NBC/WSJ Poll Finds 54% Have No Confidence in Obama’s Leadership (+video)

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Photo Credit: APThe sixth-year blues have caught up to Barack Obama … with a vengeance. In an NBC/WSJ poll taken before the meltdown in Iraq, Obama gets his lowest marks ever on foreign policy, where his claim to “smart power” has evidently reached its expiration date. But the real danger to Obama and to Democrats vying for office in less than five months is the vote of no confidence in Obama’s leadership:

The percentage of Americans approving of President Barack Obama’s handling of foreign policy issues has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency as he faces multiple overseas challenges, including in Iraq,according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Additionally, the public is evenly split on whether Obama is a competent manager of the federal bureaucracy. And a majority of respondents – 54 percent – believe the term-limited president is no longer able to lead the country…

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Price Index for Meats, Poultry, Fish & Eggs Rockets to All-Time High

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The seasonally-adjusted price index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs hit an all-time high in May, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In January 1967, when the BLS started tracking this measure, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was 38.1. As of last May, it was 234.572. By this January, it hit 240.006. By April, it hit 249.362. And, in May, it climbed to a record 252.832.

“The index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs has risen 7.7 percent over the span [last year],” says the BLS. “The index for food at home increased 0.7 percent, its largest increase since July 2011. Five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased in May. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1.4 percent in May after a 1.5 increase in April, with virtually all its major components increasing,” BLS states.

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Say, the Obama White House is Looking Particularly Nixonian These Days, huh?

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James Poulos isn’t the first to draw notice to the historical resonance of an unexplained gap in records in the middle of a probe about abuse of power in the executive branch. Michael Ramirez also made the same point yesterday in his editorial cartoon for Investors Business Daily:

Poulos provides a cautionary voice to both Republicans and Democrats in this instance. Just because the e-mails are missing doesn’t mean that malice and corruption have been proven — but it certainly looks that way, and Democrats take a big risk in continuing to call this a “phony scandal” now:

Reminiscent of nothing so much as Nixon secretary Rose Mary Woods’s infamous selective erasures of her boss’s tapes, today’s sought-after communiqués are, we are told, victim of a crashed computer and a failed hard drive, both belonging to Lois Lerner, the chief of the IRS tax-exempt office at the center of the controversy.

And in good Nixonian style, it’s not just Lerner whose emails have gone unaccounted for. Six more IRS employees connected to the original targeting outrage have records the agency cannot submit to Congress—including Nikole Flax, chief of staff to the man eventually fired for his role in targeting conservative groups while serving as acting commissioner.

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Redskins Stripped of Trademarks

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Photo Credit: GettyIn a major blow to the Washington Redskins, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday canceled six federal trademarks of the team name because it was found to be “disparaging” to Native Americans.

“We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,” the Patent Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board wrote in a 2-1 decision.

The Redskins’ team name has become a divisive political issue over the past few years, with even President Barack Obama saying the club should consider changing it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats also have pressed owner Dan Snyder to change the name. On the other side, conservatives have either defended keeping the name, arguing that it isn’t a slur, or been silent on the uproar.

The trademark attorney for the Redskins, Bob Raskopf, downplayed the ruling and vowed the team will win an ensuing appeal.

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Sources: Lois Lerner’s Emails Likely Gone Forever

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Photo Credit: Getty Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources.

“We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a brief hallway interview.

Two additional sources told POLITICO the same late Wednesday, citing IRS officials.

It may just be standard government procedure, but the revelation is significant because some lawmakers and observers thought there was a way that tech experts could revive Lerner’s emails after they were washed away in a computer crash in the summer of 2011. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), for example, subpoenaed her damaged hard drive earlier this week, when he asked for “all hard drives, external drives, thumb drives and computers” and “all electronic communication devices the IRS issued to Lois G. Lerner.”

“IT experts have weighed in and said yes — we can get those” emails, said Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) earlier Wednesday.

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GOP Leader: Obama May Act in Iraq Without Signoff

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Photo Credit: The U.S. ArmyPresident Barack Obama and congressional leaders believe he does not need authorization from Congress for some steps he might take to quell the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency sweeping through Iraq, the Senate’s top Republican and Capitol Hill aides said after the president briefed senior lawmakers Wednesday.

