As Wash Post Ridicules Romney’s Home They Neglect To Mention That Bezos’s Is Twice As Big

WashPost’s Romney Gotcha? Mitt’s House Pales Next To Post Owner’s

 

 

” Guess who has a bigger home than Mitt Romney? In fact, guess who has a home that is more than twice the size of Mitt Romney?  If you guessed Jeff Bezos, the man whose new toy is The Washington Post, you would be right.

  Owner Bezos, whose paper traffics in class warfare, has a house in Medina, Washington that is “29,000 square feet spread over two buildings with 200 yards of shoreline.” Even if one divides this in half, an individual building would be 14,500 square feet. And that’s not all.

  Down the coast in Beverly Hills, the Post owner also maintains a 12,000 foot mansion complete with a “pool, a sunken tennis court, a gym, a, greenhouse, and a separate guesthouse.” Variety, the bible of entertainment goings-on, headlined this Bezos purchase this way:  

  So Post owner Bezos has not one but two houses bigger than Romney’s. Now there’s a headline you won’t see inThe Washington Post . “

 

Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GOP Senate Chances Fading ? So Says The Post

Democrats Now Have A 51 Percent Chance Of Holding The Senate

 

 

 

 

 

” Democrats are now (very slightly) favored to hold the Senate majority on Nov. 4, according to Election Lab, The Post’s statistical model of the 2014 midterm elections.

  Election Lab puts Democrats’ chances of retaining their majority at 51 percent — a huge change from even a few months ago, when the model predicted that Republicans had a better than 80 percent chance of winning the six seats they need to take control. (Worth noting: When the model showed Republicans as overwhelming favorites, our model builders — led by George Washington University’s John Sides — warned that the model could and would change as more actual polling — as opposed to historical projections — played a larger and larger role in the calculations. And, in Republicans’ defense, no one I talked to ever thought they had an 80 percent chance of winning the majority.)

So, what exactly has changed to move the Election Lab projection? Three big things: “

 

See the “three big things” here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Power Line Blog Exposes Bogus Wash Post Hit Piece On Koch Brothers

Washington Post Busted!

 

 

 

” A Washington Post story purporting to expose the Koch brothers as behind-the-scenes beneficiaries of the Keystone Pipeline has been exposed as an utterly false propaganda operation, hilariously wrong and politically malicious. Even worse, one of the writers behind the story is married to a political operative in the left wing Koch-demonization machine.

  The Washington Post was recently purchased by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who ought to take a hard look at the reporters and editors who collaborated with the left wing smear machine, and while he is at it, should send a note of thanks to John Hinderaker, the blogger at Powerline, who exposed the rot in his new media operation.

  Hinderaker’s work is thorough, grounded in fact, and devastating. I urge you to read the whole thing. “

Hinderacker exposes the fraud here …

” So the fundamental point of the Post story, which relied uncritically on a goofball far-left report, is dead wrong. Moreover, the Post story itself acknowledges that the tar sands encompass 35 million acres, so Koch’s 1.1 million comprise less than 3% of the total. The whole point of this exercise is to make the Keystone Pipeline all about Koch, and that premise is implausible from the start.

  But there is much more. The Post more or less endorses IFG’s theory that the Keystone pipeline somehow would benefit Koch, even though the Post notes that there is zero evidence to that effect:

  Koch’s oil production in northern Alberta is “negligible,” according to industry sources and quarterly publications of the provincial government. Moreover, Koch has not reserved any space in the Keystone XL pipeline, a process that usually takes place before a pipeline is built. The pipeline also does not run anywhere near Koch’s refining facilities. And TransCanada, owner of the Keystone routes, says Koch is not expected to be one of the pipeline’s customers.”

Continue reading

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Could The IRS Association Doom Obamacare ?

IRS Guarantees Obamacare Collapse

 

 

 

 

” According to a report in the Washington Post, which has been handing out “Pinnochios” for the president’s lies, everything hinges on the IRS, whose tasks include “helping to distribute trillions of dollars in insurance subsidies and penalizing people who do not comply.” Those are part of “nearly four dozen new tasks” that represent the biggest increase in IRS responsibilities in decades. IRS bosses say they are ready to roll but others remain skeptical. MIT economist Jon Gruber, a designer of Obamacare mandates, told the Post“We should be absolutely clear we don’t know how this will work.” Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates sees “little hope we are going to get enough younger healthy people to sign up, and that means that this law is in grave danger of financial collapse.” “

 

 

     If the IRS carries out it’s Obamacare responsibilities in the fashion that we have come to expect from that agency , and the rest of government for that matter , there is little doubt that it is doomed .

