Month: January 2013
-
Junior Seau Suffered From Brain Injuries Due To Repeated Blows To The Head
Former NFL star Junior Seau, who took his own life last May, has become the latest example of the NFL’s concussion problem: A team of scientists who analyzed the brain tissue of renowned NFL linebacker Junior Seau after his suicide last year have concluded the football player suffered a debilitating brain disease likely caused by two decades…
-
National Cathedral Will Host Same-Sex Marriages
Washington National Cathedral, the seat of the Episcopal Church in the United States, will soon be the sight of same-sex marriage ceremonies: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin hosting same-sex marriages. Cathedral officials tell The Associated Press the church will be…
-
Paul Ryan Co-Sponsors Fetal Personhood Bill For Some Reason
Amid a weak economy, the impending end to the Federal Government’s ability to borrow, and a fiscal situation that remains unresolved, the House GOP’s budget expert apparently thinks its time to focus on abortion: Despite the deep unpopularity of fetal personhood bills in 2012, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has again decided to cosponsorthe Sanctity of Human Life…
-
Jack Lew’s Horrible Signature
New York Magazine reports that, with Jack Lew apparently set to replace Timothy Geithner, this signature will soon grace America’s currency: Seriously, what the heck is that?
-
Obama To Name Jack Lew As New Treasury Secretary
President Obama will name his Chief of Staff to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary: President Barack Obama plans to name White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew tomorrow as his choice for Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, a person familiar with the process said. Lew, 57, who also has served as director of the…
-
Does Decapitating Terrorist Leaderships Work?
Killing their leaders doesn’t seem to be impacting the ability of jihadi groups to recruit and motivate more terrorists.
-
Texas Remains Most Valuable College Football Program
The “amateur” sport of big time college football continues to be a very lucrative business: Never mind for a moment which college-football team is No. 1 on the field. Is Texas losing its grip on being No. 1 at the bank? According to an annual analysis of the values of college-football programs, Texas remains the…
-
Just Say No To The Platinum Coin
Minting a Platinum Coin would be a really bad idea.
-
Moderate Republican Group Drops “Republican” From Name
A group identified with the moderate wing of the GOP, and now headed by former Ohio Congressman Steve LaTourette, has taken steps to distance itself from the GOP: The Republican Main Street Partnership, a Washington-based group that has promoted moderate GOP lawmakers and policies, will remove the word “Republican” from its title and welcome center-right…
-
Congress Less Popular Than Lice, Brussel Sprouts, Nickleback
Yet another poll reveals just how unpopular Congress has become: Our newest national poll finds that Congress only has a 9% favorability rating with 85% of voters viewing it in a negative light. We’ve seen poll after poll after poll over the last year talking about how unpopular Congress is but really, what’s the difference…
-
Debt Ceiling Drop Dead Date Barely A Month Away
According to a new report, we have just a little more than a month before the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling begin to hit: The next debt ceiling battle could come as soon as mid-February, when the federal government looks to hit its borrowing limit, a new report says. “Based on financial data…
-
More People Have Traveled into Space Than Flown in a B-2 Bomber
More people have been to space than have flown in a B-2 stealth bomber.
-
Why Having A Gun For Self Defense Matters
When it comes down to the point where you have to defend yourself and your children: LOGANVILLE, Ga. — A woman hiding in her attic with children shot an intruder multiple times before fleeing to safety Friday. The incident happened at a home on Henderson Ridge Lane in Loganville around 1 p.m. The woman was…
-
Supreme Court Sets Oral Argument In Same-Sex Marriage Cases
The Supreme Court has set the dates for oral argument of the two same-sex marriage cases it agreed to hear late last year: The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear arguments in late March on two key cases on the issue of same-sex marriage. On March 26, the justices will hear Hollingsworth v. Perry,…
-
Joyner Girls Rooting for Bama
It started September 1, with a 41-14 thumping of Michigan at Cowboys Stadium. Now, it all comes down to one game.
-
Only 8% Of Likely Voters Consider Themselves Part Of The Tea Party Movement
The political power of the Tea Party movement appears to have declined significantly: The Tea Party has gone dry. Once the talk of the nation and a well-supported positive force in politics, membership has dropped as has their approval rating, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll. Rasmussen found: — Just 8 percent of likely voters say they…
-
The Debt Ceiling And The 14th Amendment
Resurrecting and old, and bad, idea.
-
Paul Krugman Turns Down Job He Was Never Offered
In the past several weeks, fringe elements such as actor Danny Glover and Moveon.org have called on President Obama to appoint New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. There’s never been any indication at all that the White House was ever considering Krugman for the job, or even that his name…
-
Utah GOP Cancels Glenn Reynolds Speech Due To Support For Gay Rights
Glenn Reynolds, the blogosphere’s Instapundit, was supposed to speak before a Republican group in Utah but found his appearance canceled due to his professed support for gay rights: SO OVER THE YEARS I’VE OFTEN SAID that in my ideal world, happily married gay couples would have closets full of assault weapons. You’d think that right…
-
John Brennan To Be Named CIA Director
In addition to naming former Senator Chuck Hagel as his new Defense Secretary, President Obama is expected to announce today that he’s naming John O. Brennan as the new CIA Director: President Obama will announce on Monday that John O. Brennan, his counterterrorism adviser and a career Central Intelligence Agency officer, is his choice to…
-
Predicting the Future Is Hard, Old Man’s War Edition
Old Man’s war, a sci-fi novel about the distant future published in 2007, features Newsweek magazine, which went out of business in 2012.
