Obama to Honor Veterans During Alaska Visit

President ignores Chinese warning against sit-down with Tibetan leader

(NEWSER) - Despite China's warning that a meeting with the Dalai Lama would "threaten trust and cooperation" with the US, President Obama still plans to sit down with the Tibetan spiritual leader when he visits Washington this month. "The president told China's leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so, " a White House spokesman told reporters traveling with Obama on Air Force One today. More»

President calls the move a 'modest tribute' to Fort Hood victims

(NEWSER) - President Obama today ordered that American flags at all federal properties be flown at half-staff until Veterans Day—next Wednesday—to honor the people killed at Fort Hood yesterday. The gesture is “a modest tribute to those who lost their lives even as others were preparing to risk their lives for their country,” he said. The president called the massacre “one of the worst mass shootings ever to take place” on a military base, according to the Chicago Tribune. More»

(NEWSER) - The release of an “Air Farce One” image is a calculated move by a White House that hopes to brainwash citizens with “the Messianic omnipotence of the Obama presidency,” Victor J. Massad writes on American Thinker. With the Statue of Liberty confined to the lower background, “the Leader’s magnificently powerful icon, glistening like a phoenix in the sun” reminds us that “we must put the federal government and its needs ahead of our paltry individual freedoms.” More»

(NEWSER) - Robert Gates has apologized for the Air Force One photo op debacle over New York last week, the Los Angeles Times reports. “We deeply regret the anxiety and alarm that resulted from this mission,” the defense secretary wrote in a letter posted on the website of John McCain, who has called the flyover an "Air Farce One photo op." Meanwhile, the incident has cost the head of the White House Military Office, who OK'd it, his job, the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - At least one news organization may file a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the manifest for Monday’s Air Force One flight over New York, according to the American Spectator’s anonymous “Prowler”—who relays suspicions that civilians or a high-level administration official was on board. “This is a bigger deal than the White House is letting on, and there are some nervous people there,” an anonymous insider says. More»