Economy

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Friedman Wrongly Claims Only One Attack in US by Foreign Terrorists
February 7th, 2017 5:07 PM
Appearing as a guest on Monday's Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman incorrectly claimed that there has only been one case of a foreign-born terrorist staging an attack in the United States when there have, in fact, been a significant number of cases. Friedman: "Of course we want people vetted. I mean, but who said the vetting system had failed us? What is the…

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‘CBS Evening News’ Praise Liberal Super Bowl Ads, ‘Brave’ Companies
February 6th, 2017 9:46 PM
It appears that on Monday night CBS wanted to follow in NBC’s lead, from earlier that morning, and highlight the super bowl ads that pushed the liberal agenda. “The 1984 Wendy's super bowl ad finding its way into the presidential campaign. Well this year, in something of an end reverse, politics found its way into the Super Bowl ads,” hyped anchor Scott Pelley, while reporter Don Dahler touted, “…

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CNN's Report on Rescinded Coal Rule: Comical, But Also Very Incomplete
February 4th, 2017 3:33 PM
UPDATE, Feb. 7: On Feb. 5, Jake Tapper tweeted that "if you're concerned about things being 'incomplete' maybe consider adding into your post Manchin on same show response to rule." I attempted to find that video, and could not. If it was so important, and in the interest of balance, one would hope it would be part of the CNN video at the web link cited below — and it's not.
As Nicholas…
The Week That Was
January 31st, 2017 4:15 PM
Republican members of Congress met in Philadelphia last weekend for what was called a retreat. It might have been more accurately labeled an advance. Perhaps not since the days of Franklin Roosevelt's first term has so much been done by so few that will potentially impact so many (to paraphrase Winston Churchill in a completely different context).

AP Ignores Falling Obama-Era Union Rolls, Takes Aim at Wisconsin
January 30th, 2017 2:02 PM
You would think that the establishment press and the rest of the opposition to Donald Trump's administration might be able to capitalize substantively (shrieking fundraising letters don't count as "substance") on Kellyanne Conway's shaky reference to "alternative facts" about a week ago. (She should have said, "I have different, more defensible estimates than you do," because she did.) So far…

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Friedman: After Trump’s Policies ‘There Will Be No Jobs!'
January 29th, 2017 1:59 PM
In what seemed like the ramblings of a 19th century Luddite, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Tom Friedman appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday where he issued a ridiculous warning about the US economy under President Donald Trump. “So what’s going to happen if prices go up? American companies will build those factories here,” he exclaimed, “And you know what they'll do?…

SF Paper Downplays Minimum Wage Hikes Despite Restaurants Closing
January 28th, 2017 8:28 PM
A January 24 item in the East Bay Times, which serves the San Francisco East Bay area, wondered: "What’s behind the spate of recent restaurant closures?" While it didn't ignore the problem, the article made only glancing references to current and planned increases in state and city minimum wages. Preliminary year-end statistics at the U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Bay…

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CBS Knocks ‘Chaotic’ Trump Admin; 'It Was That Kind of Day'
January 26th, 2017 9:21 PM
From the first words out of anchor Scott Pelley on Thursday’s CBS Evening News, one had to know what kind of newscast it would be. Throughout the newscast’s A-block, every segment involved almost exclusive criticism of the Trump administration on issues ranging from the border to the media to Syrian refugees to trade agreements.

As Trump Freezes Federal Hiring, AP Hides 'Dramatic' Workforce Growth
January 24th, 2017 3:52 PM
In a Tuesday morning dispatch about President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze, the Associated Press's Matthew Barakat presented a quote from Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer. He followed it with a statistic which he wants readers to believe refutes Spicer's claim. That statistic does no such thing, but I expect, even though it's remarkably lazy and misleading, that it will become a very…

Liberal Pundit Touts Books About How the GOP Became ‘Abnormal’
January 22nd, 2017 8:14 PM
“The most important development of the last half-century in American politics,” believes New York magazine’s Chait, is “the Republican Party’s embrace of movement conservative ideology.” In a Thursday post, Chait cited six books, none of which was written by a conservative, that “help elucidate” this phenomenon. Among Chait’s choices: E.J. Dionne’s Why the Right Went Wrong; Richard Hofstadter’s…

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MRC’s Gainor Defends Trump’s Claim He Spurred Job Creation in U.S
Business
January 19th, 2017 5:40 PM
MRC Vice President of Business and Culture Dan Gainor denounced NBC’s attempt to downplay President-elect Donald Trump’s role in bringing new jobs to the U.S. On Twitter, Trump credited himself for new job creation on Jan. 17. The next day, NBC’s Today ran a “fact check” on Trump’s claim with MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber, who said Trump had a “very small or non-existent” impact.

Liberal Author: Trump’s Election Began Our ‘Cultural Civil War’
January 19th, 2017 5:20 PM
Some liberals were disappointed by the result of the presidential election. Others were devastated. Former Fox News Watch panelist Gabler is in the latter group. “The anguish of Nov. 8 has not subsided,” wrote Gabler in a piece that appeared last Thursday on Salon and originally ran at BillMoyers.com. “We think of the election almost as a kind of death -- the death of the America we thought we…
International Trade Thuggery
January 19th, 2017 3:30 PM
President-elect Donald Trump's threats against American companies looking to relocate in foreign countries have won favorable review from many quarters. Support comes from those alarmed about trade deficits, those who want a "level playing field" and those who call for "free trade but fair trade," whatever that means.

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Dyson Sees 'Terror' in US: 'Vicious Police Forces' 'Victimized' Blacks
January 18th, 2017 4:20 PM
Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's New Day on CNN, Georgetown University professor and former MSNBC analyst Michael Eric Dyson likened police actions against black Americans to terrorism as CNN's Chris Cuomo argued that many voters were motivated to vote for Donald Trump by non-race-related issues like terrorism from ISIS. Dyson griped: "Color-neutral and ISIS? Many African-American people said…