Is CNN Civily & Criminally Liable For Blackmail?

via instapundit.com,

http://thefederalist.com/2017/07/05/cnns-threat-dox-redditor-tells-us-state-journalism/

"...This is a threat. There is simply no other way for an open-minded person to comprehend the meaning of the line. I’ve read thousands of news stories and written a bunch of them, and I can’t think of a single instance I’ve ever run across a similar disclaimer. CNN has absolved the man of his sins. For now.  I guess if HanA**holeSolo does anything they deem ugly, the network reserves the right to put him in “danger”?..."

What makes this even more ominous, is that buzzfeed.com is reporting that CNN outed the wrong guy.

http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2017/07/05/if-buzzfeed-is-correct-it-appears-cnns-andrew-kaczynski-outed-the-wrong-guy/?utm_campaign=twitchywidget

"...The problem is that there is a still-unknown third party here who is just as important, if not more important, to this story.
If the question is what is Trump or Trump’s team looking at, then the fact this video is based on a GIF from Reddit only means that whoever made the video version reads /r/The_Donald. Whoever forwarded the video almost certainly didn’t get it off Reddit.
The video most likely came from a far-right Facebook page that routinely scrape /r/The_Donald and 4chan for memes..."

If this is in fact the case, then this guy just might end up owning a significant portion of CNN. It's being reported that a legal fund has been set up and that lawyers are being sought (specifically, the lawyer Peter Thielle hired to take on the Hulk Hogan lawsuit). If that is true, then CNN is in deep shit. $100,000,000.00 worth. All it takes is that single sentence "CNN reserves the right to..." That can only mean they meant to blackmail this guy...not to mention impinging his 1st Amendment right to say ugly or evil shyte.

Secondly, Ted Cruz, who you might not like, but is a very good lawyer quotes GA law,

"Troubling. I assume CNN's lawyers are examining GA § 16-8-16 Theft by extortion. If CNN constructively obtained the gif-maker's IP... https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/882624428479307776
...it's a GA crime if they threatened to "Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule....https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/882625143968759810

Assuming Mr. Cruz is correct, then CNN is further liable to criminal prosecution.

Impeach Obama: Perhaps The Time Has Come...

With the latest violation of law by this administration it is perhaps time to seriously consider impeachment.  Judge Jeanine Pirro puts it this way:

( Video via Western Free Press @ Right Scoop.)

Full transcript via Fox News Insider: Judge Jeanine to Obama: ‘Your Actions Demand Impeachment’

There is a sacred trust between a country and its leader, between a president and the people he leads. When a leader violates that trust, the people from whom he derives his power have the inalienable right to remove him. 

You may agree or disagree with what I’m about to say; it’s not meant to be political.

Whatever the context, when you let things slide – one after another – the foundation deteriorates. Even water sliding down a rock begins to wear at it and break it down. And like that rock, our very existence is in jeopardy. Barack Obama has put us in that jeopardy yet again. 

The latest: exchanging a man whose own platoon soldiers call a “deserter,” who voluntarily left his unit during combat – in itself a death-eligible crime – for five of the worst Taliban terrorists in Gitmo. 

Obama sends out old faithful Susan Rice to say this of Bowe Bergdahl:

      “He served the United States with honor and distinction.” 

What? Even the White House had to re-spin that. 

Now Susan, isn’t English your first language? Weren’t you briefed on what to say? And not for nothing, don’t you know that those Sunday morning talk shows are a danger zone for you? But then again, that despicable video lie got you moved up to national security adviser. 

And ironically, the reason for the trade:

     “What we did was ensure that as always the United States doesn’t leave a man or a woman on the battlefield.”

Pray tell, Susan, is it OK to leave some behind?

The trade surprised even Congress:

      “It comes with some surprise and dismay that the transfers went ahead with no consultation, totally not following the law.” 

And that’s a Democrat! 

Enter our president:

“We had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated, and we were deeply concerned about and we saw an opportunity and we seized it, and I make no apologies for that.” 

But when key senators didn’t buy the “ill” excuse, a new narrative emerged: the Taliban would kill Bergdahl if you followed U.S. law and told Congress. Seriously? 

