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AP Tries to Impress With Expected (Really Puny) 'Pickups' in GDP Growth
By Tom Blumer | December 22, 2015 | 6:45 PM EST

Today's release from the government on economic growth estimated that the nation's Gross Domestic Product grew at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter, a slight downward revision from November's estimate of 2.1 percent. This continues the economy's dismal, worst-since-World War II growth performance since the recession officially ended over six years ago.

But never fear. According to the Associated Press's headline writers early this afternoon, there is going to be a growth "pickup." Not to be outdone, AP economics writer Martin Crutsinger regaled readers with how the economy will have "stronger growth." Wait til you see what they're talking about. Seldom, if ever, has so much been made of so little (bolds are mine):

CNN Panel Explodes When Conservative Brings Up Clinton Sex Scandals from 1990s; Gets Mic Cut
By Curtis Houck | December 22, 2015 | 6:13 PM EST

The lead segment in the 3:00 p.m. Eastern hour of Tuesday’s CNN Newsroom featured quite the display of verbal fireworks as conservative writer Kurt Schlichter angered fill-in host Don Lemon when he invoked the Clinton sex scandals of the 1990's with former President Clinton turning “his intern into a humidor” while discussing vulgar comments made by Donald Trump.

On CBS, Yahoo News's Matt Bai Invokes George Wallace in Trump Discussion
By Brad Wilmouth | December 22, 2015 | 5:45 PM EST

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, Yahoo News political columnist Matt Bai brought up 1960s era segregationist Alabama Democratic governor and former presidential candidate George Wallace during a discussion of Donald Trump's popularity: "There is a very dissatisfied conservative piece of the electorate, you know. It goes back really as far as George Wallace."

Chris Matthews Fears ‘Horror’ of Ted Cruz Presidency; Calls Him ‘Enemy of the State’
By Kyle Drennen | December 22, 2015 | 5:27 PM EST

Appearing in the 3 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live on Tuesday, Hardball host Chris Matthews revealed how terrified he is at the prospect of Texas Senator Ted Cruz becoming president: “...Cruz is scarier than Trump and that will be a frightening prospect to realize....if we weren't talking about Trump, we’d be talking about the horror of this country possibly being led by Cruz.”

Boyega, Ridley Made More in ‘Star Wars’ Debut Than Harrison Ford Did in ‘A New Hope’
By Erik Soderstrom | December 22, 2015 | 4:18 PM EST

The left and entertainment press have had a field day whining about how much more Harrison Ford was paid for his role in The Force Awakens compared to costars and series newcomers John Boyega and Daisy Ridley.

“Harrison Ford Was Paid Over 50x More Than ‘Star Wars’ Co-Stars” Variety’s headline blared. (SPOILERS AHEAD)

NPR’s Inskeep Rules Obama’s Trashing of Media on Terrorism Was ‘Not a Very Outlandish Idea’
By Curtis Houck | December 22, 2015 | 4:18 PM EST

NPR’s Steve Inskeep continued his media tour on Monday promoting his fawning sit-down interview with President by appearing with CNN Tonight host Don Lemon and, when asked about the President attacking the media for supposedly overhyping threats posed by ISIS, Inskeep stood up for the President by suggesting that it was “not a very outlandish idea that he's putting out there.”

USA Today Reporter Announces He’s Decided to Purchase a Handgun
By Brent Baker | December 22, 2015 | 4:08 PM EST

Headline atop the page two “Voices” column in Tuesday's USA Today by Trevor Hughes, the Denver-based correspondent for the newspaper: “How I came to decide to buy a gun.” “After months of soul-searching, I’ve decided to buy a handgun,” Hughes began, later making an obvious point so many journalists would prefer to avoid: “You don’t see terror attacks in this country on areas where there’s lots of armed men and women. Instead, it’s those soft targets that get hit.”

MSNBC's Russert Frets 'Hope and Change' Did Not 'Carry the Day,' Invokes George Wallace
By Brad Wilmouth | December 22, 2015 | 3:56 PM EST

As MSNBC's Chris Matthews appeared on Tuesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports to promote his special on Donald Trump's life, substitute MSNBC host Luke Russert wondered why the "divisions that had ravaged the country" did not go away after President Barack Obama's election because "everybody thought that we were now coming into a post-racial society, that 'hope and change' was going to carry the day."