 

 

Illustration by Michael Ramirez

 

 

 

 

 

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The Ugly Heart Of Common Core

A Monstrous Story For A Monstrous Curriculum

 

 

 

” I have been teaching for over twenty years. Generally, I have been given either no curriculum or curriculum that was focused on skills, not specific texts. I would have to get those skills taught in whatever way I wanted to get there. Sometimes I was given more direction and that direction was generally pretty good including texts, key terms, supplemental stories, and suggested writing assignments. These directions were created at a school level by the teachers in the school. I helped write some myself. Mostly, I have had a lot of freedom in how I could achieve the learning goals.

Not anymore.

Today I was in a professional development session for my school district. Our school system has swallowed the Common Core curriculum whole. Why wouldn’t they? The federal system has said that it is “voluntary”, but “voluntary” means that the district gets cut off from major federal funding if it does not adopt the standards, so “voluntary” is subjective. Here is what the Washington Post reported Sen. Charles Grassley has to say about Common Core:

Current federal law makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education may not be involved in setting specific content standards or determining the content of state assessments. Nevertheless, the selection criteria designed by the U.S. Department of Education for the Race to the Top Program provided that for a state to have any chance to compete for funding, it must commit to adopting a “common set of K-12 standards” matching the description of the Common Core.

The Washington Post also reported, “The Republican National Committee recognizes the CCSS for what it is — an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children…”

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Common Core, it is a curriculum created in the private sector but pushed onto states by the federal government and endorsed by Bill Gates. The cost of implementing the program runs from millions to billions depending on the state. It is untested and unresearched. It has been criticized for being not as rigorous as proponents claim, clearly biased to a liberal perspective, so much so that many see it as indoctrination, and it is being forced on the states in spite of the fact that a federal curriculum is unconstitutional violating the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitutionwhich established the principle that“…the “power” to oversee education belongs to the states. This longstanding principle of local control of education is reiterated throughout our laws and government codes.” “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Juror B29 And The Editor

Zimmerman Trial Creating A Boom In Deceptive Media Editing

 

” Some skeptics say that journalism is dead. But let’s look at the glass half-full. Journalism may be dead, but it’s been replaced by agit prop advocacy that turns Al Sharpton into the new face of the news.

Did George Zimmerman get away with murder? That’s what one of his jurors says, according to headlines in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other newspapers. Trayvon Martin’s mother and the Martin family’s attorney are trumpeting this “new information” as proof that “George Zimmerman literally got away with murder.”

The reports are based on an ABC News interview with Juror B29, the sole nonwhite juror.

ABC News hasn’t posted a full unedited video or transcript of the interview. The video that has been broadcast—on World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America—has been cut and spliced in different ways, often so artfully that the transitions appear continuous. So beware what you’re seeing. But the video that’s available already shows, on closer inspection, that Maddy has been manipulated and misrepresented. Here are the key points.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The “Rogues” Are In DC , Not Cincinnati

Anonymous Cincinnati IRS Official: “Everything Comes From The Top.”

 

 

 

” A story in the Washington Post yesterday about the Internal Revenue Service’s Cincinnati office, which does most of the agency’s nonprofit auditing, clearly contradicted earlier reports that the agency’s targeting of Tea Party groups was the result of rogue agents.

The Post story anonymously quoted a staffer in Cincinnati as saying they only operate on directives from headquarters:

As could be expected, the folks in the determinations unit on Main Street have had trouble concentrating this week. Number crunchers, whose work is nonpolitical, don’t necessarily enjoy the spotlight, especially when the media and the public assume they’re engaged in partisan villainy.”

 

 

Related articles

• IRS In Cincinnati: “Everything Comes From The Top, There Has To Be A Directive” (patdollard.com)
• Cincinnati IRS Official Confirms “Everything Comes From the Top” (thegatewaypundit.com)
• Anonymous Cincinnati IRS official: “Everything comes from the top.” (rubinoworld.com)

 

 

 

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White House/CBS Cabal vs Sharyl Attkinson

WHO IS GIVING WHITE HOUSE ORDERS TO CBS NEWS ON BENGHAZI?