Still, the prospect of the president sidestepping Congress raises the potential for clashes between the White House and rank-and-file lawmakers, particularly if Obama should launch strikes with manned aircrafts or take other direct U.S. military action in Iraq. Administration officials have said airstrikes have become less a focus of recent deliberations but have also said the president could order such a step if intelligence agencies can identify clear targets on the ground.

Obama huddled in the Oval Office for over an hour to discuss options for responding the crumbling security situation in Iraq with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Speaking to reporters as he returned to the Capitol, McConnell said the president “indicated he didn’t feel he had any need for authority from us for steps that he might take.”

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Shock Claim: Police Officer Slit Dog’s Throat

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller A Baltimore police officer is facing felony animal cruelty charges after he allegedly slit the throat of a 7 year-old dog that had already been placed under control.

The incident happened Saturday, and Baltimore police officials announced charges against the unnamed officer on Wednesday.

Sarah Gossard’s Shar Pei, Nala, was loose over the weekend when police were called to catch her.

But after using a dog pole to round up Nala, one officer made a shocking move.

“Unfortunately, at some point after the dog was contained, one of our officers used a knife and cut the dog’s throat,” said Baltimore police deputy commissioner Dean Palmere, according to WBAL.

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Hagel Admits Obama Ignored Law in Taliban Release

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Photo Credit: APDefense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted that “the trust has been broken” between the White House and Congress following the Obama administration’s decision to skirt U.S. law and release five top Taliban leaders without first consulting with lawmakers.

Hagel admitted to lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the administration unilaterally inked a deal with the Taliban to release five top prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without first notifying Congress, as is legally mandated.

The deal was signed “without providing 30 days notice to Congress,” as is required by law, Hagel told lawmakers before attempting to justify the administration’s decision to ignore this law.

The White House’s decision to skirt this law has prompted the House Armed Services Committee to launch a full investigation into the matter, lawmakers revealed on Wednesday.

When asked directly by Rep. Jeff Miller (R., Fla.) if the Obama administration had complied with the law as written, Hagel responded, “No.”

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O’Reilly Disses His Fellow Fox Newsers

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Photo Credit: futureatlas.comBill O’Reilly must feel pretty secure about his standing with his colleagues at Fox News, or else he’s past caring.

Answering a question from fellow Foxer Geraldo Rivera—does the right-leaning network cut President Obama enough slack? Does it treat him fairly?—the cable outlet’s prime-time star didn’t seem especially worried whose toes he stepped on.

“It depends on the hour,” the host of The O’Reilly Factor told a sold-out crowd at the 92nd Street Y Wednesday night. “If you watch Fox & Friends, [Steve] Doocy is an Obama-basher. He bashes Obama like clockwork. But the other two—Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] and Brian [Kilmeade]—they’d rather whip up a soufflé.”

“Rather whip up a soufflé”—a wonderful compliment or a withering dis? We report, you decide.

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U.S. Captures Benghazi Suspect in Secret Raid

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Photo Credit: FacebookAhmed Abu Khattala had returned home Sunday night after a day of militia skirmishes in Benghazi when U.S. military commandos swarmed his residence south of the waterfront city and took him captive, quickly moving him out of Libya to a U.S. warship.

“He was isolated,” a U.S. official said. “It was pretty clean.”

One of the suspected ringleaders of the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, Abu Khattala is the first of the alleged perpetrators to be apprehended. He now awaits a transfer to the United States and a federal trial in the District.

U.S. officials said the joint Special Operations and FBI mission had been planned for months and was approved by President Obama on Friday. The Pentagon said that there were no civilian or other casualties and that all involved U.S. personnel had safely left Libya.

The administration provided few details about the operation itself, where Abu Khattala is being held or the timing of his first appearance in court. After news of the capture became public Tuesday morning, Obama, on a visit to Pennsylvania, said Abu Khattala “is now being transported back to the United States.” Administration officials said they expected him to appear in court here within days.

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