Mr. President, my sources tell me you knew Bergdahl’s location for months. Why didn’t you send in SEAL Team 6? It would have made another great photo op. Why didn’t you send in those drones? Could it be, Mr. President, he was your excuse to release 5 Taliban terrorists from Gitmo? Those five men, the worst of the worst. Some wanted by the U.N. for mass murders, killing thousands, al Qaeda-connected, these are the guys who behead their enemies, including children. They hate America and everything we stand for. And you release them – knowing many return to the battlefield – because Arab country Qatar assured you that they do not pose a threat to us? And you’re good with that? You buy it? You think 12 years in Gitmo has softened their resolve to kill us? 

Mr. President, you didn’t just release them, you unleashed them, and you and you alone will be responsible for the hell that will be unleashed on us. You have teed us up for death and destruction. And don’t give me this hogwash that they are prisoners of war who have to be freed when we leave Afghanistan. They are not prisoners of war. The Taliban is not a country. They are enemy combatants who can be held indefinitely and should have been tried for their crimes. And as much as you want to take terms like “Islamic extremists” and “jihad” out of our lexicon, the War on Terror is far from over. 

You didn’t have to release them. And I don’t give a damn whether you try them at Gitmo, in a military tribunal or in a federal court. United States attorneys have prosecuted these dirt bags and convicted them time and again. 

Here’s the bottom line: you negotiated with terrorists. You broke the very law that you signed. You have shown terrorists that they can win concessions by kidnapping Americans. In the history of this country we have never traded mass murderers for a deserter.

My father and grandfather fought in World War II. Ironically, you go to Normandy 70 years later – where my grandfather was injured – and make like you respect the military.

You call yourself a commander-in-chief. But what commander-in-chief doesn’t support a surge, but sends in 40,000 troops anyway? What commander-in-chief reduces benefits to to those in the military? Closes the Veterans War Memorial? Reduces the army to pre-World War II levels? Knowingly allows veterans to die in our hospitals, while replenishing the enemy in a time of war? 

Mr. President: you are destroying this country. You have diminished us on the world stage. You have trampled on the very laws you swore to uphold. You are not a true commander-in-chief. We’ve impeached a president for lying about sex with an intern. Your actions, far more egregious, demand impeachment. - [.] – END -

The US Constitution provides for the removal of a President or Vice president in Article II, Section  4 and reads;

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Obama has violated the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) by repeatedly moving deadlines, that are set within the law.  He doesn't have the Constitional right to change laws passed by Congress without Congressional approval. He has not yet had that approval.  He violated the law by negotiating with terrorists to return a deserter from combat (an offense that the Uniform Code of Military Justice permits the death penalty).

When you include the IRS' targeting of conservative organizations in a blatant attempt to suppress opponents of the current president...then of course there is Benghazi...where both  the President, Vice President, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser all lied to the country about the attack that lead to the death  of an Ambassador as well as three others, in an attack that lasted NINE HOURS!

While I tremble in fear at the mere idea of Joe Biden becoming president...can we continue to afford the current incumbent's actions?  Can we afford to have a president who honestly believes that the Constitution doesn't apply to him?  If it doesn't apply to him, then it doesn't apply to ANYONE!

This is something that we as a nation may well have to think very hard about. Does anyone honestly believe that if this president was a Republican, that the media wouldn't be actively pushing for his impeachment?  Really?

CBO Refruits Claims of Factcheck on ObamaCare

 I wrote the following to factcheck.org about thier claims that the GOP was overstating the case against ObamaCare.  They were wrong.  The CBO has recently released a report (link below) stating that ObamaCare will actually be a major tax increase as well as cause significant losses in jobs in the near as well as long term.

Dear Sir,

Three years ago you said that ObamaCare wouldn't hurt America...here is what you said:

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/01/a-job-killing-law/

We find:

• Independent, nonpartisan experts project only a "small" or "minimal" impact on jobs, even before taking likely job gains in the health care and insurance industries into account.
• The House Republican leadership, in a report issued Jan. 6, badly misrepresents what the Congressional Budget Office has said about the law. In fact, CBO is among those saying the effect "will probably be small."
• The GOP also cites a study projecting a 1.6 million job loss — but fails to mention that the study refers to a hypothetical employer mandate that is not part of the new law.
• The same study cited by the GOP also predicts an offsetting gain of 890,000 jobs in hospitals, doctors’ offices and insurance companies — a factor not mentioned by the House leadership.