 

 

 

” With reports suggesting that CBS News brass is unhappy with reporter Sheryl Attkisson for her focus on the White House’s actions surrounding the Benghazi attacks of September 11, 2012, new questions are being raised about the relationship between CBS News and the Obama administration. According to the Washington Post:

[Attkisson] says she has received “a tremendous amount of pushback” from the White House as a result of her reporting on Benghazi and Fast and Furious. Among other things, she says, White House officials have called and written her bosses at CBS to complain about her work. She says she doesn’t find that unusual or even disturbing.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unwed Births At 36% Nationwide

Unmarried Motherhood (and Fatherhood) Stats – WTF! Edition

 

 

 

” The Washington Post had this today:

Overall, 36 percent of all births in the United States were to unmarried mothers in 2011, the year that the census analyzed from answers provided in the American Community Survey…

The census also found that Asian mothers were the least likely to be unmarried, with just 11 percent of new Asian mothers being single. White single mothers also were below the national average, at 29 percent. Among Hispanics, 43 percent of all new mothers were unmarried, as were 68 percent of all African American women who had recently given birth.

The Census Bureau attributed the long-term increase in single mothers in large part to changing norms for sexual behavior and a decrease in marriage rates.

You know that old thing where fathers used to help raise the children they made? So retro! (Unless you’re Asian.)”

 

 

 

 

 

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ABC News/Wash Post Ignore Findings Of Their Own Gun Ownership Poll

It’s Not Just ABC And WashPost Who’ll Skip Finding That Majority Of Women Feel Guns Make Home Safer

 

 

 

 

” On April 18, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that showed 51% of Americans feel that guns in the home make it safer, compared to 29% who think otherwise. More telling is that fact that 51% of white middle class women agree with the sentiment about firearms making homes safer.  Additionally, a Nexis search detailed that ABC News has yet to report this poll, and, with the exception of the Fix blog, the Post avoided the “guns make a home safer” findings.

So, will there a correction to Jill Filipovic, Amanda Marcotte, and Co. for trying to smear the NRA as the “domestic abuse lobby? The article by New York Times’ Michael Luo that set off this meretricious commentary on guns looks like to have been a smear too far.  After all, it wasn’t “intense pressure” the gun lobby that killed Obama’s anti-gun agenda.  It was white middle-class women, who liked their Second Amendment rights to be left untouched by big government.

Concerning the feminist left, last month Jill Filipovic, a liberal feminist, wrote for Al-Jazeera that:

The latest group to have their gun ownership rights championed by the NRA? Domestic abusers.

Forty percent of women who are murdered in the US are killed by intimate partners. Guns are the cause of more than two-thirds of those domestic violence homicides, killing more victims than all other weapons combined. When an abuser has access to firearms, his victim is eight times more likely to be killed by him. The simple presence of a gun in the home makes any woman 2.7 times more likely to be murdered. And an abuse victim having access to a gun does not make her any less to be killed by her partner.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Three Pinocchios From The Post Re: Obama’s 40% No Background Check Gun Sales Lies

Obama’s Continued Use Of The Claim That 40 Percent Of Gun Sales Lack Background Checks

 

 

“Why wouldn’t we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases to take place without a background check?”

— President Obama, remarks on gun safety, March 28, 2013

“FACT: Nearly 40% of all gun sales don’t require a background check under current law. #DemandAction”

— tweet from @BarackObama, March 28

 

 

” We were away last week and have been catching up on the recent rhetoric. A number of readers asked us about this comment last week by President Obama, and his Twitter account (managed by his campaign spin-off Organizing for Action), given that we had looked closely at this statistic back in January, in twocolumns, and found it wanting. It ultimately earned a rating of Two Pinocchios. PolitiFact in January also concluded there were serious problems with this particular statistic, giving it a rating of “half true.”

Normally we would expect some adjustment of the language in response to a fact-checker consensus. Alas, it appears to be time for a refresher course — and a new rating.”

 

He’s misusing two decade old data and the Post calls him on it .

 

” In the meantime, we have documented that (a) the survey numbers are about two decades old, so they include purchases that predate any background checks; (b) the survey sample is rather small; and (c) the results are significantly different when adjusted for “purchases” or “sales” — the phrasing used by the president.

Two months ago, we were willing to cut the White House some slack, given the paucity of recent data. But the president’s failure to acknowledge the significant questions about these old data, or his slippery phrasing, leaves us little choice but to downgrade this claim to Three Pinocchios.”

