Leid Stories - 06/09/14

Obama: Billions for Ukraine, Europe; More Time to Pay Off College Loans

Detroit’s Pensioners Being Pressured to OK Cuts to Their Benefits

Selling Hillary 2016, Media Madness Goes Into Overdrive

Fresh from an “Axis of Evil” revival in Brussels and a litany of jingoistic D-Day speeches in Europe that committed the United States to billions of dollars in military and developmental aid, President Obama today announces a big break for U.S. college students: They’ll get more time to pay off the astronomically inflated cost of their education.

Retiring and retired city workers in Detroit are being pressured by the state and appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr to approve a bankruptcy-exit plan that calls for cuts to their benefits. If they approve, the cuts will be only centimeters deep; if they don’t, it’s all the way to the bone, says Orr.

Hillary Clinton’s ghostwritten book, Hard Choices, is released tomorrow, but the media frenzy attached thereto is a terrifying example of the self-assigned role the institution often plays in shaping public opinion, discourse and even reality.