-
Understanding how Congress Works
(As well as party behavior).
-
NHL Lockout Ends
The most idiotic labor dispute in sports history appears to have ended.
-
Today in “Asked and Answered” (Drug War Edition)
Via the WSJ: Have We Lost the War on Drugs? Answer: Yes, we have lost (and badly). Of course, the entire notion of a “war” in this case was misplaced (to understate the matter by quite a bit) because there is no way to win, if winning is supposed to look anything at all like…
-
Stealth Tax Hikes
The new $450,000 income threshold is a political fiction.
-
The House GOP’s Nihilistic Anarchism
The House GOP is moving in an ever more dangerous direction.
-
Odd Ad Placement of the Day
Found at: http://www.constitution.org/jsm/women.htm
-
Cory Booker Rocking Political Boats In New Jersey
Cory Booker’s decision to explore a run for the U.S. Senate has upset the powers-that-be in New Jersey Democratic politics.
-
Inside The Ridiculous Attempted Coup Against John Boehner
The attempted coup against John Boehner resembled something you’d see in a banana republic.
-
The Venezuelan Dilemma in one Line
“These days, the Venezuelan government is busy preparing for the re-inauguration of the country’s beloved president, Hugo Chávez, and also for his funeral.”—Javier Corrales in Foreign Affairs. (The whole piece is worth a read).
-
First the Secret Service, Now the Honduran Embassy (More Tales of Colombia Prostitutes)
Via the BBC: Honduras investigates Bogota embassy Christmas party Honduras has said it is setting up a commission to investigate reports that a wild Christmas party was held at its embassy in the Colombian capital. Reports suggest that two prostitutes attended the party, which began on the evening of 20 December and carried on until…
-
The Platinum Coin Boondoggle
Could a coin like this solve the looming debt ceiling crisis?
-
Get Ready For Another Debt Ceiling Fight
The next six weeks or so will see Congress once again fighting over a self-created crisis.
-
University Professor: World’s Least Stressful Job
I’ve been out of the classroom for just over a decade now and, apparently, things have changed radically.
-
D.C. Makes “25 Drunkest Cities” List
Another thing for Washingtonians to be proud of: Washington has found its way onto yet another superlative list. This time, the nation’s capital is ranked among the “25 Drunkest Cities” in the U.S. D.C. placed 9th on this year’s list, the third annual ranking released by the Daily Beast. Other cities in the top 10 include New Orleans,…
-
Senator Barney Frank?
Former Congressman Barney Frank is interested in being named Senator from Massachusetts: Aides to the newly retired Rep. Barney Frank say the congressman definitely wants to be appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a caretaker senator. The opening would occur when John Kerry moves to the State Department pending his confirmation as the next…
-
Heading Off the Stupidest War
Would a formal guarantee of Israel’s security deter Iran from whatever nuclear weapons development program it has?
-
Another Stagnant Jobs Report
The monthly unemployment report doesn’t have quite the political meaning it did during the election, but that can’t hide the truth that it continues to show an economy that is, at best, struggling: American employers added 155,000 jobs in December, about apace with job growth over the last year, the Labor Department reported on Friday.…
-
Obama First POTUS Since Eisenhower To Get 51% Of The Vote Twice
According to the latest tally of the election results, President Obama accomplished a feat unseen since Dwight Eisenhower was President: Eight weeks after the Nov. 6 presidential election, a revised vote count in New York shows that Barack Obama is the first president in more than five decades to win at least 51 percent of the vote twice. State…
-
Geithner To Leave Treasury By The End Of January
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reportedly plans to leave office by the end of January regardless of whether a debt ceiling deal has been reached or not: Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plans to leave the administration at the end of January, even if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans haven’t reached an agreement to raise the debt…
-
Mark Kirk Returns To The Senate
It was just under a year ago that Illinois Senator Mark Kirk suffered a stroke that kept him out of the Senate and recovering for the better part of 2012. Today, on the first day of the 113th Congress, he returned to the Senate and fulfilled a promise that he’d walk up the steps of…
-
John Boehner Re-Elected Speaker Of The House
For the better part of yesterday, a group of conservatives including a writer at one of the Brietbart websites was pushing the rumor that an insurgency had developed against John Boehner that would be sufficient enough to prevent him from winning the Speakership on the first ballot, something that has not happened in the House…
-
A Different Way Of Handling Disaster Relief
It’s time to start thinking outside the box when it comes to disaster relief.
-
Filibuster Reform Hitting A Snag?
Greg Sargent reports that Filibuster reform efforts in the Senate seem to have stalled: It passed with little attention amid the fiscal cliff fighting, but on the Friday before New Year’s Day, Dem and GOP Senators released a package of reforms to the filibuster that has been watered down in order to gain bipartisan support. But…