 

Related articles

• “40% of Gun Sales Made by Private Sellers” is An Outright Lie (thetruthaboutguns.com)
• Obama’s continued use of the claim that 40 percent of gun sales lack background checks (nraila.org)
• Obama Falsely Claims 40% Of Gun Sales Done Without Background Check (patdollard.com)
• Hutchinson, NRA’s school safety point man, supports expanding background checks (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Video: President Pinocchio repeats Left’s favorite bogus gun control stat (twitchy.com)
• Did David Gregory cite ’40 percent of guns are purchased without a background check’ myth? (twitchy.com)
• Obama Hectors, Lies on Gun Control Statistics (Again) (pjmedia.com)

 

 

 

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Something Smells Like Low “Tides”

Why Do The Koch Brothers Get All The Sunshine?

 

 

 

 

” Here’s a couple of data points that bear serious thought this week by transparency advocates celebrating Sunshine Week and by everybody else who cares about protecting and preserving a free and independent press:

1,130 – Number of results for search term “Koch Brothers” on The New York Times web site.

64 – Number of results for search term “The Tides Foundation” on The New York Times web site.

It’s equally certain that few reading this post know anything at all about the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, even though its roots go deep into the radical student movement of the 1960s and it has helped fund or startup virtually every significant liberal, progressive and radical cause in the years since.

Similar results appear from the same searches on The Washington Post web site, which turns up 277 links to the Koch Brothers and 11 for Tides. And on the New Yorker web site, Koch Brothers generated 35 links and none for Tides.

The contrast was even more dramatic on the Common Cause site, where the Koch Brothers were linked 4,560 times versus one for Tides.

Similar results appear from the same searches on The Washington Post web site, which turns up 277 links to the Koch Brothers and 11 for Tides. And on the New Yorker web site, Koch Brothers generated 35 links and none for Tides.

The contrast was even more dramatic on the Common Cause site, where the Koch Brothers were linked 4,560 times versus one for Tides.

 

Three Koch foundations made a total of 181 grants worth$25,405,525 in 2010 (most recent available records). The one Tides Foundation made a total of 2,627 grants worth $143,529,590 in 2010.”

 

Related articles

• George Soros-backed CPI offers a glimpse inside the left-wing news racket (watchdog.org)
• Tides uses tax dollars to turn America to the Left (watchdog.org)
• Liberal group grants over 5x as much as Koch Brothers but goes largely unnoticed by the media (humanevents.com)
• Stockman deletes tweet joking Koch brothers instigated Chavez’s cancer (chron.com)

 

 

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Wash Post Yells ” Squirrel “

Washington Post Report Confuses One Prostitute With Another In Bid To Debunk Menendez Allegations

 

 

 

” The Washington Post mistook one prostitute for another Monday in a report that initially seemed to debunk a November 2012 Daily Caller exposé of New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.

While the Post said it had an affidavit from a woman in the Dominican Republic admitting she fabricated claims Menendez paid her for sex, that woman was not one of the two prostitutes TheDC interviewed for a Nov. 1 report.

The Post identified the woman as 23-year-old Nexis de los Santos Santana.

Post reporter Carol D. Leonnig did not respond to requests for comment Monday night, and did not provide TheDC with a copy of the affidavit.”

Related articles

• Menendez sex scandal was a lie according to the escort (examiner.com)
• Prostitute Says Allegations Against Menendez Made Up, Says Washington Post. Just One Little Problem . . . (patterico.com)
• The Daily Caller Vs. Washington Post: Was Menendez Prostitute Bribed Or Did WaPo Identify Wrong Woman? (mediaite.com)
• Daily Caller Debunks WAPO Story That Menendez Hooker Recanted: ‘They Got The Wrong Hooker’ (patdollard.com)
• ABC: Menendez prostitution story not worth reporting until debunked; Daily Caller: Debunked? Try again (twitchy.com)
• Dominican escort admits she was paid to make claim against Sen. Bob Menendez (babalublog.com)

 

 

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” You’ll Regret What You’re Doing ” – Telling The Truth Is A Punishable Offense

BOB WOODWARD: A ‘Very Senior’ White House Person Warned Me I’d ‘Regret’ What I’m Doing

 

 

 

” Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a “very senior person” at the White House warned him in an email that he would “regret doing this,” the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.

“It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, ‘You’re going to regret doing something that you believe in,'” Woodward said.”

