Completely divorced from the question of whether a politician's children are fair game for political attack, or even having their existence and life mentioned, this unfolding incident--stories from earlier today about Malia Obama and a gaggle of buddies spring breaking in Mexico (a place normal American kids are advised to avoid) with Secret Service protection disappearing from news sites--seems to indicate the White House can get a wide range of sites to take down stories, even if it is just with gentle persuasion or appeals to some higher standard. And that is highly unnerving. 
 
 The details from The Blaze, complete with screenshots: 
 
 references to it are disappearing from the Internet — and fast. Around 3:00 EST, a Telegraph story reporting on the event was the first to vanish (note how the url remains the same in the “before” and “after”).... Then, the related Huffington Post article was found to be linking back to a completely unrelated Yahoo News page titled “Senegal Music Star Youssou Ndour Hits Campaign Trail.”... The Yahoo News story that HuffPo links to makes no mention of Malia Obama or her Mexican vacation. That raises two possibilities: either HuffPo has made an error in its link, or Yahoo has also removed its “Malia in Mexico” story. The latter more likely considering that the “-obamas-daughter-spends-springbreak-in-Mexico” url is still present in the Yahoo story. ﻿ In fact, consider that the link to the Huffington Post article on Google now goes to the site’s main page. Alas, that story too has been taken down. In addition to larger news organizations, smaller sites are also removing their stories....Free Republic removed a related discussion thread.... Of these sites, the only one to state a reason for the change was “Free Republic,“ where the Admin wrote ”Leave the kids alone.” So that raises the question: Why were all these stories being taken down? Is the story false? Were they removed for security reasons? Consider that the story still lives (as of this publication)* on the site of The Australian, which uses a story from the well-respected AFP (a sort of Associated Press for France). 
 
 Blaze link live at the moment I wrote this. Again, check out their full story for screenshot proof. ||||| The wife of a senior Israeli minister sparked outrage on Sunday by posting a racist joke about President Barack Obama on Twitter. 
 
 
 
 Judy Shalom Nir Mozes, a well-known face on Israeli TV and the wife of the country’s interior minister Silvan Shalom, quickly deleted the offending tweet – but it was too late to avoid mounting criticism. 
 
 The post that set off a wave of international public anger was short and to the point. 
 
 “Do you know what Obama coffee is? Black and weak”, Mozes tweeted in English. 
 
 Protests on Twitter came swiftly in English and Hebrew, including messages such as “Have you gone mad?” and “You’d better erase this … frighteningly racist”. 
 
 After deleting the tweet, Mozes posted: “I apologise, that was a stupid joke somebody told me.” 
 
 But Twitter users had already taken screen shots of the offensive message. 
 
 One user posted: “How human garbage works … Delete plus fake apology. Clearly found the racist joke funny enough to share. Trash”. 
 
 Mozes has been involved in social-media controversy before. 
 
 In 2012 she was nominated to represent Unicef, the United Nations body dealing with children’s rights and emergency needs, in Israel, and was set to join a sparkling list of royal and celebrity ambassadors that has included David Beckham, Sarah Jessica Parker, William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Rania of Jordan, Shakira and Sir Roger Moore. 
 
 But according to the Jerusalem Post, she resigned after whipping up a political storm when she posted messages to Facebook vociferously supporting Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza and referring to Palestinians there simply as “people whose children are fed hate towards Israel ... who have it in their DNA to hate us”. 
 
 In the US, Mozes’ Tweet hit raw nerves. On Sunday, the subject of race was once again leading every news outlet, days after a 21-year-old white man shot dead nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. 
 
 One Twitter user wrote: “Wife of Israeli interior minister @JudyMozes tweeted racist slur [about] POTUS (President of the United States) while we mourn loss of 9 [because] of racism.” 
 
 Mozes appeared to compound her predicament, posting another joking statement, which began “Sorry if I caused offense to anyone” and added that she hoped she would still be married when her husband heard about the row. 
 
 A minute later she addressed a Tweet to “President Obama” and referred to her joke as inappropriate, saying she liked people “no matter about their race or religion”. ||||| I must need to smoke pot. 
 
 How else to explain why I wasn’t getting President Obama’s interview on “Between Two Ferns,” the Web show hosted by Zach Galifianakis of “The Hangover” fame? 
 
 Kathleen Parker writes a twice-weekly column on politics and culture. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary In 2010. View Archive 
 
 Or perhaps I needed a hangover, which isn’t likely to happen during these Lenten times. Thus left to sobriety and afflicted with acute wakefulness, I kept trying to wrap my head around the mindless — no easy task for the unstoned. 
 
 Deadpan is key to the shtick. And monotone. Between two ferns, everyone is Bill Murray. Or, depending on one’s generation, Sgt. Joe Friday. Guests on “Ferns” are expected to check facial expressions at the door and banish emotion. Emoting is not funny; not emoting is. I’m dozing off now, so I’ll cut the fern talk. But first, could I have some water? It sure is thirsty in here. 
 
