
I mentioned a couple of weeks back how I rarely read Newsweek these days, and here’s another example of why. See, ” My Life as a White Supremacist .” No one can forget how Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb in front of a federal building in Oklahoma City in April 19, 1995, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of 6. FBI efforts to avert another outrage have taken on increased importance in recent years, as fears of Islamic terrorism, a sour economy, expanded federal powers under the Patriot Act, and the nation’s first black president have swelled the ranks of extremist groups. Since President Obama’s election, the number of right-wing extremist groups—a term that covers a broad array of dissidents ranging from white supremacists to antigovernment militias—has mushroomed from 149 to 824, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Alabama-based civil-rights group. “What we’re seeing today is a resurgence,” says Daryl Johnson, the former senior domestic terrorism analyst for the Department of Homeland Security. In 2009, the department issued a report warning that “right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength.” And because today’s extremists, unlike their predecessors, have at their disposal online information—bomb-making instructions and terrorist tactics—as well as social-networking tools, the report said, “the consequences of their violence [could be] more severe.” The report, which was quickly withdrawn after an outcry from conservatives, seemed prescient months later when an 88-year-old gunman opened fire on visitors at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Last year, nine members of the Hutaree, a Christian militia, were arrested in a plot to kill police officers in Michigan. In January, Jared Lee Loughner, an Army reject, was charged with going on a shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., killing a federal judge, among others, and severely wounding Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Earlier this month, the FBI arrested four men of pensionable age in Georgia for allegedly plotting to attack federal buildings and release biological toxins on government employees. See what I’m saying? James von Brunn, the suspect in the Holocaust Memorial shooting, was ordered to undergo psychiatric testing while in custody. He hated Jews and neocons. See, Kathy Shaidle, ” Holocaust Museum shooter von Brunn a 9/11 ‘truther’ who hated ‘neo-cons’, Bush, McCain .” And the case against the Hutaree Militia unraveled as soon as prosecutors filed charges. And of course, the completely debunked notion that Tuscon killer Jared Loughner was “right wing” long ago devolved into urban legend territory. Even Diane Sawyer resurrected the meme in her recent interview with Representative Giffords. Pretty bad, eh? See Reason as well, ” Newsweek Cannot Help But Follow Media Tradition of Panic Over Right Wing Extremists .”
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Why Newsweek’s Circling the Drain
At Los Angeles Times , ” Herman Cain denies allegations of sexual harassment .” The full coverage is at Memeorandum , and see The Other McCain , ” Cain Spokesman: ‘Smear Campaign Meant to Discredit a True Patriot’ .”
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Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Allegations
I didn’t want to waste any more energy and space than I needed to yesterday on NYT wackadoodle Paul Krugman’s two-minutes-hate blog post about post-9/11 America. But on the morning after, it is worth calling out the smug coward who flung his op-ed crap against the wall and then deliberately turned off his comments section to avoid any heat in the Times’ kitchen. After ten years, the sum total of Krugman’s 9/11 reflections can be summed up in three words: BUSH! NEOCONS! SHAME! He writes: “Te ( sic ) atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue.” Koward Krugman gripes about partisan hijackers, while dashing off his own petty, partisan snipes. His 181-word turd demonstrates perfectly the leftist approach to combating Islamic jihad: Cut and run. My advice to Koward Krugman is that he shouldn’t be complaining about anyone else’s wedges when he’s using a pair taller than Lady Gaga’s to drive Americans apart. I would also advise him that there are plenty of constructive ways to illuminate bipartisan government failures since 9/11. I’m reprinting my day-after-9/11-anniversary column from eight years ago below to show you how I did it. Koward Krugman’s problem is that he’s a lazy intellectual slob who hurriedly hits the “publish” button before the sand in his little kitchen egg timer empties. He hurls Molotov cocktails at his political enemies, while hiding behind his hallowed desk at the Fishwrap of Record. Shame on him. Shame on the New York Times. *** Spitting on their graves by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate 9/10/03 Across the nation, public officials will strike somber poses and shed television-friendly tears and bow their blow-dried heads in memory of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. They’ll hold hands, light candles, and pass around a plateful of platitudes: “Never forget,” they’ll intone. “Let’s roll,” they’ll thunder. “God bless America,” they’ll warble in perfect harmony. They’ll assure us that they are committed to fighting terror and securing our borders and doing whatever it takes to protect the homeland from another horrific mass murder at the hands of freedom-hating fanatics. And then? And then, from Washington state to Washington, D.C., they’ll go back to work, roll up their sleeves, and spit on the graves of the 9/11 dead. Your pious city councilwoman will return to the office to draft a resolution condemning the common-sense detention and deportation