Related articles

• White House Tells Bob Woodward: “You Will Regret Doing This” – The Video (breitbart.com)
• White House Yells at Woodward for Half Hour: ‘You’re Going to Regret Doing This’… (redflagnews.com)
• ‘A Very Senior Person’ at White House to Woodward: ‘You Will Regret Doing This’ (nationalreview.com)
• Bob Woodward on threat from White House staff: “…it makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you’re going to regret doing something that you believe in” (cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com)
• White House Threatens the man who brought down Richard Nixon (grumpyelder.com)
• #StandWithWoodward (legalinsurrection.com)
• BOB WOODWARD: A ‘Very Senior’ White House Person Warned Me I’d ‘Regret’ What I’m Doing (businessinsider.com)
• White House Threatens Bob Woodward (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
• Bob Woodward threatened by White House over sequester reporting (americanthinker.com)

Another Gun Company Takes A Stand For Liberty

BERETTAS DON’T BLUFF’: MAJOR GUN COMPANY THREATENS TO LEAVE MARYLAND OVER NEW GUN CONTROL PROPOSALS

 

 

 

” Beretta USA is threatening to leave Maryland over new gun control proposals, the Washington Post reports, and they would take hundreds of jobs along with them.

“Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?” Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for Beretta, asked.

The Washington Post explains:

Beretta, the nearly 500-year-old family-owned company that made one of James Bond’s firearms, has already invested more than $1 million in the [civilian version of a machine gun designed for special operations forces] and has planned to expand its plant further in Prince George’s County to ramp up production. “

Related articles

• Beretta: “There always seems to be a problem with Maryland.” (thepatriotperspective.wordpress.com)
• Gun-grabbers grabbing Beretta jobs: ‘Why expand in place where people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?’ (twitchy.com)
• Beretta to Leave Maryland if Gun Control Laws Pass (patdollard.com)
• Huge Turnout Wednesday In Maryland For Gun Rights (onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com)
• Beretta’a “Trident” logo explained (thetravellinggourmet.wordpress.com)
• Beretta 93R: Another cool handgun you can’t own (VIDEO) (guns.com)

Obama’s War On The Warriors

Obama’s War on American Generals

 

Photo : Frontpage Magazine

 

 

 

” During the Bush administration there were only two American commanders of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Under Obama there have so far been five. There has been a new ISAF commander nearly every single year that Obama has been in office. The only exception is 2012 when Obama was too busy trying to win an election to bother further sabotaging a losing war.

The parade of musical chair generals began when Obama demanded the resignation of General McKiernan. The Washington Post called the firing of a wartime commander a “rare decision.” It was the first time since the days of General Douglas MacArthur that a four-star commanding general had been purged during a war.

The decision may have been rare, but it was not unexpected. General McKiernan was fired for the same offense that General McArthur had been targeted during the Korean War: He had demanded competency from an incompetent Democrat.”

 

 

Related articles

• Democrat Congressman Seeking End To Presidential Term Limits As Obama Social Engineers Military Into Extinction While Trying To Take American’s Guns Away! ~ And Nancy Pelosi Says We’re The Nazis’?? (dcclothesline.wordpress.com)
• ISAF Change of Command, “Where’s Hamid?” Edition (republicofsnarkistan.net)
• Obama Loses Fourth Afghanistan Commander (pjmedia.com)
• John Allen resigns from military ahead of Nato nomination (telegraph.co.uk)
• Gen. Allen to retire, won’t lead European command (mysanantonio.com)
• Watch Out, Obama: Second Terms Have Been Tainted By Scandal (businessinsider.com)
• Top US general John Allen to retire (bbc.co.uk)

It’s amazing what the MSM come up with now that their Lord has attained his re-election . His policies are very liberal – NY Times … There will be rationing with Obamacare – Wash Post … What’s next ? A fake birth certificate ?

Related articles

• Now other nations agree Obama’s birth certificate is fake (lunaticoutpost.com)
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The Rio Norte Line

Here are some dictionary definitions for the writers at the Washington Post as they seem lack understanding of some basic terms:

in·sur·ance [in-shoor-uhns, -shur-] noun: 1. The equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss.

risk [rsk] noun:.1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger. 2. A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard.

Risk. Uncertainty. Possibility. These are all terms of chance. These indicate that true insurance consists of an individual or group choosing protection from something that might happen at some point in the future.

transfer paymentnoun: A noncompensatory government payment to individuals, as for welfare or social security benefits.

