Leah nabbed this story about The New York Times shoddy story on Nikki Haley, our ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. It was a hit piece. It was an attempt to Scott Pruitt her. Like I said before, with the attempted character assassination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, among other things, plus this—it’s hard not to say that we’re in a state of war with liberal America. Maybe it’s always been that way, but we’ve had people who were just too nice and too polite to say so; we share nothing in common with the Left. Nothing. It’s about time we start saying it. But let’s get to this Times piece that placed Haley in the crosshairs. Here’s the summary:
Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has come under fire over expensive curtains that were installed in her official residence given the State Department’s deep budget cuts and hiring freeze. There’s just one problem—the nearly $53,000 furnishing was approved under the Obama administration in 2016.
The New York Times’ report on the curtains explains that Haley is the first ambassador to live in the nearly 6,000 square foot penthouse in Manhattan ever since the Waldorf Astoria, where her predecessors lived for decades, was purchased by a Chinese company. For security reasons, the new living situation was arranged.
It wasn’t until the sixth paragraph, however, that the Times reported that Haley had nothing to do with the purchase, which was approved under the Obama administration.
Leah added that the Times corrected their story, but the meat of the story is in the sixth paragraph, which ironically points out that this… isn’t a story. First of all, this is classic liberal media bias for burying the lede. Second, this is how the story flows now that they’ve eaten it for their shoddy headline:
The State Department spent $52,701 for customized and mechanized curtains for the picture windows in the new official residence of the ambassador to the United Nations.
The residence is in a new building on First Avenue in Manhattan. For decades, American ambassadors to the U.N. lived in the Waldorf Astoria hotel. But after the hotel was purchased by a Chinese insurance company with a murky ownership structure, the State Department decided in 2016 to find a new home for its top New York diplomat because of security concerns.
The government leased the apartment, just blocks from the delegation’s offices, with an option to buy, according to Patrick Kennedy, the top management official at the State Department during the Obama administration. The full-floor penthouse, with handsome hardwood floors covering large open spaces stretching nearly 6,000 square feet, was listed at $58,000 a month.
The current ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, is the first to live in the new residence, which has spectacular views. But a spokesman for Ms. Haley emphasized that plans to buy the mechanized curtains were made in 2016, during the Obama administration. Ms. Haley had no say in the purchase, he said.
While ambassadors around the world are given residences, there are only two such residences in the United States — for the U.N. ambassador and the deputy ambassador.
[…]
The new curtains themselves cost $29,900, while the motors and hardware needed to open and close them automatically cost $22,801, according to the contracts. Installation took place from March to August of last year, during Ms. Haley’s tenure as ambassador.
The new curtains are more expensive than the $31,000 dining room set purchased for the office of Ben Carson, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That purchase became so controversial that President Trump considered firing Mr. Carson, though the spending rules covering agency chiefs are different from those for ambassadors.
It’s obvious the Times wanted to zing Haley. Who gives a crap about curtains? Who especially gives a crap that these expenditures for these new curtains were placed in 2016? So, the Obama-era renovations to the ambassador’s residence are more than the Ben Carson’s dining room set. Oh, and the new curtains cost almost $30,000 because of the mechanical motors, or something. Are you freaking kidding me? What is this? The Times should have just deleted this non-story. Without the Haley attack angle, there’s no story. Better yet, maybe they should’ve reviewed the story to make sure it was worthy of publishing before sending it out there and eating dirt for it.
NYT changes its ?@nikkihaley? story in a pretty significant way. Her predecessor actually authorized the $52,000 curtains in her UN residence. https://t.co/iPNAH4PB5o
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 14, 2018
I'm so old I remember when @nytimes editors reviewed stories before they were published.
— Clifford D. May (@CliffordDMay) September 14, 2018
The Times' correction:
An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question. While Nikki R. Haley is the current ambassador to the United Nations, the decision on leasing the ambassador’s residence and purchasing the curtains was made during the Obama administration, according to current and former officials. The article should not have focused on Ms. Haley, nor should a picture of her have been used. The article and headline have now been edited to reflect those concerns, and the picture has been removed.