In the early part of his term, President Obama bowed to Arab sheiks and other foreign dignitaries and his wife Michelle generally followed the customs of hosts in other countries. During their visit to India and a condolence stop in Saudi Arabia the president blatantly chewed gum in public and the first lady attended a reception wearing long pants and no head covering. What do they hope to gain?

Note to Washington insiders thinking about running for president in 2016:  voters hate the federal government more than ever. A new report shows customer satisfaction with the government at an all-time low. The Treasury Department (home of the IRS) is the most disliked.

He was for it, then against it, now for it again. Under pressure from Democrats as well as Republicans, President Obama has abandoned his proposal to eliminate the popular Section 529 tax break used by millions of Americans to save for college.

Barack Obama was for tax-free savings accounts for college students before he was against them. He wrote favorably about them in his autobiography "The Audacity of Hope." In 2006 as a U.S. senator, he voted to make the program permanent. But now, as president, he labels the plans "inefficient" and says the benefit accrues too heavily towards higher-income Americans.

Michael Moore, harsh critic of the hit film "American Sniper", has drawn the title of "American Diaper" from blogger Jim Treacher in the Daily Caller. A tag line explains: "White, unsightly, and full of ..."

Hillary Clinton's boast that she flew hundreds of thousands of miles as Secretary of State might become a campaign issue if she runs for president. Former corporate executive Carly Fiorina, a potential Republican contender, mocked Clinton's "odometer diplomacy" at the Iowa Freedom Summit. Fiorina said, "flying is not an accomplishment. It is an activity."

Will President Obama have to give up kicking his smoking addiction to preserve relations with other countries? Once again he has drawn criticism for publicly chewing gum, his cigarette substitute. The Times of India panned the "ungainly sight" of removing a wad while sitting with India's prime minister at a Republic Day parade.

Aircraft are prohibited from flying over the White House and when a plane strays into the restricted air space Air  Force jets are scrambled and could shoot it down if necessary. But no such emergency operation was triggered by a an uninvited device landing on the White House lawn. A Secret Service spokesman said the device, about two feet in diameter, was a quadcopter, an unmanned aircraft with four propellors. In other words, a drone paid a visit to the president's home. He and the first lady were safely thousands of miles away in New Delhi, India.

After a series of missteps by President Obama, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough made the rounds of the Sunday TV talk shows on a damage control mission, but his own gaffe just made matters worse. In discussing the Japanese hostage being held hostage by the ISIS terror groups, McDonough let slip the first name of an American female aid worker also in captivity -- a national security no-no.

President Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he comes to the U.S. to address Congress at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner later this year. But he did meet with a weirdo who wears green lipstick and eats cereal out of a bathtub she's sitting in. All for the cause of world peace, no doubt.

The Republican presidential candidate field is becoming a bit more crowded. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is the latest to announce his intentions. Two sure signs: he's written a book, and he'll skip his duties in the Senate to make a fundraising swing through California, Texas and other states.

Who did the IRS hire to design its Obamacare tax program? None other than CGI Federal, the Montreal-based company fired for its botched work on the Obamacare website Healthcare.gov. The $4.5 million  contract is being investigated by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"I like a softer ball." - Vice President Joe Biden, weighing in on the controversy over whether the New England Patriots used under-inflated footballs in the AFC championship game. Biden drew on his experience as a freshman member of the University of Delaware team.

Hillary Clinton is trying to collect as much money as she can by making speeches before becoming a candidate for president and cutting off that source of income. And she's doing it with the support of American taxpayers. During a recent speaking engagement in Canada the former first lady was accompanied by 65 U.S. Secret Service agents, it was reported.

Did the White House use Jonathan "Stupid Voters" Gruber as a consultant for the State of the Union speech? If not, whose idea was it for President Obama to pass off a former Democratic campaign staffer as an example of a beleagured housewife beset by economic hardships who was helped by Obama's policies?

