If there is a terrorist attack on U.S. soil by ISIS, we had better hope that Fox News or New Media outlets don’t report it first. Because if they do, based on behavior seen in two stories during the past day, Americans who depend on the establishment press to deliver their news won’t find out for hours, if not longer.

The first story concerns news tonight from three different sources — Judicial Watch (HT National Review’s The Corner), Breitbart, and Fox News — is that “Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices.” The news is six hours old. As of 9:25 EDT, the Associated Press has nothing on these developments, not even the Obama administration’s heated denials. The New York Times also had nothing, not even in its “evening briefing.” The second concerns Nidal Hasan, the convicted 2009 Fort Hood mass mass murderer.

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Apparently, Richard Dawkins’ aggressive advocacy for aborting babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome and the potential damage it could inflict on the pro-abortion movement was too much for even the New York Times to handle.

On August 20, Matthew Balan at NewsBusters covered Dawkins’ vile position and his equally vile way of expressing it (“Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice”). Several NewsBusters commenters noted that the presence of Down Syndrome in pre-born babies can be and has been misdiagnosed in babies born perfectly healthy. In a Thursday New York Times op-ed published in Friday’s print edition, Jamie Edgin and Fabian Fernandez conveyed the results of studies finding that Dawkins’ assumption that families with a Down Syndrome child are predominantly miserable is (excuse the pun) dead wrong.

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Politico’s Josh Gerstein was in top keister-covering mode last night in dealing with President Barack Obama’s latest stated indication that U.S. foreign policy is adrift.

To him, the President’s admission that “We don’t have a strategy yet” was just an “awkward choice of words” and an “inartful phrase.” (By the way, over six years after after one of Obama’s flaks first used it to defend the then-candidate’s flip-flop on DC’s strict gun ban, something he originally believed was constitutional until the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Heller decision, “inartful” is still not a recognized word. Yet its use continues to spread.) Excerpts from Gerstein’s grief-stricken groaner follow the jump (bolds and numbered tags are mine):

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This open thread is meant for commenters to post on items either briefly noted below (if any) or otherwise not covered at this blog. Rules are here.

From Seoul:

Aug 29, 2014 / 04:02 am

A former Korean ambassador to the Holy See spoke of the effects of Pope Francis’ recent visit to South Korea, saying that all of Asia now feels a long-term challenge to imitate his humble ways.

“All the media in Korea are already speaking of ‘Francis syndrome,’” former ambassador Thomas Han told CNA Aug. 26.

“The Korean people, having been deeply impressed by Pope Francis’ person and his lifestyle, seriously reflect upon the meaning of their lives and seek to see the things in life that really matter.”

Han explained that leaders “at every level of society” now feel an “unspoken pressure to make their own the leadership style the Korean people have witnessed in Pope Francis.”

“Therefore, it is safe to say that such ‘Francis syndrome’ will surely serve as a momentum for the Koreans to promote the culture of love, thereby contributing to authentic humanization of the Korean Peninsula in the long term.”

Pope Francis traveled to Seoul, South Korea Aug. 14-18, where he met with youth participating in the 6th Asian Youth Day, as well as with government officials, local Church leaders and heads of other faith traditions.

Marking the first time a Roman Pontiff has visited the peninsula since John Paul II went in 1989, the voyage has had an impact on the entire Asian continent, particularly the youth, who were touched by the Pope’s heart-to-heart way of communicating, and those affected by the Sewol ferry disaster that happened earlier this spring.

With the presence of Pope Francis in their midst, Koreans “were excited to verify what they had heard about him through the media,” Han observed.

“In a word, Pope Francis has at last satisfied their quenchless thirst for true leadership. His coherence between words and actions, his simple lifestyle, his humility, the way he embraced the poor, the disabled, the outcasts greatly impressed them.” …

Go here for the rest of the story.

On Thursday, an impatient Terry Moran at ABC News tweeted the following (HT Twitchy): “Say it: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Any other description is just weasel words.”

Clearly, both President Obama and the folks at the Associated Press, aka the Administration’s Press, haven’t been sympathetic to Moran’s plea, instead opting for “weasel words.” Obama, when directly asked if he “considered today’s escalation in Ukraine an invasion,” wouldn’t characterize it with that word. At AP, a trio of reporters — Dalton Bennett, Jim Heintz, and Raf Casert — also labored mightily to follow their president’s lead in avoiding the “I-word” in a late Thursday story (bolds are mine):

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