LAT Guest Blogger: Use Thanksgiving to Debate ‘Crazy Right-Wing Uncle'

November 28th, 2014 10:51 AM
Sometimes, one has to remember that op-ed writers don't always get to pick their headlines, though I would hope that they're allowed to register their objections. So it's not clear that Los Angeles Times guest blogger Joel Silberman is responsible for the headline at his Monday blog post about how, or even whether, to deal with relatives who disagree with you politically on Thanksgiving. But…

AP: Venezuela's Chronic Shortages 'Bury Mindless Consumerism'

November 26th, 2014 9:17 AM
It's amazing how any reporter can cover the deepening economic crisis in Venezuela without saying a word about how the country got there. But Associated Press reporter Hannah Dreier was up to the task. In a bizarre, sickening November 20 report on how its people are having to get "creative" in the face of chronic shortages of basic goods to get by, she acted as if those shortages — and the over…

AP Is Stunned at Japan's Recession Despite 'Unprecedented Stimulus'

November 25th, 2014 7:10 PM

After reading Elaine Kurtenbach's coverage of how Japan's latest dive into yet another recession is affecting young people there, I can only say, "The Keynesian koolaid is strong in this one." The AP reporter's headline says that the recession was "unexpected," and her first sentence calls it "a surprise." Anyone watching economic events in the country, and I think that's supposed to include…

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AP Initially Fails to Report That Ferguson Mayor Begged for Guard Help

November 25th, 2014 4:57 PM
It looks like the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, is choosing to become an active participant in the covering for the failure by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to carry out his most basic duty as the state's chief executive in a timely fashion. The AP's unbylined three-paragraph report published at 2:12 PM ET this afternoon acts as if the Guard had a meaningful presence in…

NYT Sanitizes, Spins Report on Hagel's Sacking for Tues. Print Editon

November 25th, 2014 1:09 PM
The New York Times continued its annoying, Winston Smith-like habit of rewriting history in virtually real time yesterday. Helene Cooper's original Monday afternoon report on Chuck Hagel's sacking as Secretary of Defense is no longer available at the Times. However, since I anticipated that the paper would conduct a comprehensive cleanup yesterday when I posted on the paper's original coverage,…

AP Relays False 'Soaring Deportations' Claim in Obama Speech Coverage

November 24th, 2014 10:28 PM
While it is indeed nice that the Associated Press did a fact check on President Obama's Thursday night immigration address — an item P.J. Gladnick at NewsBusters covered on Saturday — it would have been even nicer if the wire service better described as the Administration's Press had fact-checked Julie Pace's and Josh Lederman's awful Friday evening backgrounder on the speech. The AP pair couldn…

'Any Way We Can Fix Fox?' Attkisson Exposes DOJ Fast & Furious Emails

November 23rd, 2014 10:08 AM
How long it would have taken from the time of its exposure for the press to have prominently reported on an email sent from the the Bush 43 White House to its Justice Department asking, "Any way we can fix the New York Times?" We can be confident that it would have taken less than a New York minute, and that saturation coverage would have continued for days. Well, one revelation in a series of…

DOJ Says Governor 'Escalated' Ferguson by Calling in the Guard

November 22nd, 2014 11:24 PM
On Monday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, ordered the National Guard into Ferguson, Missouri and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of a grand jury's decision about whether to criminally charge police officer Darren Wilson in the August death of Michael Brown. If only Nixon had called in the Guard, as virtually every governor of all political persuations did in response to…
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MSNBC's Ball: 'Authentic' Jim Webb Contrasts with 'Packaged' Hillary

November 22nd, 2014 10:56 AM
Signing up at for Ready for Hillary today [wanting to receive their emails], I felt a bit guilty, having to pledge my support in order to do so.  But on reflection, indeed I might support Hillary . . . should the Republican ticket be Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders. But not every Dem or MSM member [but I repeat myself] is so eager to jump on the Hillary haywagon.  Take Krystal Ball. On today's …

HHS Proposes 'Default Re-Enrollment' — Into Another Obamacare Plan

November 22nd, 2014 10:09 AM
Even if you like your Obamacare insurance plan, Health and Human Services may move you by default into a different one — often with a different network of providers. In such situations, you wouldn't get to keep your doctors and other providers unless you acted. That's what HHS's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service has indicated in a 300-page proposal dumped yesterday so it would get minimal…
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CBS, NBC: ‘Campaign-Style Fervor’ for Obama ‘Chastising' GOP in Vegas

November 22nd, 2014 12:29 AM
The evening following President Barack Obama’s announcement of his executive action on illegal immigration, major broadcast networks CBS and NBC sought to carry water for the President on Friday night as he made a trip to a Las Vegas high school to promote his move that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. Between two reports total from the CBS Evening News …
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Jay Carney: Obama's Immigration Move Contradicts Previous Statements

November 21st, 2014 7:45 PM
At CNN on Thursday night, Anderson Cooper asked former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who is now a contributor at the network, to square President Barack Obama's Thursday night immigration announcement with past presidential statements that he didn't have the power to do what he had just done. As seen in the video after the jump, Carney acknowledged his former boss's compete flip-flop (…
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Charlie Rose, PBS Guests: GOP Reaction to Obama ‘Extreme,' ’Ludicrous'

November 21st, 2014 12:44 PM
In a segment on his PBS show Thursday night, Charlie Rose and his guests discussed President Obama’s executive order on illegal immigration and described the responses from those in the Republican Party as “a bit extreme” and “ludicrous” while also harping on the conundrum that Republican leadership now supposedly faces in dealing with conservatives now that the executive amnesty is announced.…
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National Media Ignored Dem 'Kingmaker's' Problems For Over 5 Months

November 21st, 2014 10:58 AM
A June 4 story at Willamette Week summarized the already serious problems pioneering longtime Oregon-based homosexual activist and ardent Barack Obama supporter Terry Bean was already facing before the Democratic Party "Kingmaker" was arrested Wednesday and "charged with two felony counts of having sex with a minor last year." Even before his arrest, the accusations made by Bean's former…