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By Tom Blumer | December 28, 2015 | 11:52 PM EST

After serving as the virtual mouthpiece for the "there is no crisis!" crowd for at least a decade since George W. Bush's attempt to partially privatize Social Security in 2005, someone at the New York Times has finally recognized that there is one — but still won't level with readers about the system's true condition.

Eduardo Porter "writes the Economic Scene column" for the Times. Before that, "he was a member of the Times editorial board, where he wrote about business, economics, and a mix of other matters." As such, he may well have been the author of some of the Old Gray Lady's opinion pieces opposing any kind of meaningful reform of out-of-control entitlement programs while its reporters gave favorable treatment to demagogues like Harry Reid.

By Tom Johnson | December 28, 2015 | 10:06 PM EST

In his new documentary, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore jaunts around Europe showcasing what he deems enlightened social and economic policies, including Italy’s lengthy paid vacations, Norway’s treatment of prison inmates, and France’s school-lunch program. New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden observed that Moore’s “examples…are cherry-picked to make American audiences feel envious and guilty.”

On Monday, Salon ran an interview with Moore in which he talked about the movie as well as the U.S. presidential campaign. One of his comments: "I also think it’s a little gauche for Americans to point out to anybody in the world what their problems are at this point…I think we need a little time in the timeout room, you know what I’m saying? A little chill-down from running around the world: ‘You need democracy! Now you need democracy!’”

By Dylan Gwinn | December 28, 2015 | 9:03 PM EST

Just like the old saying goes: “If you can’t beat em,’ then take lame, snarky shots at them on Twitter.”

By Randy Hall | December 28, 2015 | 8:41 PM EST

Since the Democratic Party tries to win national elections by cobbling together a coalition of minorities (including union members, feminists and climate change fanatics), it came as no surprise when Hillary Clinton's campaign staff attempted to reach out to blacks by combining their logo with elements from the Kwanzaa celebration.

The result was the usual capital “H” with an arrow in the middle – ironically pointing right -- with the seven candles representing the Nguzo Saba, or principles, of Kwanzaa.

Unfortunately for Clinton, this effort to show a bit of cultural competency has backfired.

By Tom Blumer | December 28, 2015 | 8:08 PM EST

According to NewsBusters' own Blonde Gator, Hillary Clinton has, in the 8-1/2 months since she declared her candidacy, committed 51 gaffes and goofs. That's an average rate of six per month. Imagine how many there would be if Mrs. Clinton genuinely campaigned among the people instead of among preselected groupies.

One of her latest gaffes, which occurred last week at an elementary school in Iowa, was a humdinger. Predictably, the establishment press almost completely ignored it, while a couple of journalists who noticed the center-right's reaction tried and failed to excuse it.

By Curtis Houck | December 28, 2015 | 5:37 PM EST

Reviewing the new drag queen-centered Broadway show Kinky Boots in Monday’s New York Times, critic Ben Brantley chose to dedicate a few paragraphs to the bizarre suggestion that the show should make one think “that maybe all those grumpy guys who populate the Republican debates might be a lot looser if they traded in their navy suits for rainbow-colored ball gowns.”

By Tom Blumer | December 28, 2015 | 5:27 PM EST

As I noted in a pre-Christmas post, "The desperation is palpable at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, over how the Christmas shopping season is going."

Desperation has clearly descended into outright deception at the wire service, where an unbylined story claims that spending is up 8 percent, but that the source involved "does not include spending by dollar amounts." As will be shown shortly, this is a clear attempt to make this year's Christmas shopping season look more than twice as good as it was expected to be.

By Ken Shepherd | December 28, 2015 | 5:09 PM EST

Talk about burying your lede. Yesterday the Washington Post's Matt Schudel penned a 43-paragraph obituary marking the passing of Fernande Grudet, the "Famed proprietor of [a] Parisian brothel" which counted diplomats, European nobility, businessmen, and politicians among its clientele. Schudel waited, however, until paragraph number 20 to disclose that President John F. Kennedy was reputed to have once been a customer.