A bit later, he brought up segregationist Alabama Democratic governor and former presidential candidate George Wallace as he wondered whether Trump was more like Wallace or Ross Perot.

CNBC Changes Xmas Shopping Headline From 'Cut Too Deep' to 'Can It Be Saved?'
By Tom Blumer | December 22, 2015 | 3:26 PM EST

Yesterday, CNBC's Krystina Gustafson opened her article about the state of the Christmas shopping season by reporting that "procrastinators around the U.S. provided a much-needed boost to retailers" last weekend, but that "the lift was likely too little too late to salvage a slow start to the holiday shopping season." The story's headline: "Retailers cut too deep to save the holiday season."

Readers who go to the link will not see that headline now. Instead, the headline, contradicting Gustafson's contention that it was probably already too late, now reads: "Can last-minute shoppers save the holiday season?" As seen after the jump, the original downbeat headline remains at Google (which lists original headlines, and as best I can tell doesn't change them if the linked story's headline changes) and Yahoo Finance:

On CNN, John McWhorter Scolds Campus Left Over Its 'Bullying' on Race
By Matthew Balan | December 22, 2015 | 3:04 PM EST

On Monday's CNN Tonight, John McWhorter rebuked left-wing activists for suppressing free speech on many college campuses. McWhorter contended that they are "proposing that racism, and that which offends me, is the same sort of thing...and, therefore, they feel like they're in the right to shut down any kind of discussion." McWhorter later underlined that "you [can] get to the point that you can define just about anything a white person does or says as a micro-aggression."

Gay Love Awakens? Fusion Says Star Wars’ Finn and Poe Should Be a Couple
By Sarah Stites | December 22, 2015 | 2:07 PM EST

According to Fusion writer Charles Pulliam-Moore, there might be an undercurrent of gay love in the new Star Wars movie.

Frank Joyce in Salon: End the ‘500-Year Rampage of the White Man’
By Sarah Stites | December 22, 2015 | 2:01 PM EST

If you could think of one thing on which the future of life on Earth depended, what would it be? Access to clean water? Sufficient supplies of energy? Those are important to be sure, but according to white Alternet author Frank Joyce, it’s “bringing the 500-year rampage of the white man to a halt.” 

NBC Gushes Over ‘Comedian-in-Chief’ Obama Appearing on Seinfeld Web Show
By Kyle Drennen | December 22, 2015 | 1:38 PM EST

On Tuesday, NBC’s Today devoted two full reports to President Obama appearing on Jerry Seinfeld’s web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The first report came late in the 7 a.m. ET hour, with co-host Carson Daly proclaiming: “President Obama and Jerry Seinfeld take a little spin on the South Lawn in a 1963 Corvette before they sit down for a candid conversation about life in the White House....[which] focuses more on the ‘lighter side of the presidency’...an opportunity to ‘pull back the curtain.’”

Gloria Steinem: Equal Pay Would Be 'Biggest Economic Stimulus Possible’
By Sam Dorman | December 22, 2015 | 1:37 PM EST

According to feminist icon Gloria Steinem, America’s best bet for stimulating the economy isn’t tax cuts or trillions of dollars in spending, but equal pay for women.

In a Dec. 15 interview with Fusion, Steinem claimed that “Equal pay for women of all races would be the biggest economic stimulus the economy could possibly have.” She specifically said it would be “way better” than the last stimulus.

Business Press Exaggerates November Existing-Home Sales Plunge by (As Usual) Ignoring Raw Data
By Tom Blumer | December 22, 2015 | 12:57 PM EST

The business press worships at the altar of seasonally adjusted data. Most journalists covering the economy don't even bother looking at raw, not seasonally adjusted data, which in layman's terms is best understood as "what actually happened." As I have shown for nearly a decade, this is often a big mistake.

On the rare occasions when reporters take the initiative to look at the raw data, they usually ignor it, or fail to grasp its meaning. A perfect example of that phenomenon occurred today at Bloomberg News. The business press is blindly accepting a reported 10.5 percent drop in existing home sales as evidence of all kinds of problems, including — supposedly, but not really — a regulation-driven extension of closing time frames. Though Bloomberg's Victoria Stilwell was astute enough to look at the underlying data, unlike her fellow reporters at the Associated Press and Reuters, she completely ignored how doing so blew up the narrative.