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1.) Barack Obama, imaginary world healer — We were told in 2008 that, if elected, Barack Obama would make America beloved in the world again. His mere election, we were told, would heal the wounds George W. Bush supposedly inflicted on our international reputation. We are nearly five years into the Obama experiment and not so much. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Brendan Bordelon reports:
“A last-minute plea from President Obama couldn’t stop Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff from postponing an October state visit, after revelations that American intelligence spied on her presidential communications allegedly sent her into a rage. Reuters reports that Obama spent 20 minutes on the phone with Rousseff Monday night, apparently trying to salvage the first state visit by the up-and-coming South American nation in nearly two decades. White House press secretary Jay Carney tried to play down the cancellation on Tuesday, telling reporters that the decision was a mutual one. ‘The president agreed with President Rousseff that it is important to celebrate our broad relationship, and that relationship should not be overshadowed by a single issue,’ he said.”
TheDC Morning doesn’t remember a country candling, or “postponing,” a state dinner on George W. Bush.
2.) Free(dom’s) fall — Thirteen years ago the U.S. was ranked one of the freest countries economically in the world. Things have changed. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“The United States has dropped 15 slots since 2000 in an annual ranking of economic freedom, from second place to 17th place. Wednesday, the Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think tank, released its annual Economic Freedom of the World Report revealing that while the United States is up a slot in the rankings from last year’s analysis, the country still has ground to make up to get back to the position it held in 2000. … One of the report authors, Joshua Hall, associate professor of economics at West Virginia University, explained to The Daily Caller that the annual report was inspired by an observation from economist Milton Friedman. … Hall explained there are ‘lots of reasons’ the United States has declined in the economic freedom ranking since 2000. Three areas he noted are an increase in government spending, expanding regulation and declining security of property rights and rule of law.”
3.) Misreporting — If we have learned anything over the last several years, it is that the media are horrible at reporting on breaking news events like mass shootings in real time. That’s partly the product of the demands of the 24/7 cable news cycle. But sometimes it’s because reporters are too quick to report things that validate their liberal worldview without fact checking it first. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Chuck Ross reports:
“Media, politicians and activists had to backpedal Tuesday after an FBI spokesperson said there is no evidence that Aaron Alexis, the gunman who murdered 12 people in the Navy Yard shooting Monday, used an AR-15 in the massacre. ‘We do not have any information at this time that [Alexis] had an AR-15 in his possession,’ said FBI assistant director Victoria Parlave at a press conference on Tuesday. Parlave said that it is now believed that Alexis, 34, possessed a shotgun when he entered the Navy Yard. … Many outlets reported the initial claim that Alexis used an AR-15 in the attack.”
Check out the outlets that made the AR-15 error.
4.) A long night of the pen — TheDC’s advice columnist Matt Labash is back with a Jerry Maguire-esque manifesto that implores readers not to trust advice columnists. He also fills us in on what type of people write in to him:
“By my count, I’ve written about 110 of these babies. So you might think that I’ve learned a thing or two about human nature in that time. Well, you’d be thinking wrong. Because most of the people who write to a guy in a fishing hat on a red-meat political website break down into roughly one of three categories: 1. People who want to discuss the ins and outs of Barack Obama’s Kenyan citizenship. 2. People who want to discuss fly fishing tips. (That’s my fault.) 3. People who write 500-word mini essays with a ‘what-do-you-think?’ gratuitously pegged onto the end, since they don’t have enough of an outlet in their Feelings Journal or in the creative writing class they’re auditing down at the community college.”
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Brian Gaar: Someone asked if I have a “machine” that produces my tweets. Um yeah, nature’s machine — my brain. Owned.
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Birthday Party Given for Participants in National Meeting of Personnel in Posts and Telecommunications”
VIDEO: Joe Scarborough slams Obama for harsh partisanship in post-Navy Yard shooting speech