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Citing the “dire threat” posed by uninvited intruders, the US Department of Homeland Security is recommending a substantial investment in improved fencing for the White House. “As it stands right now, hostile elements can easily breach the meager barrier that the current fence around the White House presents,” Secretary Jeh Johnson complained. “This is as grave a threat to our nation and its government as could exist. We must take steps to seal off the ease of ingress as a matter of national security.” Administration critics juxtaposed Johnson’s alarm over the inadequacy of the White House fence with his more...

We must have let the rest of the White House staff go on “Winter Holiday Break” early too, because as of this morning, still no transcript from yesterday’s presser. I gotta run, I’ve got a flight to catch. See you next year.Although there was this posted yesterday on the Big White site: DECLARACIONES DEL PRESIDENTE SOBRE CAMBIOS EN LA POLÍTICA CON CUBA. No English translation though because, as I just explained, a lot of people are already on holiday. I ran it through my special language pack however and it appears to be addressed to newly landed formerly illegal aliens....

Earlier this week, Sony made the controversial call to cancel the release of its North Korea-set comedy The Interview over terroristic threats made by hackers. In a press conference today, President Obama called Sony's decision a "mistake." "Sony is a corporation," said President Obama. "It suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake." "We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States," he continued. "Because if somebody is able...

Has there ever been a president more eager to make concessions to vicious regimes than Barack Obama? The opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba is the latest and, one fears, not the last in a string of preemptive concessions. Obama, with his blend of hard-left prejudices and vaulting solipsism, has sought throughout his presidency to atone for what he and his party view as America's past sins. That was the essence of the "reset" with Russia, which included betraying two of America's European allies, Poland and the Czech Republic, who had been scheduled to receive ground-based antiballistic missile systems. Though...

It’s been a big week for Cuba and a number of Republicans are trying to piggyback on the good news with their own form of discontent. Enter Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, two Batista Republicans if there ever were. The embargo policies of the United States toward Cuba have been a failure. Originally intended to undermine the governing authority and encourage dissidents in the nation to rise against their dictator, they did not achieve their objective. Much the opposite, actually, as Cuba has seen economic growth since the sanctions were implemented in the 1962. Even further, the actions of the...

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer conceded that he fears a President Ted Cruz will overturn President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, perhaps signaling that Cruz represents the greatest threat to the progressive left. “Our first 100 days we spent a lot of time signing executive orders undoing what [President George W.] Bush did, and I would like not to be sitting on a beach somewhere reading about President [Ted] Cruz doing that to us, so it’s very important to us,” Pfeiffer told the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Earlier in the day, Pfeiffer declared that Obama’s executive amnesty was one...

Somewhat remarkably, given that it has presided over the worst recovery–by far–of the post-war era, the Obama administration tries to slice and dice employment numbers to portray itself as a champion of job creation. There are, indeed, a few more jobs today than there were six years ago. Yet for most Americans, the employment scene has gotten worse, not better. Why is that? Senate Budget Committee staff offer data in explanation: According to BLS data, in November of 2007 there were 23.1 million foreign workers in the United States with jobs. Today, the BLS reports, there are 25.1 million foreign...

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story, which was based on a Federal news service transcript, said President Obama referred to “the overall majority of good black people” not using racism as an excuse. Mr. Obama actually said, “the overall majority of black people” do not use racism as an excuse. Before flying off to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, President Obama said Friday that most blacks understand America’s history of slavery and segregation isn’t an excuse for their current challenges.Asked by a reporter to assess the state of black America, Mr. Obama said most blacks are “better off...

President Barack Obama says he will try to undertake an overhaul of the tax system with the new Republican majorities in Congress. He says the “devil is in the details.” He says the tax system needs to be simpler and fairer. He says some corporations engage in tax avoidance while others pay full freight. He also says he would like to combine tax changes with money for capital works projects. …

Diplomacy: The White House says Cuba's Raul Castro may soon visit. If he does, it'll be an ugly blot on President Obama's record. Since when does the U.S. welcome brutal military dictators into the people's house? Speaking to flabbergasted reporters, President Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that the White House "wouldn't rule out a visit from President Castro," just after explaining that Obama wanted to travel to Cuba. That would be the diplomatic trade-off for an administration visit to the island, which would undoubtedly be a repeat of Obama pop-star pal Beyonce's pleasure trip last year in a miasma...

