AP Reporter Barred From EPA Meeting In Yet Another Screw Up

Scott Pruitt's EPA is apparently worried about what the Associated Press
and CNN would report on them today. So they barred them. 

The EPA held a summit today on hazardous groundwater contamination. As always with this kind of meeting, journalists wanted to cover it. It's news.

The AP journalist who was barred asked to talk to an EPA spokesman about the situation.

Instead, a security guard forcibly kicked her out of the building, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her out. Pretty thuggish, doncha think?

The Trump administration isn't really into the niceties of open and transparent government, so I'm really not surprised this happened. But did the folks at the EPA really think that reporter, and journalists in general, would just shrug and say, "Oh, OK."

So there's yet another unnecessary outcry this afternoon.

"The Environmental Protection Agency's selective barring of news organizations, including the AP, from covering today's meeting is alarming and a direct threat to the public's right to know about what is happening inside their government......It is particularly distressing that any journalist trying to cover an event in the public interest would be forcibly removed," said AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee.

So, the EPA tried to backtrack, saying the room was small, only a limited number of people could fit in, yada, yada, yada. Of course they could have easily scheduled this in a bigger room, and why did they specifically boot out the  AP and CNN from this meeting? Was something going to be said that would be particularly galling?

The EPA said they'd let reporters into the afternoon session. So they probably changed the agenda so nothing controversial will be said.

It's the PR Trump administration, of course. Hide the truth, and promote some fake news.

By the way, this whole thing has a Vermont connection. Pruitt and his EPA were caught in emails showing the agency tried to interfere and hide stuff in a critical study of the groundwater contaminants, which include some groundwater pollution around Bennington, Vermont.

Melissa McCarthy/Sean Spicer Strike Again

Melissa McCarthy, as White House Spokesman Sean Spicer,
attacks a reporter with a leaf blower on last night's SNL.

This may turn out to be a weekly feature, the way things are going.

Melissa McCarthy returned last night to Saturday Night Live as the always angry and frustrated White House Spokesman Sean Spicer.

Last night's episode had the usual zany props, this time an enormous stick of gun, dolls and a leaf blower. McCarthy/Spicer put all those things to good use.

A bonus SNL video is below the McCarthy/Spicer one in this post.

As always, tempers flared during the McCarthy/Spicer "press briefing" Watch and be prepared to laugh a lot, once again:



Also, last night on SNL, creepy White House counsel Kellyanne Conway goes totally "Fatal Attraction" on CNN's "Jake Tapper"  In real life, the actual Tapper declined to have Conway on his news show because she lacks credibility.

SNL helpfully re-imagines the aftermath of Tapper's decison. The great SNL comic actor Kate McKinnon nailed Kellyanne on this one (By the way, McKinnon also shined as Jeff Sessions and Elizabeth Warren elsewhere in last night's SNL.

A few people thought this skit was sexist. Maybe. But I still thought it was really funny. Here's the "Fatal Attractions" skit:

There Might Be Firings But I Bet VA Hospital Staffers Won't Be Charged With What Seems Like Murder

CNN and other media outlets have been investigating delays in Veterans Administration appointments and hospitalizations for veterans that have led to needless deaths.

Did the VA hospital in Phoenix delay or deny
care to veterans?  

Their report this week on a Phoenix, Arizona really takes the cake. Lots of politicians say veterans deserve all the help they can get, they served our country and they deserve the utmost respect.

But when it comes to shelling out money to offer that respect and service to veterans, it all goes out the window.

In Phoenix, according to CNN reporters Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, along with Anderson Cooper, the VA hospital had two lists: An official one that falsely reported to Washington DC headquarters that veterans were being treated, and a second secret list that was the truth.

The truth being they were making veterans wait weeks and months to get an appointments to see doctors. Sometimes for really scary medical problems. It's estimated 40 veterans died because the Phoenix VA hospital basically blew them off.

It's kind of murky why, but I suspect lack of resources and money going to the hospital from the federal government played a part.

They're doing this to veterans, people!

According to CNN, Sam Foote, a doctor who recently retired from the hospital described the scheme:

"The VA requires its hospitals to provide care to patients i a timely manner, typically with 14 to 30 days, Foote said

According to Foote, the elaborate scheme in Phoenix involved shredding evidence to hide the long list of veterans waiting for appointments and care. Officials at the VA, Foote says, instructed their staff to not actually make doctor's appointments for veterans within the computer system. 

Instead, Foote says, when a veteran comes in seeking an appointment, 'they enter information into the computer and do a screen capture hard copy printout. They then do not save what was put into the computer so there's no record that you were ever here,' he said.

Now that this situation has been made public, there are the usual calls for investigations and hearings. The inspector general is involved, officials at the Phoenix VA hospital are frantically giving out non-information in Corporate Speak and lawmakers are calling for heads to roll.

That's all very good, these investigations.

But it makes you wonder how the people who are supposed to be taking care of veterans everywhere else are actually doing so.  There have already been many, many reports of severe delays in getting health care to veterans. 

Of all the people we owe top notch care, to, it's veterans.  But since a lot of veterans don't have millions of dollars available to lobby politicians, I guess they're not that important.

If that's true, I'm sad.  Get rich and you get what you want. Make big sacrifices for your country and get thrown away?  That's not the country I want to see.