XPost: alt.polyamory, alt.retail.grocery, alt.satanism   
   XPost: alt.business.property   
   From: investigate.pelosi@cnn.com   
      
   Fake News: For eight  years, it was virtually impossible to get   
   reporters interested in legitimate Obama administration   
   scandals. Now, they are so eager to run scandal stories about   
   the incoming Trump administration that they are making them up.   
      
   Two stories from major news outlets demonstrate this.   
      
   First is the New York Times hit piece on Trump's pick for Energy   
   Secretary, Rick Perry. It claimed that until days after Perry   
   accepted the job, he "knew almost nothing about" the fact that a   
   key function of the Energy Department is the stewardship of the   
   nation's nuclear arsenal.   
      
   The story spread like wildfire, with journalists falling over   
   each other to tweet out clever Perry put downs.   
      
   What was the Times' alarming claim based on? Nothing more than a   
   twisted interpretation of a single quote from one person:   
   Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who was canned   
   from the Trump transition team before Perry was picked. McKenna   
   himself has since said the Times misinterpreted what he said.   
      
   Apparently, the Times reporters and editors were so eager to get   
   this bogus story out before Perry's nomination hearings started   
   that they didn't bother to read the statement Perry himself   
   issued on the day he accepted the nomination: "I look forward to   
   engaging in a conversation about the development, stewardship   
   and regulation of our energy resources, safeguarding our nuclear   
   arsenal, and promoting an American energy policy that creates   
   jobs and puts America first." (Emphasis added.)   
      
   Does that sound like someone who didn't know about this part of   
   the Energy Department's portfolio?   
      
   The story was so egregiously wrong that even the liberal New   
   York magazine took the Times to task for spreading a false rumor.   
      
   Just days before, CNN ran a hit piece on Rep. Tom Price —   
   Trump's pick to head the Health and Human Services Department —   
   for supposedly engaging in insider trading last year.   
      
   A "bombshell" story published on Tuesday — titled "First on CNN:   
   Trump's pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help   
   it" — said Price had bought as much as $15,000 worth of shares   
   in Zimmer Biomet (ZBH), a company that makes knee and hip   
   replacements. Then, the story goes, he introduced the HIP Act,   
   which would have delayed an ObamaCare regulation that would, if   
   implemented, hurt Zimmer Biomet and other device makers.   
      
   This, CNN reporter Manu Raju asserted, raised "new concerns   
   among ethics experts that Price may have inappropriately used   
   inside information while purchasing shares in a company."   
      
   "When you look at the timeline, this raises significant   
   questions," CNN's Erin Burnett said about the story.   
      
   Sen. Charles Schumer responded to the CNN report with a call to   
   delay Price's confirmation hearings until the congressional   
   ethics office does a "thorough investigation."   
      
   It's not as though this sort of self-dealing hasn't gone on in   
   Washington. Peter Schweizer's 2011 book, "Throw Them All Out,"   
   was full of such examples, including lucrative stock trades by   
   Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and other prominent Democrats.   
   Schweizer's book led to the STOCK Act in 2012, which tried to   
   combat insider trading by lawmakers.   
      
   But the only "significant questions" CNN's story about Price   
   raises have to do with CNN's credibility as a news source.   
      
   It's worth noting at the outset that the HIP Act had zero chance   
   of making it into law. In fact, it didn't even make it out of   
   committee, and would have been promptly vetoed if it had managed   
   to make it to President Obama's desk. Anyone involved with the   
   legislation at the time would have known this, including Price.   
   (Congressmen introduce bills all the time that they know aren't   
   going anywhere.)   
      
   The rest of the CNN story falls apart with just a cursory look   
   at the facts.   
      
   First, Price didn't buy those shares. His portfolio was managed   
   by Morgan Stanley, which designed the account's investment   
   strategy and directed all trades. As part of a routine   
   rebalancing of Price's account in early 2016, Morgan Stanley   
   bought 26 shares in Zimmer Biomet, worth a grand total of   
   $2,697.74. (Price's net worth is on the order of $10 million.)   
      
   The timing of that transaction doesn't implicate Price in any   
   way, either. Morgan Stanley bought those shares in mid-March,   
   but didn't tell Price about that trade, or any of the others it   
   made during its rebalancing, until April 4.   
      
   That was nearly two weeks after Price introduced the HIP Act,   
   which, because everyone knew it was a dead letter, had no impact   
   on Zimmer Biomet's stock price anyway.   
      
   In other words, there is no story here, much less a scandal.   
      
   The fact that CNN pretended that there was one says nothing   
   about Price's ethics. It does, however, say plenty about the   
   blatant partisan bias of today's "independent" press.   
      
   NOTE: This was updated to include the New York Times story about   
   Rick Perry.   
      
   http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/media-malpractice-   
   in-the-age-of-trump/   
                            
      
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