After President Obama crowned himself with glory again in his State of the Union address, Congress can now get down to serious business, like al Qaeda, Obamacare, K-12 education, gun control, North Korea or comprehensive immigration reform -- which Obama did not mention in his hour-long speech.

It was an "in-your-face" message to a Congress with both houses now controlled by Republicans. He invited an illegal alien to be a guest of honor. He threw out proposals he knew couldn't pass and flaunted his veto power on bills not on his agenda. He was his most arrogant when he boasted about winning the 2008 and 2012 elections.

"Shouldn't this be about what can you get done?" -- NBC "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd, accusing President Obama of making his State of the Union speech "about setting the table for 2016" rather than "what can you get accomplished." Chuck, a campaign speech is the only kind he knows how to give.

Same old song. The leading news teaser for President Obama's State of the Union address was that he would call for a $320 billion increase in taxes, taking the money from successful income earners and redistribute it to those dependent on the government. It follows eight previous tax hike proposals.


New Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, was an appropriate choice to give the Republican rebuttal to Obama's speech. She was elected on a promise to use her experience castrating hogs to "cut pork" and "make 'em squeal."

Bobby Jindal, the conservative Republican governor of Louisiana, isn't a declared candidate for president, but he's already the target of a crude racist attack on MSNBC. Arsalan Iftikhar, editor of Islamic Monthly, a guest on the liberal network, said Jindal was speaking out against Islamic "no-go zones" in Europe in an attempt to "scrub some of the brown off of his skin." Jindal is of Indian descent. 

Goodbye Norman Rockwell. A Pew Research Center study shows that less than half of all American children in the United States live in a household with exactly two married, heterosexual parents who are, in fact, their own parents. The study also showed that 41 percent of American babies are currently born out out of wedlock.

Obamacare was just too much for Marilyn Tavenner. The top administration official in charge of implementing President Obama's signature health program has announced her resignation.

At least one Washington pundit thinks Hillary Clinton won't run for president. Wesley Pruden, editor emeritus of the Washington Times, made that bold prediction. His reasoning: she cant' win. "Running in 2016 won't be the picnic of 2008," Pruden writes. "There will be no coronation."

The worse the threat of international terrorism gets the more President Obama wants to release more potential killers, it would seem. Following the horrifying Paris terrorist attacks, five more prisoners were turned loose from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. One was a man who might have been one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards.

How many of "the people's representatives" know what it's like to live on a moderate income? Not many. An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows a majority of members of Congress -- 271 of 533 -- are millionaires. The median net worth of a lawmaker in 2013 was $1,029,505 -- 18 times that of an average American household.

In an effort to find "new ways" to "speak directly to the American people online," President Obama will meet with three YouTube creators following the State of the Union address. One of them is GloZell, known for saying, "My push-up bra will help me get my man." Another is Bethany Mota, whose recent YouTube postings involved tips on how to host a great party.

Damage control is the order of the day at the White House after President Obama was blatantly absent from the global unity march in Paris. U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley was the American representative and Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted there should have been someone with a "higher profile." The ambassador tried mightily to put a good face on the widely criticized snub, telling CNN that French President Hollande was "so positive" about Obama going across town to the French embassy in Washington to sign a condolence book.

Laughter in the Supreme Court is a rare occurrence and it wasn't riotous humor that livened up the proceedings. It was a sign. Specifically it was an Arizona church's announcement that it would hold 9 a.m. services in an elementary school. "Well, my goodness," said Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer. "It does sound as if the town is being a little unreasonable, doesn't it?" He was referring to rules imposed by the town of Gilbert, Ariz.

Pro-choice Democrats might want to reconsider their battle cry, "keep the government out of the bedroom", considering an incident involving Barack Obama. When he was campaigning for president in 2007, he unlocked the door of his former personal aide Reggie Love and found him in bed for a female companion. Love recalls in an upcoming memoir that Obama made a hasty exit.