 In case you missed it, which you won’t want to admit because this would mean you don’t follow what’s trending on Twitter, which would mean you are frozen in a time no one cares about anymore and are, therefore, irrelevant. Let me rephrase that: You’re not cool — even if you’re frozen. 
 
 1 of 68 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Caption A collection of cartoons of the president. Buy Photo 
 
 The president, a.k.a. the leader of the free world, appeared on the show allegedly to pitch health care to the demographic worshiped by producers and presidents alike — Young People. This is because young people rule and, specifically, they rule over the success or failure of the Affordable Care Act. If the young and healthy don’t buy insurance to help cover the sick and elderly, the plan could collapse. 
 
 I might have missed the show were it not for Twitter telling me what people are paying attention to. Other trending topics, at least during the time I checked in, concerned “Teen Wolf,” “The Bachelor” and Juan Pablo, who, Google tells me, was “The Bachelor.” Such topics remind us that all is right with the world, at least nothing that would distract a president. Absent was any mention of such downers as Ukraine, Crimea, Vladimir Putin, China, Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, North Korea or other trouble spots, never mind a missing airplane. 
 
 What better time for the president to kick back and be a comic foil in service to the greater good of universal health care? Health care is important, of course, but, I repeat, he’s the leader of the free world, parts of which are under siege. 
 
 To kick things off, Galifianakis noted that Obama pardoned a turkey in 2013. “What do you have planned for 2014?” he queried. 
 
 “We’ll probably pardon another turkey,” Obama said, his face a decent replica of itself on Botox. 
 
 Q: What is it like to be the last black president? 
 
 A: Seriously? What’s it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president? 
 
 President Obama appeared on the FunnyorDie.com program hosted by comedian and actor Zach Galifianakis. NowThisNews has the highlights. (NowThis News) 
 
 Q: You know what I would do if I were president, Mr. President? I would make same-sex divorce illegal, then see how bad they want it. 
 
 A: I think that’s why you’re not president. 
 
 And so it went. I did find myself smiling, though probably at the wrong things. I’ll never tell. But like most people older than 30, I also wondered whether this was an appropriate venue for the president, especially in consideration of current events. 
 
 There are two possible answers: One, lighten up. We’re an irreverent nation, proud of our ability to laugh at ourselves and to poke fun, especially during the worst of times. I admit, this is my favorite thing about us. Two, this kind of display is beneath the dignity of the office, and the president should be more circumspect in choosing public appearances, virtual or otherwise. How can we hope to be taken seriously when the world sees our president in such silly circumstances? 
 
 Both answers have merit. I was settling on the higher truth of the second choice when I finally got it. My mind expanded of its own volition, no doubt enhanced by the power of two ferns talking, and I could see clearly what apparently was so obvious in Twitterland. 
 
 Obama’s appearance on an absurd Web program that celebrates the absurd was a masterful, strategic move aimed squarely at Putin. How better to insult a shirtless, pec-flexing thug than to engage in a theater of the absurd? How better to display maximum disrespect toward a man with a child’s ego and a nuclear arsenal — who has invaded another country where peaceful demonstrators were gunned down — than by acting as though he hasn’t a care in the world? 
 
 Brilliant. 
 
 Here’s a final question for the president: Was it worth it? 
 
 Read more from Kathleen Parker’s archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. ||||| She urged Congressional Republicans to oppose raising the nation’s debt ceiling, declaring, “It doesn’t necessarily have to result in a government shutdown.” Even if it did, she added, “Let it be for a week or two.” 
 
 She conceded that a successful presidential bid could not be built through a digital campaign alone, saying that Facebook and other forms of social media could not reach enough voters. Asked if she would be the first Twitter president, she blanched and adopted a self-mocking tone. “What a slogan: I tweet more than you tweet.” 
 
 She said it was unwise for Republicans to keep doubts alive about the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate and citizenship, saying: “It’s distracting. It gets annoying. Let’s stick with what really matters.” 
 
 And she called for the full repeal of the new health care law, revisiting the catchphrase that caused so much controversy during debate of the bill: “When I talk about death panels, death panels was in quotation marks.” 
 
 Such lines are standard political fare, and Republicans may not give them a second thought on television. But on the front lines of a campaign — whether in an Iowa living room or a New Hampshire diner — voters often consider things with a different ear. 
 
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 “What people are desiring to see is no more status quo — not necessarily just seeing more players in these political machines, who are sort of preordained and get to be the ones who get nominated and go forth,” Ms. Palin said. “People are ready for our governmental establishment to kind of shake it up.” 
 
 Ms. Palin’s afternoon appearance at the ballroom of the Crest Hollow Country Club, the site of numerous wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs, offered an atmosphere much like she would face if she decided to run for president. Despite her best-selling books, reality television show and hours of televised interviews, Ms. Palin is not yet a fully formed political figure, and her approval ratings could change — for better or worse — as a candidate. 
 