of Middle Eastern illegal aliens suspected of terrorism. Your politically correct police chief will refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in criminal investigations of illegal visa overstayers and border-crossers and ship-jumpers. Your pandering mayor will stealthily renew his policy of preventing city employees from reporting illegal aliens. Your indignant local librarian will promote fear-mongering and misinformation about the Patriot Act. Your regional Chamber of Commerce president will join forces with Canadian and Mexican government representatives to put business interests ahead of border enforcement. Your tuition-thirsty university president will lobby behind closed doors against federal efforts to track foreign students and ensure that they go home when required. Your vote-hungry governor will encourage document fraud through his support of insecure foreign-issued identification cards and driver’s licenses for “undocumented workers.” Your race card-fearing congressman will court Arab and Muslim special interest groups and donors who have coddled Islamists on college campuses, in prisons, and in the U.S. military in the name of “diversity.” Your grandstanding senator will block funding for long-delayed homeland defense measures — such as a national entry-exit system to monitor temporary foreign visitors — even as he whines about the need for more money to ensure our safety. Your incompetent Transportation Security Administration will stonewall pilots who want training to be armed, squander tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on lucrative contracts for weapons-detection equipment that doesn’t work or get used, and continue to ban racial profiling. Your indifferent Interior Department will look the other way as underequipped and understaffed park rangers along the southwestern border remain vulnerable to drug smugglers and terrorists. Your bloated Homeland Security Department will keep Clinton-era holdovers in pivotal positions, reduce routine inspections at seaports in the name of efficiency, and continue to shortchange interior enforcement against deportation fugitives and asylum con artists in favor of duct tape tipsheets and cosmetic color-coded alerts. Your corrupted State Department will appease Saudi terror-backers, reward butt-covering managers, assuage European travel industry tycoons, and continue to defend lax visa screening policies. Your Democratic presidential candidates will unanimously endorse the very kind of amnesty policies that allowed several al Qaeda operatives to infiltrate this country and hatch terrorist plots. And your Republican Party elites will continue to spurn immigration enforcement reformers within their own ranks for fear of alienating ethnic constituencies that will never vote for them anyway. To those who lost their lives on Sept. 11 because their government failed to enforce its borders, laws, and sovereignty, the politicians and bureaucrats and civic leaders will ostentatiously offer one measly day a year of dedication in rhetoric — and 364 days of desecration in deed.
Offutt Air Force Base (home of the 55th Wing – aka ‘The Fighting Fifty-Fifth’) is just south of Omaha, NE on Hwy 75. As pilots approach the landing strip from the north, they are greeted with a special message from a local soybean farmer. The message is carved into the field. It may be difficult to read at this distance, but when the plane gets closer to the runway, the words become quite easy to read. According to several reports, the farmer uses a GPS system to direct him as he cuts the letters for the words. A quick check of the Internet myth-busting site Snopes.com has confirmed that this is not a scam. Additionally, Google Maps displays a new message that was snapped some time earlier this year. So who is the patriot person behind this mile-long Thank You note? The Air Force found out . Two fields are used to communicate these thank you notes. One is located at the intersection of US Highway 75 and Nebraska Highway 370 and the other is located at Ft. Crook Road east of Offutt. Both fields belong to local farmers who allow Chris Shotten to show his appreciation to Offutt’s population. Shotten and about a dozen volunteers from the Superstore where he works, gather in the fields and using 500 stakes and 3,500 pounds of flour, they spell out the message. How does the Air Force feel about it? “Team Offutt is grateful to Mr. Shotten for his ‘thank you’ message,” said Brig. Gen. Donald Bacon, 55th Wing commander. “Our aircrews see this every day. This being my family’s third assignment to Offutt, I find this very indicative of how this wonderful Bellevue community makes our military members feel welcome.”
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What pilots see as they approach Offutt AFB in Nebraska
I found the clip at Instapundit, ” Failed glitter attack on Michele Bachmann .” But see also, Gay Patriot, ” Throwing glitter rather than debating gay marriage “: Yeah, well, throwing stuff is a lot easier than acknowledging your adversary’s points and countering them with well-thought out arguments. But check the whole thing . Lots more links. But the thing I notice at the video, is how easily the protester is able to get to Michele Bachmann. When I first saw Bachmann speak at Knott’s Berry Farm in January 2010, she had a staff aide or body guard keeping people away, and she left quickly after making her speech. At this year’s Horowitz retreat, however, she was meeting and greeting all the guests and taking pictures, etc. I imagine the ambience was like that at Right Online, being around a bunch of fellow partisans, but there are no metal detectors at these big conferences, and it’s scary to think what could very well happen unless she’s better protected by security.
