On Monday, October 7, Fox News announced Obama shut down the DOJ's Amber alert. They made it sound as if the entire Amber alert system was shut down. It was not - in fact, it wasn't shut down at all, but more about that later.
FOX headline: Govt's Amber Alert Site Shuttered: WH First Targets Veterans, Now Targeting Children, in ShutdownHow do AMBER Alerts work?
Department of Justice shuts down government Amber alert system
EXAMINER.COM - The Obama administration and the Democrats have been working to force the Republicans to cave into their demands and as a result, Obama’s Justice Department, led by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, decided to make it hurt even more that if a child goes missing, don’t count on the Amber Alert support system to notify the public.
Once law enforcement has been notified about an abducted child, they will decide whether or not to issue an AMBER Alert based on their AMBER Alert program's criteria. They will provide the geographic area where the alert should be issued as well as any available information about the child, abductor or suspected vehicle used in the abduction.
Once issued, the alerts are distributed by broadcasters and transportation agencies. They are also sent to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which redistribute the alerts, per a request by the U.S. Department of Justice, to to a network of secondary distributors that includes Internet service providers, digital billboards, truckers and others."
The AMBER™ Alert Program is coordinated nationally by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Given all the pissoffedness from the right today, you would think the Amber Alert system is a priority with them - especially the news outlets. Not so much. When amber alerts are tweeted to thousands of followers by regular Joes, like those below, less than a handful of concerned citizens retweet them.
GTA IV RCMP CLAN - 2,220 followers - Zero retweets
Uptown Vicky - 101 followers - 2 retweets
Fake amber alerts that are meant to be humorous receive more attention than the real amber alerts - 20 retweets!
Just over a week ago someone tweeted out important information about the amber alert system and how to receive alerts on your phone - ZERO retweets. #SMDH
Given these facts, today's outrage by the right over not being alerted immediately when a child goes missing is, at best, politics as usual, at worst, hypocritical. The only reason the www.amberalert.gov website shut-down started trending on Twitter was because it gave the right a talking/bitching point. Not one missing child that's been on the amber alert system in the past year has trended, but the missing website took off immediately.
Tweets and retweets of the news that "Obama shut down the Amber Alert System"?
Newsbreaker - 64,000 followers - 18 retweets
KHOU - 40,000 followrs - 21 retweets
KPRC - 32,000 followers - 11 retweets
The Blaze followers 236,000 followers - 81 retweets
Janie Johnson 60,000 followers - 46 retweetsBreitbart News 101,000 followers - 120 retweets of the bad news!
Approximately 300 times from just these sources. Now let's look at how many times the above have actually retweeted an amber alert: 0
False indignance and political rhetoric - who should really be ashamed of themselves?
What happens when a news site, even one with fewer followers than @Breitbart, tweets out an amber alert? @Buzzfeed has approximately 70,000 followers - 75 retweeted their Amber Alert! Huge shout out to you Buzzfeed!
As for Obama - aside from the fact that the site was never down, this was a misguided ploy to make the Republicans look bad and it backfired.
Can't we all just get a bong?