Now, the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan organization has found that:

"The nonpartisan agency found the reform law’s negative effects on the economy would be “substantially larger” than what it had previously anticipated.
It said the equivalent of 2.3 million workers would be lost by 2021, compared to its previous estimate of 800,000, and that 2.5 million workers would be lost by 2024. It also projected that labor force compensation would be reduced by 1 percent from 2017 to 2024 — twice its previous estimate — and that declining economic growth would add $1 trillion more to deficits."
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/197365-cbo-o-care-slowing-growth#ixzz2sOZyubWF

You said that Republicans were misstating the facts of the law...are you willing to retract that statement?

"When it comes to truth in labeling, House Republicans are getting off to a poor start with their constantly repeated references to the new health care law as "job-killing.""

It now appears that you were wrong. When will you issue a retraction?

Rich Vail

Pikesville, MD

"The task of weaning various people and groups from the national nipple will not be easy. The sound of whines, bawls, screams and invective will fill the air as the agony of withdrawal pangs finds voice." -Linda Bowles

I suspect that because in the blogging world, I'm a small fish and they will ignore me.

hat tip: Instapundit

Media Bias: Neil Cavuto Reveals Bias in Bridgegate & Benghazi Reporting

Here, nakedly, is the bias of the mainstream media on news that can injure a Conservative or soft pedal a Liberal Democrats.  Neil Cavuto has put together a video that shows the difference between how the media covers a Conservative and Liberals.  It's ugly...and plainly shows that the media has now become a propaganda arm of the Democratic party.



You decide.  Please spread this video far and wide.

HT: GatewayPundit.

If Obama Was a Republican...

NYTimes Has Begun the Character Assasination of Ted Cruz

Gail Collins of the NYTimes has begun the character assassination of Ted Cruz.  She's doing this to start, even now, preparing the 2016 presidential election battlefield.  Ann Althouse has posted a great take down of Ms. Collins article.  She lists 5 problems with the Times piece.

1. Somebody get Gail Collins a thesaurus. For "stupendous," try "astonishing." It's got that huffy, aghast tone you seem to be looking for. I know, "stupendous" is tempting because it gives the feeling that you're calling your target stupid, but when you find something "stupendous," you're actually confessing to stupor on your own part, and literally, if you are in a stupor, you are stupid.

2. This woman-defending-woman column ends with a recipe metaphor. Is that good gender politics? It resonates with what I think is Collins's effort to make us see this interplay between 2 U.S. Senators in terms of a man patronizing a woman.

3. Cruz's questions were about the security of our constitutional rights: Why did humor belong in that recipe?

4. Where was this "self-righteousness"? Collins's evidence is that Cruz used the phrases “My... point is," "in my opinion," “I would point out," and "In my view." This phobia about first-person-singular pronouns is silly. It's used against Obama all the time. What does Collins think of all those right-wing bloggers who will inform you about how many times Obama says "I" in a given speech? I'll bet she thinks it's... stupid. I certainly do.

5. Cruz also referred to his role as counsel in Heller (the Supreme Court's biggest 2d Amendment case) — another thing Collins considered self-referential and self-righteous. But Collins began her column building up Dianne Feinstein's stature because of her encounter with the fatally wounded Harvey Milk and George Moscone many years ago. Does personal experience lend weight to political opinion or not? Feinstein said: "I walked in, I saw people shot. I’ve looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I’ve seen the bullets that implode." That's at least as self-referential and self-righteous as Cruz's statement that he was not "unfamiliar" with Heller given that he worked on the case.

Ms. Collins in particular and the MSM in general are preparing the battlefield for the tactics of personal destruction to use on Mr. Cruz.  If they can marginalize him now, since as a Hispanic Conservative, he (like Sarah Palin before him) is a threat to the whole Liberal meme (they support minorities and women).

If the MSM can successfully marginalize Cruz NOW, he won't be a threat to either Biden, Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama (yes, she's already being touted as presidential material on the left) in 2016.

