As Texans prepared for the worst hurricane to hit land in the US in over a decade, CNN hosts just couldn’t help themselves but to place the coverage of Hurricane Harvey on the back burner, and focused instead on President Trump’s pardon of 85-year old Sheriff Arpaio.

CNN was apoplectic about having to cover the hurricane when they had so many opportunities to manufacture news about President Trump. They published this story tonight as Hurricane Harvey was hitting the coast of Texas:

3 headlines the White House hopes you’ll miss as Hurricane Harvey hits

As the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the US in more than a decade took aim at Texas, President Donald Trump’s White House engaged in an age-old Washington tradition: the Friday news dump.

Transgender individuals? Banned from joining the military. Convicted Sheriff Joe Arpaio? Officially pardoned. Controversial White House adviser Sebastian Gorka? Out of a white House job.

All three headlines popped after 6 p.m. Friday as TV news broadcasts and websites turned their attention to Texas, where Hurricane Harvey was preparing to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane — the most powerful to hit the US since 2004.

CNN probably forgot about Barack Obama’s notorious  “Friday night news dumps”…Here are a few of Obama’s greatest hits:

From Hot Air:

Isn’t it funny what you can find out on Friday evening about what our executive branch does? For instance, Agence France-Presse reported last night that Barack Obama bypassed Congress to send $192 million to the Palestinian Authority, claiming that national security required the US to put money into Mahmoud Abbas’ pocket.

Congress deliberately froze those funds, and not just because of the statehood demand through UNESCO. Hamas, a terrorist organization, reconciled with Fatah and has rejoined the PA, which means we’re putting almost $200 million into the hands of a terrorist organization. The language of the Palestinian Accountability Act could not be clearer: “[N]o funds available to any United States Government department or agency … may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.” Obama literally waived that statutory language off yesterday afternoon. –

From Politico:

Reporters and Capitol Hill staff tracking the Solyndra saga know better than to make plans for Friday nights: That’s when the Obama administration likes to dump documents requested by Congress.

At least five times since last fall’s bankruptcy filing and FBI raid of the California solar company, the White House and other agencies have chosen to release embarrassing emails and other materials late in the afternoon as the workweek ends — a time almost guaranteed to garner the least media attention possible.

From Townhall:

The Obama administration Friday pulled the plug on a major program in the president’s signature health overhaul law — a long-term care insurance plan dogged from the beginning by doubts over its financial solvency. Targeted by congressional Republicans for repeal, the long-term care plan became the first casualty in the political and policy wars over the health care law. The program had been expected to launch in 2013. “This is a victory for the American taxpayer and future generations,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., spearheading opposition in the Senate. “The administration is finally admitting (the long-term care plan) is unsustainable and cannot be implemented.”

While President Trump has had a very busy day today, he’s clearly not so busy that he hasn’t been focused on, and assessing what the federal government can do to help the victims of the hurricane this evening. Here is his latest tweet:

Here’s President Trump’s tweet as the hurricane was hitting land in Texas:

Where was President Obama when the most serious natural disaster happened during his 8 years in office? He was golfing on Martha’s Vineyard, and refused to leave his golfing vacation to assess the situation.

President Obama is stirring resentment over his refusal to interrupt his Martha’s Vineyard vacation to survey the Louisiana flood — the worst U.S. natural disaster since 2012 — while drawing comparisons to President George W. Bush’s hotly criticized response to Hurricane Katrina in the same state.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended Mr. Obama at a press conference Thursday, insisting that the president is “closely monitoring” the situation but that he will not cut short his two-week breather in the tony Massachusetts resort.

“The president can’t be everywhere,” Mr. Johnson told reporters in Denham Springs, Louisiana.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, backed him up, saying at the press conference that he is “not complaining in any way about our federal partnership.”

Even so, Mr. Obama’s lack of urgency is drawing unflattering parallels to the federal response in 2005, when Mr. Bush was branded as uncaring and even racist for not touching down during a flyover two days after Hurricane Katrina. – Washington Times

 

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