By Tim Graham | December 28, 2015 | 4:10 PM EST

In 1998, ABC briefly appointed little-known Kevin Newman to succeed Charles Gibson as a co-host of Good Morning America, which lasted about seven months, when Gibson was returned to the show. On Monday’s GMA, Newman starred in a story promoting his new memoir with his gay son Alex, called All Out: A Father and Son Confront the Hard Truths That Made Them Better Men.

ABC reporter Juju Chang noted that the son wrote of “feeling suicidal” despite a “tremendous amount of tolerance” from his parents when he came out as gay. Alex said he had some pieces of evidence that his father “disapproved of the lifestyle,” but then an “evolution” took place, complete with syrupy keyboard music.

By Sarah Stites | December 28, 2015 | 3:51 PM EST

So much for believing you were straight.

According to HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps, “almost everyone” has the capacity to be attracted to the same sex at some point in life.

In a segment entitled “QueerView: Year in Review,” Zepps interviewed a lesbian woman, a gay man, HuffPost Live’s bisexual host Alex Berg and a man who is now living as a woman to hear their take on the milestones and issues defining the LGBT rights movement in 2015.

By Curtis Houck | December 28, 2015 | 2:57 PM EST

READER WARNING: The following post contains spoilers pertaining to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
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Writing in the December 24 print edition of The Washington Post, Style section columnist Lonnae O’Neal expressed her disdain for the hit film Star Wars: The Force Awakens due to how Daisy Ridley’s character Rey emerges as the lead heroine of the film who saves the day instead of black British actor John Boyeda’s Finn.

By P.J. Gladnick | December 28, 2015 | 2:52 PM EST

Rush Limbaugh has stated several times that the assassination of John F. Kennedy ushered in the era of modern liberalism. Liberals back then just couldn't handle the fact that the assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, a communist who lived for awhile in the Soviet Union. So they attempted to blame America and the "rightwing" for Kennedy's assassination. 

In the current update of that attitude, liberals hate to see radical Muslims blamed for acts of terrorism. The prefer and wish for such acts to have been committed by somebody they can associate with conservatives. The latest example of this is Samuel L. Jackson who flat out expresses his disappointment in The Hollywood Reporter that the culprit in the San Bernardino shootings wasn't "some crazy white dude" rather than who it really was, a radical Muslim couple. 

By Tom Blumer | December 28, 2015 | 2:06 PM EST

While the establishment press lies in wait for Republican and conservative candidates to make some kind of off-color or foolish statement — or one that can be twisted to become one, even if it originally wasn't — it consistently ignores howlers made by leftists and liberals. The list of President Barack Obama's gaffes alone, all totally or almost completely ignored by the press when they were made, is quite long.

The most telling gaffe is the kind made in all seriousness by its deliverer which betrays a level of cluelessness not thought humanly possible from a supposedly educated and informed adult. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders committed one such gaffe in a Saturday morning tweet.

By Ken Shepherd | December 28, 2015 | 12:27 PM EST

A year-ending survey of the most-admired men in the world finds President Obama topping the list, with second-place honors going to both Pope Francis and Donald Trump, who tied with 5 percent of the vote. Relaying news of the Gallup poll in their Cheat Sheet digest, Daily Beast editors sneered "Unholy," referring to the second-place tie, not to the controversial, unpopular Democratic president's top billing.

By Tim Graham | December 28, 2015 | 11:59 AM EST

National Public Radio's evening news show All Things Considered eased into Christmas on December 23 by promoting a new Christmas song by soul singer Macy Gray asking for "free health care," gun control, legalized pot, and amnesty for illegal aliens. The headline on NPR.org was "Macy Gray's Christmas Wish List Has A Few Surprises." Add "To Delight Liberals."

Anchor Michel Martin also used the holiday-season interview to ask Gray about a song she released in July, an "epic love song to her vibrator." Gray called it a device for "female empowerment."