When a condition or situation is known, as in Obamacare’s requirement to cover and pay for pre-existing conditions, the program ceases…

View original post 610 more words

The Hoax On You , WaPost … Whither Your Army Of Fact-Checkers ?

 

WASHINGTON POST FALLS FOR HOAX PALIN STORY, PALIN HITS BACK ON TWITTER

 

 

 

 

” This has been a good week for those of us at war with the media. Late last week, many of the same elite media members who attempt to falsely link conservatives to every imaginable tragedy (most notably, Sarah Palin), found their own names approvingly mentioned in a suspected mass-murderer’s manifesto. And then, just this morning,Washington Post contributor Suzi Parker (that’s her photo below — isn’t she precious? — is Rachel Maddow missing a pair of “smart girl” glasses?) made a very public spectacle of herself.

In a blog post snarkily titled “Sarah Palin’s plan to reach ‘millions of devoutly religious people’ through al-Jazeera,” Parker used the Web pages of the once-legendaryWashington Post to spread the incredible news that Palin had joined Al-Jazeera. This news was then used by Parker as the basis for a piece of left-wing smuggery that ripped Palin for being so desperate to stay relevant. “

Related articles

• Sarah Palin strikes back at Washington Post (politico.com)
• WaPo wrong on Palin’s new job (politico.com)
• Suzi Parker, Ace Reporter (breitbart.com)
• Parody Website Fools The Washington Post Into Thinking Sarah Palin Heading To Al Jazeera (mediaite.com)
• Washington Post Punked, Says Palin to Join Al Jazeera (newser.com)
• Sarah Palin joining Al-Jazeera? Obnoxious ‘real journalist’ at WaPo falls for obvious satire (twitchy.com)
• Aw, snap! Sarah Palin zings ‘real journalist’ Suzi Parker and WaPo (twitchy.com)
• The Washington Post Corrects A Story That Reported Sarah Palin Was Joining Al Jazeera (businessinsider.com)
• Washington Post reporter fooled by satirical story on Sarah Palin (redalertpolitics.com)

Feel Free To Go Home , You Won’t Be Missed

Jackie Chan Back In Action, Branding US More Corrupt Than China

 

 

 

” He went on to say America is “the most corrupt [country] in the world” – not China. “Where does this great breakdown [of corruption] come from? It started exactly from the [rest of the] world, the United States … If our own countrymen don’t support our country, who will?” he said.

The interview to promote his new movie CZ12 was aired in December and translated into English by website Ministry of Tofu, but only alighted on by the US newspaper this week. ”

 

 

 

Related articles

• Jackie Chan says America is the ‘world’s most corrupt country’ (thenewstribe.com)
• ‘Fuck you, Jackie Chan’: America responds to ingrate communist actor’s bashing (twitchy.com)
• Re: Jackie Chan Thinks America is ‘The Most Corrupt’ Nation in the World (forum.prisonplanet.com)
• Jackie Chan Anti-Americanism Comments Spark Outrage in US (americanlivewire.com)
• The anti-Americanism of Jackie Chan (washingtonpost.com)
• Jackie Chan Says America Is ‘The Most Corrupt Country In The World’ (mediaite.com)

Rangel , Embarrassed ? Obama Is A “Miracle” Worker

NBC: Say, This 2nd-Term Transition Has Really Been An “Unforced Error,” Huh? Update: Rangel Calls It “Embarrassing As Hell”

 

 

 

 

” With that in mind, should we be surprised that his second-term Cabinet rollout has produced embarrassment and backtracking?  Let’s not forget that his first Cabinet rollout produced the same kind of disorganization when it became clear that no one was vetting potential nominees, or at least not vetting them successfully.

After all, when Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post is skewering a Democratic President for a lack of diversity, you know something has run off the rails:

The face of power that President Obama has chosen to present to the country and the world with his second-term Cabinet picks is striking — except for the African American president at the top of the pyramid — for its retro look, white and male. It’s “Mad Men” Goes to Washington, except Peggy’s leaving.

On the foreign policy team, white guy for secretary of state, white guy for defense secretary, white guy for CIA. For Treasury secretary, white guy. Obama’s replacement as chief of staff — as yet unnamed, but the rumor mill names no one but . . . white guys.

