And do you know what she said to him about them?
The EPA press release attacking the AP reporters is also, in addition to the authoritarian aspect and the lying aspect, strikingly amateurish. It does not read like something you would expect to see from a federal agency staffed by grownups.
I mean really –
Good afternoon –
Yesterday, the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker wrote an incredibly misleading story about toxic land sites that are under water.
That sounds like a couple of teenagers gossiping, not a civil servant informing the public about emergency pollution management.
Despite reporting from the comfort of Washington, Biesecker had the audacity to imply that agencies aren’t being responsive to the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. Not only is this inaccurate, but it creates panic and politicizes the hard work of first responders who are actually in the affected area.
Says the deeply political appointee in charge of a federal agency that should be all about the science but was hijacked by political fanatics.
Unfortunately, the Associated Press’ Michael Biesecker has a history of not letting the facts get in the way of his story. Earlier this summer, he made-up a meeting that Administrator Pruitt had, and then deliberately discarded information that refuted his inaccurate story – ultimately prompting a nation-wide correction. Additionally, the Oklahoman took him to task for sensationalized reporting.
Where are the adults??
Oh, the Oklahoman took him to task? Well, then I’d better listen, right?
The Oklahoman is a newspaper that has had an agenda for at least 30 years. They promote right wing politics and anti-government stories, and often ignore the facts if they are inconvenient. They spent years targeting a state appointed employee, Director of the Department of Human Services, mostly because they didn’t like “welfare”. They spent years targeting a gubernatorial candidate (and later governor). In both these cases, there were some grains of truth (and some rather large grains, unfortunately) in the stories they printed, but they blew things up to try and destroy people, not to try and make things better. They were only interested in inflicting pain on those they did not like.
I presume they have not changed for the better in the decade I’ve been away from Oklahoma.
Notice how this completely dodges Biesecker’s reporting. The problem isn’t that unnamed “agencies aren’t being responsive” or that first responders aren’t working hard. The problem is that one specific agency – the EPA – hasn’t got any “first responders” at the flooded Superfund sites despite the risk of environmental catastrophe.
He just dreamed it up! He fantasized it to suit his story! Well, the meeting was scheduled and all, but ol’ lying Biesecker just went ahead and assumed a scheduled meeting actually took place. What a liar.
“Where are the grown ups?”
Well, we all know the answer to that. The grownups were fired and replaced with …
er,
I think a cross between “Lord of the Flies” and that episode of Star Trek where the crazy children, possessed by an evil being, plot to destroy everything around them.
Oh yes, “And the Children Shall Lead”. Sounds about right.