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Michele Bachmann Glittered at Right Online
Wow. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Honestly, though, arrest him if there’s evidence of aiding and abetting terrorism. But don’t just smear the guy using the CIA. Sounds like something from the Nixon years. At New York Times , ” Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic “: WASHINGTON — A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him. Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush, said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor who writes an influential blog that criticized the war. In an interview, Mr. Carle said his supervisor at the National Intelligence Council told him in 2005 that White House officials wanted “to get” Professor Cole, and made clear that he wanted Mr. Carle to collect information about him, an effort Mr. Carle rebuffed. Months later, Mr. Carle said, he confronted a C.I.A. official after learning of another attempt to collect information about Professor Cole. Mr. Carle said he contended at the time that such actions would have been unlawful. It is not clear whether the White House received any damaging material about Professor Cole or whether the C.I.A. or other intelligence agencies ever provided any information or spied on him. Mr. Carle said that a memorandum written by his supervisor included derogatory details about Professor Cole, but that it may have been deleted before reaching the White House. Mr. Carle also said he did not know the origins of that information or who at the White House had requested it. Intelligence officials disputed Mr. Carle’s account, saying that White House officials did ask about Professor Cole in 2006, but only to find out why he had been invited to C.I.A.-sponsored conferences on the Middle East. The officials said that the White House did not ask for sensitive personal information, and that the agency did not provide it. “We’ve thoroughly researched our records, and any allegation that the C.I.A. provided private or derogatory information on Professor Cole to anyone is simply wrong,” said George Little, an agency spokesman. More at that link at top. And what the heck? Check over at Juan Cole’s, the freak: ” Ret’d. CIA Official Alleges Bush White House Used Agency to “Get” Cole ,” and ” Cole on Goodman & CIA Surveillance .” And, ” Repeal the PATRIOT Act is the Lesson of Bush White House Spying .” Nope, not going that far. Patriot Act does not authorize CIA spying domestically. It simply allows coordination of intelligence gathering activities. Longstanding bureaucratic norms would still drive domestic surveillance operations, and frankly, the legacy of the 1960s and 1970s still contributes to a culture of legal safeguards that obviously make cases of spying — like that alleged against Professor Juan Cole — beyond the pale. Bust him if he’s a treasonous dirtbag. Otherwise, let him spew his bilious hatred. No doubt he’s earned some enemies on that basis alone.
CARLISLE, Pa. (The Blaze/AP) — A central Pennsylvania school has a woolly plan to keep its grass neatly trimmed. The Carlisle Area School District says it can save up to $15,000 a year by turning over some landscaping chores to sheep. The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports the district is using the sheep to keep the grass near its solar panels neatly trimmed. The sheep nibble grass in the morning and take refuge in the shade of the panels in the afternoon. With the food already on hand, the district need only supply the sheep with water. A middle school assistant principal is providing the sheep. Eric Sands says he’s still trying to figure out exactly how many sheep he needs to use to keep the area clear. “Right now, we’re testing how many sheep the solar area can maintain. … It looks like the grass is still growing, so I’m going to have to bring in more,” he told the Patriot-News. According to the outlet, the practice of using sheep is popular: Dan Ludwig is a grazing specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service based in Lebanon County. He said leasing animals for grazing on swaths of government and private land is a growing business. For example, Whistling Straits golf course in Kohler, WI — which has hosted such prestigious tournaments as the PGA Championship — has a flock of sheep that grazes on the course grounds. — Information from: The Patriot-News, http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews
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PA School Saves $15,000 by Letting Flock of Sheep Trim the Grass
She writes the “Private Parts” column at Forbes. And she’s good : Unless you unplugged during Memorial Day weekend, and never managed to plug back in, you’ve heard of ‘Weinergate.’ Back story for those that have been in the hospital with firework injuries: a conservative blog reported over the weekend that New York representative Anthony Weiner tweeted a photo of the Congressional member’s member at a young woman in Washington. No actual nudity was involved, though an outline of the littlest member of Congress is visible in the photo of gray boxer briefs and a man’s thighs. The story has been the perfect storm for news coverage, involving social media, political scandal, and fun word play given Rep. Weiner’s last name. Weiner has called it a prank, saying initially that his Twitter account must have been hacked. Lots of media are reporting on the story but with little evidence to go on. The photo was taken down right away from Rep. Weiner’s Yfrog account, saved and noticed only by a Twitter user with a conservative bias with the handle PatriotUSA76. Topsy.com indicates the original tweet was retweeted just 16 times, which seems odd since Weiner has tens of thousands of followers on Twitter. Weiner himself originally joked about the incident, but now, Day 5 into Weinergate, is making clear that he’s sick of answering questions about it. The scandal would have stamina regardless, but unfortunately for Weiner, this happened at a terrible time — during a holiday weekend, when there’s little other news. Weiner’s attempts to move on seem to just be making it worse. You can say that again. More at the link . Also at U.S. News , ” PR Pros Say Weiner Is Bungling the Twitter Sex Scandal .” Fox News is reporting that Congressman Weiner will speak to the media shortly. I asked previously if Weiner would resign ? I don’t think so, but he may come clean and let the chips fall where they may. We’ll see.
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Kashmir Hill: The Perfect Media Storm That Is ‘Weinergate’