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the monstrous rally in Paris is who wasn't there. Absentee No. 1: President Obama. He stayed in the White House and watched football while dignitaries from 44 countries paid their respects to the 17 victims of Islamic terrorist attacks. Secretary of State John Kerry was traveling in India. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris but not at the rally.

President Obama wants to close the terrorist suspect detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey supports that decision, but he told Chris Wallace of Fox News that some of the detainees should never be released. Some of those freed earlier returned to their countries and resumed terrorist activity. Dempsey said Congress must decide what to do with future released detainees.

How Your Taxes Are Spent
The National Science Foundation is giving an associate professor at Cornell University $18,952 to write a dissertation on the mating habits of Syrian hamsters.

There's no such thing as a free lunch -- or a free college education. But President Obama (who also lied about Obamacare) is promising two years of community college "free" to as many as nine million students. Obama's "free" schooling would cost taxpayers more than $34 billion. Let's see what the Republican Congress has to say about this.

During 33 years in Congress, Barbara Boxer built a reputation as one of the most fired-up, tenacious liberals on Capitol Hill. Now she says she's ready to go home -- after two more years. The 74-year-old California Democratic senator announced plans to retire in 2016. The news touched off speculation about a successor. One name mentioned: Michelle Obama.

Bill Clinton just can't shed his shady past. The New York Post's "Page Six" gossip column reports the former president's name "came up in the latest sex scandal involving his disgraced former pal Jeffrey Epstein." Furthermore, Hillary Clinton, who is mounting another campaign for president, is said to be "furious" about his association with Epstein, who is being sued by a woman alleging she was his teen "sex slave" and was paid to have sex with another Epstein pal, Britain's Prince Andrew.

Measures taken by President Obama to meet the economic crisis placed heavy burdens on taxpayers, according to a new report from the General Accountability Office. The auto industry bailout is expected to incur losses of $12.2 billion and and non-housing TARP programs will lose more than $4 billion by the time they are phased out.

Compliment or insult? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in a radio interview, compared prospective Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to a celebrity.  His full statement is not complimentary. He called her "boring" and said, "She's just, you know, a celebrity like Kim Kardashian."

They're not calling it a tax, but Californians now have to pay more to the government as part of the state's effort  to fight global warming. The new charge, which state officials call a fee on gas retailers, is on top of the already existing gas tax -- a tax on a tax, in other words. It adds about 10 cents a gallon to wholesale gas prices.

Vice President Joe Biden was in his usual gaffe mode during the swearing-in proceedings for the new Senate. As an example, when he greeted Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, this conversation ensued: "Gail!", Biden exclaimed. "It's Joni," she said. "My husband's Gail."

A government watchdog concludes that drones are not an economically favorable choice to enforce the security of the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general reports drones cost $12,255 an hour to fly and they have not effectively increased the number of illegal immigrants apprehended.

Federal employees are permitted to pack a lunch to eat at their desks, but they might have to make do with finger foods. The Government Accountability Office has ruled that federal agencies cannot supply workers with "disposable cups, plates and cutlery" because they constitute a personal expense. However, the government sees nothing wrong with spending thousands of dollars for employees to eat fancy meals at taxpayer-supported conferences at plush resorts - with appropriate utensils.

Look who's defending the reputation of Kim Jung Un, subject of the controversial movie "The Interview": Bill Richardson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Richardson, who tried and failed to get the Democratic nomination for president, said the despotic ruler of North Korea has been the "victim of a lot of bad press."

Is there a "bromance" between President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron? Speaking to the Daily Mail, Cameron said the "special relationship" between the two is "stronger than it has ever been" and that in phone calls Obama refers to him as "bro."

"Speaker Gohmert"? "Speaker Yoho"? Reps. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Ted Yoho, R-Fla., have announced plans to be candidates for the speakership now held by John Boehner, R-Ohio. Members of the majority party will vote on the post in the new Congress.

Happy New Year!