President Obama is being applauded by his pandering members of the left's publicity machine for poking a stick in the eye of the GOP and its likely 2016 Presidential candidates.  The economic geniuses at the NYT pretend that there is suddenly a long line-up of American corporations running for their executive jets ardently anxious to unwrap the supposed Christmas present being handed to them and awaiting them in Cuba. We're excited to sell average Cubans a couple of  Chevys?  Or perhaps three of four Teslas? How?  Cubans are broke. Fifty cars were sold in Cuba during the past 6 months.  The Castros and the...

Defense: China has just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver up to 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads, using technology given to them on President Clinton's watch to launch communications satellites. The Dec. 13 test of the DF-41 was the third for the new weapon. But it marked the first test of a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, or MIRV, technology and raises by an order of magnitude the nuclear threat to the U.S. as China continues its massive arms buildup. And disturbingly, the threat is in large part of our own making. "The DF-4, which could be...

Due to an increase in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program’s budget, formerly known as food stamps, President Obama is requiring all SNAP agencies to add a sales team. The sales team will be responsible for telemarketing, cold-calling eligible Americans and persuading them to join the entitlement program that already services 50 million citizens and visa-holders.

Judge Arthur Schwab of the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled that portions of President Obama's unilateral action on illegal immigrants violate the US Constitution's separation of powers. “The alleged grounds of prosecutorial discretion are inadequate to support the totality of what he has tried to do,” Schwab said. “He can decline to prosecute these lawbreakers. That is the limit of his discretion. He does not have the authority to issue them identity papers that would make them eligible for employment or government benefits that existing law prohibits.” Democratic U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (Ill) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn) contend that Schwab...

Libertarian icon Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) embarrassed himself on Friday when he took to Twitter to respond to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) who recently insisted that the junior senator from Kentucky “has no idea what he’s talking about” with regards to his support for lifting restrictions on bilateral relations with the Cuban government. By attempting to defend himself, Paul ably proved the Florida senator correct. Paul began… Hey @marcorubio if the embargo doesn't hurt Cuba, why do you want to keep it?— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) December 19, 2014 And this one got the libertarian supporters cheering in the...

Michelle Obama was lying about a racist incident at her September 29, 2011 trip to Target in a People Magazine story, Gotnews.com has learned. The careful orchestrated press event occurred in Alexandria, Virginia’s Route 1 Target store. Obama has told two different, conflicting accounts about her Target experience. The first time she claimed she helped someone because of her height in a 2012 appearance with David Letterman. Now she’s claiming there was a racist incident in People Magazine. She is also lying about having any interactions with customers. In fact, the store was under strict control by the Secret Service...

The number of illegal immigrants crossing the border rose in 2014, while deportations dropped, according to new statistics Homeland Security released Friday in a pre-holiday data dump that signaled potential problems on both sides of the immigration enforcement equation. Apprehensions on the border, which Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says is a yardstick for overall illegal immigration, rose 16 percent in fiscal year 2014, while deportations from within the interior of the U.S. — the measure of how much the administration is going after long-time illegal immigrants — fell 24 percent. Those numbers, which cover from Oct. 1, 2013, through...

During President Obama’s year-end press conference Friday, he took eight questions — all from women. .......Considering what turned out to be a poor ending for the year in women’s issues — namely campus sexual assault — Obama needed to bring attention back on women. Obama tried in April to spearhead a movement this year and continue the momentum of the “war on women” narrative, but it suffered a number of setbacks: Due process supporters piped up, a major story about campus rape was exposed as a hoax, Republicans defeated candidates who overdid the "war on women" theme. To put it...

America Urban Radio reporter April Ryan asked President Obama today about the state of black America today compared to before he took office six years ago. Obama said, “Like the rest of America, black America, in the aggregate, is better off now than it was when I came into office.”

Barack Obama apologized to Cuban president Raul Castro during their phone conversation after the American commander in chief's opening remarks. Speaking to reporters at his final White House press briefing of 2014 Friday afternoon, Obama gave more details about his phone call with the communist leader of Cuba earlier this week before the announcement of a change in U.S. policy on the Caribbean island nation. Obama began the phone call with Castro with what he described as 15 minutes of opening comments. It was the first conversation between the heads of state in both countries since 1961.