We, in the grass roots blogging community need to begin our pushback NOW, BEFORE the narrative is set in concrete.  I would urge everyone who has a blog to start publishing pushback against articles on Cruz, so that even Google searches won't be able to hide positive mentions of any minority of conservative.

We have to keep in mind that Mr. Cruz wasn't annointed by the GOP "elite" leadership inside the DC Beltway.  He's the choice of the Tea Party movement of Texas.  He wiped out the RSCC's choice in the GOP primary and easily won the general election last November.  He along with Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are NOT part of the "elite" GOP leadeship.  They're outsiders as their support comes from the base of  the party and the Tea Party movement. 

If the MSM can successfully destroy the credibility of these men by manufacturing a false narrative of wackiness or extremism, they they will be finished in national politics.  We in the grass roots base, have the job of trying to push back against the official Democratic Propaganda sources (aka, the MSM).  If we can flood the interwebs with good stories, we can overwhelm even GOOGLE's biased, dollars supported searches.

Mr. Cruz, Paul and Rubio are the future of the GOP.  If we allow them to be marginalized by the MSM we, the grass roots conservative movement will have failed America.

Dog Yawning is More Important Than Benghazi?

my wife found this on face book...and it's turned up on Instapundit as well. But, Dianne Sawyer reporting on a damn dog yawning is more important than reporting of the fiasco that occurred in Benghazi on 9-11-2012...

 

 

This is what is wrong with the MSM...they are working so hard to cover Obama's ass, that they've lost credibility with the 53% of the country that doesn't support The One...

Benghazi: Is the Media Conspiring to Cover Up?

Entertainment Industry All In On Obama

Today, I turned on the TV show Mythbusters.  It was a rerun of a show from Season 9, Episode 9...guess who the special guest was?  Who else, the chosen one of the entrainment industry, Barack Obama.  He's become ubiquitous on TV shows (Jon Stewarts "Daily Show", Tonight Show, Late Night, MTV, etc.) just about around the clock.  Toss in the gratuitous movies (the Bin Laden mission) and you have several million dollars worth of unreported campaign donations.  When you combine that with the MSM's "Democratic Operatives" with bylines, you get a near propaganda-like quality to TV these days. 

Obama Interview...

It's really something when a local TV reporter actually asks those questions the national media absolutely refuses to ask Mr. Obama.  This just goes to show just how shamefully in the tank the MSM is for the Obama campaign.  Glenn Reynolds calls them Democratic Operatives with a byeline.

Here's a real interview with real, pointed questions.  Those sorts of questions the national media will not ask.



If you read the partial transcript below, and look closely at Mr. Obama's answers (or non-answers) you'll see that he's going a long way to not actually answer any of this guys questions.

KYLE CLARK: Were the Americans under attack at the consulate in Benghazi Libya denied requests for help during that attack? And is it fair to tell Americans that what happened is under investigation and we'll all find out after the election?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, the election has nothing to do with four brave Americans getting killed and us wanting to find out exactly what happened. These are folks who served under me who I had sent to some very dangerous places. Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do. But we want to make sure we get it right, particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people, we're going to bring those folks to justice. So, we're going to gather all the facts, find out exactly what happened, and make sure that it doesn't happen again but we're also going to make sure that we bring to justice those who carried out these attacks.
KYLE CLARK: Were they denied requests for help during the attack?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, we are finding out exactly what happened. I can tell you, as I've said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we're going to investigate exactly what happened so that it doesn't happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice. And I guarantee you that everyone in the state department, our military, the CIA, you name it, had number one priority making sure that people were safe. These were our folks and we're going to find out exactly what happened, but what we're also going to do it make sure that we are identifying those who carried out these terrible attacks.
KYLE CLARK: In a national address, you touted the stimulus money going to Abound Solar - a Colorado company connected to one of your billionaire fundraisers. Now, as you may know, Abound Solar is out of business and under criminal investigation. The jobs are gone and taxpayers are out about 60 million dollars. How do you answer critics who see Abound Solar as Colorado's Solyndra - a politically connected clean energy company that went under and took our money with it?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: (Laughs) Well, Kyle, I think that if you look at our record that these loans that are given out by the Department of Energy for clean energy have created jobs all across the country and only about four percent of these loans were going to some very cutting-edge industries that are going to allow us to figure out how to produce energy in a clean, renewable way in the future and create jobs in Colorado and all around the country. And some of them have failed but the vast majority of them are pushing us forward into a clean energy direction. And that's good for Colorado and good for the country. And these are decisions, by the way, that are made by the Department of Energy, they have nothing to do with politics.
-
-
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KYLE CLARK: Mr. President, you've called for more civility in our nation's political conversation - and much has obviously been made about the tone of this race. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, you called Governor Romney a "bullshitter." What did you mean and why did you choose that word?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, this was a conversation after an interview, a casual conversation with a reporter. The basic point that I've been talking about throughout this campaign, is people know what I mean and they know that I mean what I say and what I care about, who I'm fighting for and you know a major issue in any election is can you count on the person you're putting into the Oval Office fighting for you having a clear set of convictions that they believe in.

