Archive for July, 2016

The Survivor: Clinton outlasted the Benghazi committee, the latest iteration of a time-honored Washington tradition

July 7, 2016 / Comments Off on The Survivor: Clinton outlasted the Benghazi committee, the latest iteration of a time-honored Washington tradition / Posted in: 2016 Presidential Election, In the Media, U.S. Politics
Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton
Credit: Marc Nozell/Flickr

Lance Cole, Penn State’s director of the Center for Government Law and Public Policy Studies at Dickinson Law, is featured in this article at U.S. News and World Report. Below is an excerpt of the piece:

Lance Cole

Lance Cole

“When it comes to the House Benghazi enterprise, ‘To quote Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again,” ‘ says Lance Cole, who runs the Center for Government Law and Public Policy Studies at Penn State University’s Dickinson Law School. Given the muddle of congressional investigations, maybe it’s apt that he uses a Yogi-ism that Berra both denied ever saying but also took credit for later in life. ‘There’s a Clinton running for president and a Republican committee in Congress releasing a report aimed at destroying a Clinton,’ says Cole.

“He speaks with a certain sense of history. He was deputy special counsel for the minority Democrats on the mid-1990s Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater Development Corporation and Related Matters that was run by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs led by then-New York Republican Sen. Al D’Amato.”

Read more at U.S. News and World Report.

The press has not done its job: 3 ways the media has failed our democracy in covering the election

July 6, 2016 / Comments Off on The press has not done its job: 3 ways the media has failed our democracy in covering the election / Posted in: 2016 Presidential Election, In the Media, U.S. Politics
Reporter doing an interview

Reporter doing an interview. Source: public domain

Associate Director of the School of International Affairs at Penn State, Sophia A. McClennen, wrote an op-ed for Salon. Here’s a excerpt from her piece:

Sophia A. McClennen

Sophia A. McClennen

“Very few of us are inclined to consider the mainstream news as a source of real knowledge these days. In fact, numerous studies have documented the egregious ways that the media has failed the public since 9/11.

“In one example from 2003, the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland reported on public misperceptions about the Iraq war and found that there was an astonishing level of disinformation in the U.S. public.  Half of those surveyed believed the lie that Saddam Hussein had worked closely with al-Qaeda.

“Most research, including the PIPA study, has also shown that the misinformation is slanted  — with Fox News viewers among the least informed.”

Read more at Salon.

Why the GOP is trying to stop the Pentagon’s climate plan

July 5, 2016 / Comments Off on Why the GOP is trying to stop the Pentagon’s climate plan / Posted in: Hot Button Issues, In the Media, U.S. Politics

 

World map showing surface temperature trends (°C per decade) between 1950 and 2014. Source: NASA GISS

World map showing surface temperature trends (°C per decade) between 1950 and 2014. Source: NASA GISS

 

The director of the Penn State Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, David Titley, was recently interviewed for an article at Politico.

David W. Titley

David W. Titley

Titley, a retired rear admiral who spent 32 years in the military, is quoted as saying, “While this thing looks pretty innocuous, it has the potential to be pretty important.”

Here is an excerpt from the story:

“Titley, who formerly led the Navy’s Task Force on Climate Change, said that he was careful how he referred to policies during his time in government. ‘There’s a program I got through the Department of Defense called our system prediction capability,’ he said. ‘We take forecasts out to 30 years. Some people might call that short-term climate. I didn’t. The word climate is nowhere in that budget document.’

“The Senate’s defense spending bill, which passed the Senate Appropriations Committee in late May but has not yet received a vote on the floor, leaves the climate change directive intact. …

“But experts worry that if it does find its way into law, the risks are high; such preparations are necessary now, they warn, before it’s too late. ‘It’s like people who drive down the road and all they can do is look 10 feet in front of them on the bumper and they’re all going about 75 mph,’ said Titley. ‘That’s great until three cars up there are stopped. You don’t see it until you’re all of a sudden slamming on the brakes.’ ”

Read more at Politico.

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