Flight 253: AP Ignores Own Christmas Dispatch to Pretend Obama's Jan
In a report time-stamped January 2, the Associated Press's Philip Elliott relayed what was supposedly important news: Obama cites apparent al-Qaida link in bomb plot An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner, training and arming the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing, President Barack Obama said Saturday. You don't say?…
AP Publishes Columnist's Rip At Govt.'s Permanent Break for Home Relie
The Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (known as "HAMP" to lenders and services, and MHA, or "Making Home Affordable" to the general public) is "failing." I only learned this because I looked at the Associated Press's feeds on Christmas evening and saw this headline -- "No consequences for lying borrowers." In an item time-stamped December 25, AP national business…
Flight 253: Media Ignoring Two-Day Gap Between Preliminary AQ Linkage
UPDATE, Jan. 1, 2010: This post at BizzyBlog shows that the there was recognition of likely Al Qaeda involvement in two separate press reports based on sources in a position to know on Christmas evening. Thus, the administration's delay in acknowledging that reality was actually three full days.In their initial December 26 report ("Passengers’ Quick Action Halted Attack") on the attempted…
Name That Party: Quick On the Trigger Edition
Numerous police visits to his home, reported gunshots and screaming, attempted burglaries, loud arguments, reported assaults, whispers about having sex with young men. North Carolina state senator R.C. Soles certainly leads an interesting life. Soles is the Democratic caucus chairman in the Senate, but you wouldn't know that by reading today's dispatch from the Associated Press. "No re-…
AP, Aversa Conveniently Change Their Definition of 'Recession
The Associated Press's business writers and many others in the establishment press spent just over a year reminding readers at seemingly every conceivable opportunity that the recession began in December 2007, simply because the supposedly apolitical collection of academics at the National Bureau for Economic Research said so. Lo and behold, in her year-end roundup of 2009's top business stories…
AP: Carter's 'Built a Legacy That Few, If Any, American Ex-Presidents
Former president Jimmy Carter is doing one terrific job. So reports the Associated Press today in its "Carter finds happiness in foreign missions." According to the article:Since leaving the White House, he's logged millions of miles and visited dozens of countries on missions to wipe out diseases, mediate conflicts, advocate for human rights and monitor elections. He's built a legacy that few…
Relief Without Limits: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Get Blank Checks; NYT P
On Thursday, the Treasury Department issued a press release, called "Update on Status of Support for Housing Programs." Its fourth paragraph reads as follows: At the time the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in September 2008, Treasury established Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) to ensure that each firm maintained a positive…
Flight 253: AP Scrubs 'M-Word,' Potential Relevance of 'Nigerian Talib
It has been interesting watching the Associated Press reports on the attempted takedown of Flight 253 devolve in the past 12-plus hours. In its 8:56 a.m. report (likely dynamic and subject to change), it looks like the assemblage of AP writers who worked on the story have succeeded in: As Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters noted earlier this morning in the case of the New York Times, ridding the…
AP's Babington Plays Obama/Dem Party Mouthpiece, Ignores CBO 'Double-C
The Associated Press should seriously consider renaming itself "Associated Dems" or "Associated Leftists." This morning, the AP's Charles Babington uncritically relays the latest Democratic Party talking point about its statist health care plan that has been passed in two very different forms in the House and Senate. The supposed point is that anyone who voted to create Medicare Part D in 2003…
Not News: Obama EO Removes Restrictions on INTERPOL
Here are some examples of Executive Orders issued by President Obama that have received New York Times or Associated Press coverage: NYT, October 29 -- "Obama Order Strengthens Spy Oversight" (the browser window title is "Obama Moves to Roll Back Bush Changes to Intelligence Oversight Board"). NYT, October 2 -- "Obama Prohibits Federal Employees From Texting While Driving for Work." NYT,…
Split Personality: One Hour After Cheerleading, AP's Aversa Goes Dour
In an item time-stamped at 1:16 p.m. today (in case updated, here is a graphic capture of the first six paragraphs as they then appeared) covered by yours truly a short time ago (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the Associated Press's Jeannine Aversa discounted today's weaker than expected economic growth report from Uncle Sam showing that gross domestic product only grew by an annualized 2.2%…
Economy Not Impressing? Never Fear, the AP's Jeannine Aversa Is Here
Uncle Sam's Bureau of Economic Analysis today revised economic growth in the third quarter downward a second time. After originally estimating annualized growth of 3.5% in October and then reducing it to 2.8% in November, the bureau's "third estimate" issued today came in at 2.2%. If that "third estimate" term seems odd, it's because this is only the second quarter the BEA has labeled its…
AP Word Games: 'Pork' and 'Earmarks' Transformed Into 'Local Projects
In connection with the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending monstrosity signed into law last week, an unbylined AP report on December 16 told us the following (bolds are mine throughout this post): Most Republicans opposed the bill, citing runaway federal spending. They also pointed to an estimated $3.9 billion for more than 5,000 local projects sought by lawmakers from both parties. The AP writer…
AP, Ohio Media, Gov. Strickland and Dems Call Double-Digit Retroactive
On January 1, 2009, the final 4.2% stage of a four-year, 21% cut in individual income taxes took effect in Ohio. State tax withholding tables reflecting the lower rates went into effect. Ohio employees began seeing a bit more net pay in each paycheck. This past week, the state legislature, faced with an $850 million shortfall and threats of immediate school funding cuts by Governor Ted…