Kyle, you've put your "betters" to shame.  Thanks for putting the president on the spot....the MSM has too long not asked any substantive questions of this president...

Anna Wintour Fobids Designers To Clothe Ann Romney?

I've been hearing rumours swirl over the past several days that Anna Wintour is forbidding designers from giving clothing to Ann Romney.  IF this is true, there is a simple way to punish this shallow woman for her short-sightedness.  We can easily do to her what happened to Newsweek, Time, NY Times, etc...if conservatives simply stop purchasing/subscribing to Vogue...her magazine sales SHOULD drop in the neighborhood of 50%...which would hit her bottom line in a very direect fashion...

Using the power of our pocket books, we can, and should show this vapid woman, the stupidity of her posturing.  If you desire to be "powerful" and not permit designers from clothing conservative women, then we, as a group won't patronize your magazine, or it's advertisers.  Liberal newspapers have been hit very hard by the precipitous drop in subscription rates by conservatives.  NYTimes, WaPo, LATimes are great  examples of this. 

This is what happens when you piss off half of your readers.

In The Can For Obama...

...and a CNN reporter actually admitted that someone said that to her...

Why Doesn't America Trust Our "Non-Partisan" Media?

Here's why:

Neil King is a political reporter for the Wall Street Journal. He is married to Shailagh Murray who left a reporting job at the Washington Post to take the job of Joe Biden’s communications director. She replaced Jay Carney who moved to the White House and who himself left Time to take the communications director role for Biden.

John Harris of the Politico is married to an abortion rights activist who used to run NARAL Virginia.

The Politico’s Chief Washington Correspondent, Jonathan Allen, left the Politico to work for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then returned to the Politico.

Andy Barr of the Politico left the Politico to work for the Democratic National Committee and now works for Richard Carmona, the Democrats’ candidate for Senate in Arizona against Jeff Flake.

George Stephanopolous of ABC News used to be a strategist for Bill Clinton and even after becoming Chief Washington Correspondent still engaged in regular conversations with Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, and Paul Begala from the Clinton days. (Ironic, isn’t it, that John Harris wrote that story)

Michael Scherer of Time, where Jay Carney left to go to Joe Biden’s office, got his start in left wing publications, as did Ezra Klein of the Washington Post who famously created the left wing Journolist filled with Washington journalists and pundits to bounce around themes in the left wing echo chamber.

Linda Douglass of ABC News left ABC to serve as Chief Propaganda Officer for the Obama White House in charge of getting Obamacare through.

Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times made up the story about President George H. W. Bush being surprised and taken aback by a common supermarket check out scanner. The story was made up by Rosenthal who was not even present. Andrew Rosenthal is now the Editor of the New York Times Editorial Page.

The incestuous relationship between the democratic Party and the media has become naked and quite obvious.  The revolving door between prominent Democratic Politicians and "JournoList(ers)" has become far too open to conceal.  Follow the link and read the whole thing.

Liberals...covering Obama Administration

Charles says it all:

On The MSM...

The credibility of the Jurasic Media (aka MSM) has eroded a great deal over the last decade.   Until now, most JournoListers, held grimly onto the facade of impartiality.  But starting with the 2004 election in which the internet played  a huge role in disseminating John Kerry's  anti-American activities, alternative sources of news and information began to spread. 