To be clear: I’ve got nothing against white guys. Some of my best husbands are white guys. White guys get to be secretary of state, too, and John Kerry will be the first in 16 years. But to look at the most important jobs in the government, in 2013, and see such lack of diversity is just so drearily disappointing. …

The White House will point to women in other Cabinet positions — although one, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, has just announced her resignation — and to women in sub-Cabinet roles. Okay, but State, Defense and Treasury, along with Justice, are the Big Boy jobs. It matters if some of those boys are girls. It sends a disturbing signal when they’re not.

Related articles

• Obama Cabinet shuffle taking shape (sfgate.com)
• Hilda Solis resigns as labor secretary; some others in Cabinet to stay on – Washington Post (washingtonpost.com)
• One Less Woman In Obama’s Cabinet: Hilda Solis Quits (theatlanticwire.com)
• Hilda Solis leaves Labor Department (politico.com)

Meet The Real ” Extremists “

Democrat Says Obama’s Gun Control Proposals Are Extreme

 

 

 

” On ABC’s This Week yesterday, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp described President Obama’s gun control proposals as “extreme.”

“I think you need to put everything on the table, but what I hear from the administration — and if the Washington Post is to be believed — that’s way — way in extreme of what I think is necessary or even should be talked about. And it’s not going to pass,” said Heitkamp.

 

 

 

Heitkamp’s comments come after a Washington Post report about continuing plans from the White House to go far beyond the Clinton-era assault weapons ban with new gun control legislation, regulation and possible executive orders.”

 

 

 

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Doubling Down On Failure

White House Considers Broader U.S. Gun Control

 

 

 

 

 

” (Reuters) – The White House is weighing a far broader approach to curbing U.S. gun violence than just reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

A working group led by Vice President Joseph Biden is seriously considering measures that would require universal background checks for gun buyers and track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, the newspaper said.

The measures would also strengthen mental health checks and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors, the Post said. The approach is backed by law enforcement leaders, it said.

President Barack Obama assigned Biden the job of designing the strategy after the massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school last month that killed 20 children and six adults.

To sell such changes, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful gun lobby.

They include rallying support from Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses, the Post said. ”

 

 

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Craven , Cowardly Can-Kickers

GOP Abandons Good Policy in Fiscal Cliff Deal

 

 

 

 

 

” You know, Republicans, if you spent half as much time marketing good policy as you do bending over backwards to please your ideological opponents, we might actually have a deal worth talking about.

In addition to the basics, there are some other interesting facts to note about this deal.

ABC News reports:

But it also includes these:

• $430 million for Hollywood through “special expensing rules” to encourage TV and film production in the United States.  Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.

• $331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.

• $222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.

• $70 million for NASCAR by extending a “7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities.”

• $59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of “cellulosic biofuel” at up to $1.01 per gallon.

• $4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes.

*Note the price tags above reflect estimated forgone tax revenue if current credits – which have been due to expire – are extended for one year as included in the Senate bill, per Joint Committee on Taxation.

Jim Pethokoukis writes:

What will Americans pay in taxes this year vs. last year in light of the fiscal cliff deal? Well, let’s run the numbers (with some help from JPMorgan):

– Payroll tax hike: $125 billion

– Income tax hike and the phaseout of exemptions: $35-50 billion

– Investment tax hike: $5 billion

– PPACA healthcare taxes: $38 billion

So that works out to roughly $220 billion, or 1.2% of GDP. It’s a deal that, as The Washington Post puts it, ”takes money out of the hands of many Americans, sucking it out of the economy and slowing economic activity.”

Obama made it clear last night that he has no interest in negotiating when it comes to the debt ceiling. He has also made it clear that this is the start of his tax-hike demands, not the end. ”

 

 

 

 

Illustration By Steve Sack

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Obama Signed Secret Cyber Directive In October

On The Offensive … But against Whom ?

 

 

 

 

” The military now has more room to aggressively maneuver in cyberspace, thanks to a secret directive signed by President Barack Obama in October.

The Washington Post recently revealed that Obama signed the directive — called Presidential Directive 20 — to give “a broad and strict set of standards to guide the operations of federal agencies in confronting threats in cyberspace[.]”

The directive states that, before turning to military cyber units, the government will first turn to law enforcement or “traditional network defense techniques before asking military cyberwarfare units for help or pursuing other alternatives,” senior government officials who saw the classified document told the Washington Post.

“For the first time, the directive explicitly makes a distinction between network defense and cyber operations to guide officials charged with making often rapid decisions when confronted with threats,” reported The Washington Post Wednesday.”

 

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