Barack Obama

Reuters: 2.1 Percent GDP Growth Is 'Respectable'; 2 Percent Is Economy's 'Long-Run Potential'
By Tom Blumer | November 24, 2015 | 6:32 PM EST

Call it the triumph of the "new normal."

At Reuters today, after today's first revision of third-quarter gross domestic product showed that the economy grew by an annualized 2.1 percent, up from the late-October estimate of 1.5 percent, reporter Lucia Mutikani and Editor Paul Simao demonstrated that they have completely given in to the artificially lowered expectations of past seven miserable years. Despite the fact that annual growth in the U.S. economy averaged 3.4 percent from 1946-2007 — a period which included ten recessions — and that it has seen four-year spurts averaging over 4 percent several times in the past three decades, the Reuters pair claims that its "long-run potential" is now only 2 percent, thus making today's 2.1 percent result "respectable."

IBD Slams Liberals for Their ‘Deadly Denial’ of the Threat Posed by Radical Islam
By Curtis Houck | November 24, 2015 | 4:45 PM EST

An editorial in Tuesday’s print edition of Investor’s Business Daily firmly took President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the Democratic Party to task for their “deadly denial” of radical Islam and the prominent role it’s played in the war on terrorism and terrorist attacks from 9/11 to Fort Hood to Paris. 

NYT Whines Terrorism, Breaking News Have ‘Hijacked’ Obama’s Trips; ‘Another Distraction’
By Curtis Houck | November 23, 2015 | 8:08 PM EST

The New York Times earned its keep as a foot soldier for the Obama administration as White House correspondent Michael D. Shear offered a piece in Monday’s paper lamenting that many of the President’s foreign trips have been “hijacked” by breaking news stories with the Paris terror attacks “spawn[ing] another distraction” from Obama’s agenda. 

Scarborough: Obama in 'Bubble,' Sees ISIS as Just 'Guys With Guns and Good Social Media'
By Mark Finkelstein | November 23, 2015 | 9:27 AM EST

Death of a Salesman's Willy Loman was a guy "out there in the blue riding on a smile and a shoeshine." President Obama sees ISIS as Willy's bad mirror image, dismissing the terror group as guys with "conventional weapons and good social media."

On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough blasted Obama's dangerous insouciance, calling it "staggering to our allies. It is staggering to people like Frank Bruni, a liberal columnist. It is staggering to Diane Feinstein, liberal Democrats. It is staggering to the world. The president's in a bubble by himself, saying that these are just bad guys with guns and good social media." 

Really? Media Meme: U.S. Does Not Face Same Terrorism Risks As Europe
By Tom Blumer | November 22, 2015 | 10:38 AM EST

In the wake of the Paris terrorist murder sprees, a media narrative that the U.S. is somehow less vulnerable to terrorist attacks than countries in Europe has arisen.

The reasons given for this contention would be uproariously funny if the stakes weren't so serious: "Geography and strict travel restrictions." Additionally, according to the report where the meme appears to have originated, there is "one measure" which makes the U.S. "arguably" more vulnerable: guns.

Mother Jones Blogger: Obama’s Response to ISIS Hardly His ‘Finest Hour,’ But GOP ‘Much Worse’
By Tom Johnson | November 21, 2015 | 11:56 AM EST

President Obama deserves high marks for his ISIS policy only if you’re grading on a curve and the other students are Republicans who “can't be bothered to take any of this seriously,” suggested Kevin Drum in a Thursday post.

Drum charged that GOPers “blather about Obama being weak, but when you ask them for their plans you just get nonsense…Obama's ISIS strategy has [not] been golden. But Republicans make him look like Alexander the Great. They treat the whole subject like a plaything, a useful cudgel during a presidential campaign. Refugees! Kurds! Radical Islam! We need to be tougher!...That isn't leadership. It barely even counts as coherent thought. It's just playground jeering.”

NBC: GOP ‘Defying’ Obama With ‘Fearmongering and Heated Rhetoric’
By Kyle Drennen | November 20, 2015 | 1:00 PM EST

On Friday, NBC’s Today lambasted Republicans for daring to oppose President Obama on the process of accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S. Co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “Defying the President, the House on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to impose stringent new screening rules.”

NBC Trashes ‘Ugly’ GOP for ‘Angry Debate’ on Refugees; Hails Hillary ‘Going Against the Tide’
By Curtis Houck | November 19, 2015 | 9:13 PM EST

NBC Nightly News lashed out at conservatives and Republicans on Thursday for creating an “ugly” and “angry debate” with President Obama over whether to accept Syrian refugees while gushing how Hillary Clinton was “[g]oing against the tide” of a bipartisan majority of voters and members of the House in backing the President.

IBD: Islamist Organization Involved in 'Screening' U.S.-Bound Refugees
By Tom Blumer | November 19, 2015 | 5:38 PM EST

Add what follows to the long list of items we should be reading about in wire service reports but instead must find in the editorial sections of the nation's two leading business newspapers.

An Islamist organization tied to the Muslim Brotherhood is involved in the screening potential Syrian refugees allegedly receive before being allowed to come to the United States. Investor's Business Daily revealed this information, which is in stark contrast what U.S. government officials are telling the nation, in a Tuesday evening editorial (bolds are mine):

NBC Touts White House Exploiting Baby’s Death to Push Paid Family Leave
By Kyle Drennen | November 19, 2015 | 12:38 PM EST

Teasing an upcoming report that amounted to Obama administration propaganda on Thursday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “Fighting for family leave....How one mom's courageous battle for more time at home made it all the way to the White House.”
 

ABC: Republicans to ‘Defy’ Obama on Syrian Refugees
By Scott Whitlock | November 19, 2015 | 11:24 AM EST

Good Morning America reporter Jon Karl on Thursday marveled that Republicans would dare “defy” Barack Obama on letting Syrian refugees into the country. ABC censored the news that only 28 percent of Americans support the current refugee program. Instead, Karl announced, “The House is expected to defy the President today by voting to temporarily prevent the administration from allowing more Syrian refugees to come into the country.” 

Sharyl Attkisson: Obama Will Not Read Intelligence on U.S.-Recognized Terrorist Groups
By Tom Blumer | November 19, 2015 | 10:48 AM EST

Several times in the past, we've heard President Barack Obama, and occasionally his press secretary, tell America that the nation's commander-in-chief learned about certain events the same way many of the rest of us did: by seeing them on TV or reading newspaper accounts. A Republican or conservative president hauling out this excuse even once would face endless outrage and ridicule, respectively, from the news and entertainment divisions of the establishment press's networks.

Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who is now an independent investigative journalist, has revealed one reason why Obama's level of claimed ignorance has been so high. It's because he won't look at information he doesn't like, or which doesn't conform to his preconceived notions — even in very serious matters relating to national security. It seems highly unlikely that Attkisson is the only reporter in the nation who has learned this.