Today, with nearly all JournoListers carrying water for the Obama administration to the extent that only one major television outlet (FoxNews) will dare to carry any coverage that is critical of either the Democratic Party's agenda or that of the Obama administration.  Here's how one woman in Virginia put it:




This view is very wide spread, even in my very heavily Democratic/Jewish neighborhood.  The media has dropped it's curtain, and is now openly biased  against anything remotely conservative.  This week, we have reporters, on an open mic, freely coordinating between themselves, trying to make sure that they get certain questions asked of Mitt Romney,

Newsbusters says the the CBS News reporter is Jan Crawford and she was discussing this with the NPR reporter Ari Shapiro

This has become common over the past 10 years, yet after 3 1/2 years of a Democrat in the White House, NOT one JournoList is asking Obama anything remotely difficult.  Gas prices are soaring, yet nary a word  from the media about it....but in 2008, during an GOP administration, it was all over the news...




It doesn't fit the carefully contrived media narrative...that's why I don't buy newspapers.  If I want to read propaganda, I'll go to DNC/Obama websites, not a damn news outlet.

When WIll Obama Be Held Accountable?

When will the JournoLists of the MSM finally hold Mr. Obama to the standard that he set at the beginning of this term? If not now, when?




By his own words, said three years ago, he's a failure and should be a one-term president. I hope in November, we can fulfill his request.

Obama's Campaign Logo

Might as well include them, since they are in the tank...

Affirmative Action: Why Isn't The Media Covering This?

Why? Because it would shatter the little glass room that that MSM has built around Affirmative Action and that only white people can be racists...

Video by Rachel Bustamante (originally posted to Facebook).

"Lunatic in my evolution class asking the most absurd question and gets angry when the Prof (Dr. Kajiura) doesn't know how to answer it.

Context: The slide we were on just before was about Female Sexual Selection. For instance, female peacocks have selection in their mates, preferring the males with the bigger train of feathers.. Somehow she went off on some tangent with a question about how does Evolution play a role in the killing of all black people...

Dr. Kajiura tried to answer her question even though he had no idea what she was talking about. She repeated her question 4-5 more times and it turned into this craziness you see here... Clearly, this person has some SERIOUS emotional issues within herself and the discussion of PEACOCKS was the catalyst to the unleashing of this insanity.

She was escorted out of class and I heard she was tasered and arrested by the police. Today was our review day before a test on Thursday and students were getting irritated by her wasting our time. No one understood what her point was... Craziest thing I've ever seen.

Apparently natural selection doesn't remove crazy from the population."

I guess her hope and change just isn't working out as she'd planned.

Liberal Hypocrisy Alert: CNN Chapter

The hypocrisy of liberals knows no bounds...here's John King calling Mitt Romney, Governor Mormon.



But...since King is a liberal, it's ok for him to show his bigotry...and it'll only be reported in the right blogosphere...

Alice Gate: Is Obama Clueless? Edition 932

In yet another example of just how much the Obama Administration care little about the rest of the country, in 2009, they threw and extraordinarily elaborate "Alice In Wonderland" costume party in the White House. But, they tried to keep it secret from the public.   They should have understood that things like this will always come out.

A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all. 

“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests.
....
“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.

More pictures here...

However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well reported by the press corps. 

The elaborate parties, the excessive vacations...these things are begining to show just how tone deaf this President really is...

“Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton’s own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character.”

This was a time when the unemployment rate was nearly 11%...and they spent money like this?  But then, this was before the Spanish vacation, or the Martha's Vinyard and Hawaii vacations.  I guess this man is really entitled to this...but what is even more gaulling is that the media hasn't covered this at all.  You have to get British media for a clear and evenhanded coverage. 

As is tradition, the Obamas handed out treats to Washington, D.C. school children earlier in the day, and while that event was covered heavily by the press, their later festivities were very actively kept secret.

This isn't the change voters were looking for...but oddly...here's the subhead in the British Daily Telegraph: 

The White House covered up an Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween party staged by film director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp for fear of creating the wrong impression during a recession

This man must go
Obama
Must
Go
Photo via BigJounalism.com