 The audience, which included many Democrats, responded with repeated applause. But there were also uncomfortable silences. She held up a Reader’s Digest from February 1964, the month of her birth, which she used to make a point about reducing the deficit. 
 
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 “We don’t have to reinvent any wheels here to get the economy back on the right track,” Ms. Palin said. “The solution in here to fix the problem, you know what it is? You invest in a five-cent stamp and you write your congressman and you tell him, ‘You’re going to get fired.’ Five cents back in the day! Nothing’s changed. It’s the same principles that can be applied.” 
 
 Robert Zimmerman, who represents New York on the Democratic National Committee, was in the audience and met with Ms. Palin at a reception before her talk. He said he was surprised by the Reader’s Digest anecdote. 
 
 “She’s really an Atlantic City lounge act for the right wing,” Mr. Zimmerman said. Still, he said, Democrats should not to dismiss her potential, saying, “Suburbs have the largest swing voters in the country, which concerns me.” 
 
 The Long Island Association, which bills itself as the state’s largest business group, invited Ms. Palin to speak about a month ago. She was paid for her appearance, but organizers declined to disclose details of the arrangement. It was originally intended to be private, officials said, but Ms. Palin asked that it be opened to the media. 
 
 “I was actually surprised she got as much applause as she did,” said Mr. Law, who asked Ms. Palin questions for 64 minutes. After escorting her to her car, he said: “She told me she loved the format. She probably will do more of it because she did pretty well.” ||||| Politics 
 
 UPDATE: The Administration has just responded to the disappearing stories. 
 
 Read it here. 
 
 Have you heard that Malia Obama, the president’s daughter, is reportedly spending her spring break in Oaxaca, Mexico? Allegedly, she’s jetting off with some of her classmates and 25 Secret Service agents to a country that the State Department has said all Americans should avoid. But something is different about the latest “Obama vacation controversy:” references to it are disappearing from the Internet — and fast. 
 
 Around 3:00 EST, a Telegraph story reporting on the event was the first to vanish (note how the url remains the same in the “before” and “after”): 
 
 Then, the related Huffington Post article was found to be linking back to a completely unrelated Yahoo News page titled “Senegal Music Star Youssou Ndour Hits Campaign Trail.” 
 
 The Huffington Post article: 
 
 Links to this site: 
 
 The Yahoo News story that HuffPo links to makes no mention of Malia Obama or her Mexican vacation. This raises two possibilities: either HuffPo has made an error in its link, or Yahoo has also removed its “Malia in Mexico” story. The latter more likely considering that the “-obamas-daughter-spends-springbreak-in-Mexico” url is still present in the Yahoo story. 
 
 And now, the link to the Huffington Post article on Google redirects to the site’s main page; the page itself is gone. 
 
 In addition to larger news organizations, smaller sites are also removing their stories. 
 
 Free Republic removed a related discussion thread: 
 
 And “Global Grind” removed its related article: 
 
 Of these sites, the only one to state a reason for the change was “Free Republic,“ where the Admin wrote ”Leave the kids alone.” 
 
 So that raises the question: Why were all of these sites taken down? Is the story false? Were they removed for security reasons? 
 
 Consider that the story still lives (as of this publication)* on the site of The Australian, which uses a story from the well-respected AFP (a sort of Associated Press for France): 
 
 So far, no outlets have explained why the stories have been removed. It will be interesting to see if they do. 
 
 The Blaze’s Jonathon M. Seidl contributed to this report. 
 
 *The Australian has since removed its article. 
 
 UPDATE: 
 
 Buzzfeed is now reporting that it is a “long tradition” not to report on presidential kids’ vacation plans, citing this as the possible reason for the many unexplained retractions. 
 
 If this is the case, it still raises questions as to why Malia was allowed to vacation in a country that the State Department recommends no American travels to. 
 
 Neither AFP nor the White House responded to Buzzfeed’s request for comment. 
 
 UPDATE II: 
 
 The Montreal Gazette has now posted the story of the vacation. It’s one of the only sites that is reporting on it. Interestingly, the story is actually attributed to the AFP (mentioned above). You can read it here.
– Note to tweeting politicians: Watch what you post, because Politwoops will remember it forever. The transparency-minded website is safeguarding politicians' deleted tweets, enabling the rest of us to giggle or ponder over them at our leisure, The Atlantic reports. The site's current 6-month stash includes a few doozey deletions, including John McCain mocking Vladimir Putin's tears and Rep. Jeff Miller posting a link to a poll that asked, "Was Obama born in the United States?" A few deletions are more odd than obvious, begging us to ask what politicians were thinking. Why, for example, did Rep. Tom Graves remove a tweet about going out one night with his wife? Or Rep. Kathy Hochul delete one about her visit to a cancer institute? Perhaps Rep. Stephen Fincher's tweet comparing The Bachelor to The Hunger Games is a more obvious case, but the online avenues of a politician's mind can be dimly lit indeed.