How Liberalism Makes It Easier to Sin | National Review Online

How Liberalism Makes It Easier to Sin | National Review Online: "Women’s groups provided Bill Clinton with enormous moral capital because he supported their feminist agenda. One leading feminist famously said she would be happy to get on her knees and pleasure Clinton thanks to his pro-choice position on abortion."

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Lies Anthony Weiner Told Me - The Daily Beast

Lies Anthony Weiner Told Me - The Daily Beast: "How many falsehoods can you utter in eight minutes? If you’re Anthony Weiner, at least 68. That’s how many Patricia Murphy heard during the height of his creepy sex scandal in 2011."

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Benno Schmidt: Mitch Daniels's Gift to Academic Freedom - WSJ.com

Benno Schmidt: Mitch Daniels's Gift to Academic Freedom - WSJ.com: "The American Association of University Professors itself recognized those obligations in its seminal statement, the 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom, which is today nearly forgotten: "If this profession should prove itself unwilling to purge its ranks of the incompetent and unworthy, or to prevent the freedom which it claims . . . from being used as a shelter for inefficiency, for superficiality, or for uncritical and intemperate partisanship, it is certain that the task will be performed by others.""

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Best of the Web Today: McResearch - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: McResearch - WSJ.com: "Adherence to a canon of ethics is helpful in enhancing a journalist's or a news outlet's credibility. But the ultimate test is whether the work product is truthful."

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Sorry, Rush Limbaugh Is Not Going Anywhere | Mediaite

Sorry, Rush Limbaugh Is Not Going Anywhere | Mediaite: "Those organizations that have been, largely without success, trying to force conservative broadcasters off the air by targeting their advertisers with boycotts are now latching on to what is most likely a series of public negotiations over syndication costs to show that their efforts have not been in vain. That is a show of desperation, not efficacy."

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Tamron Hall Advocates For Minimum Wage Hike For Fast Food Workers In Detailed Conversation With Herself | Mediaite

Tamron Hall Advocates For Minimum Wage Hike For Fast Food Workers In Detailed Conversation With Herself | Mediaite: "Forgive me for addressing this issue in exceedingly simple terms, but that appears to be what is required: Much the same could be said of just about any industry which pays its most expendable, entry-level employees the lowest possible wages that it can negotiate. Less expendable employees demand more and receive more in compensation. This is how firms retain nonexpendable talent in a competitive marketplace."

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World's Most Pigeonholed Actor Dies at 85 | I Watch Stuff

World's Most Pigeonholed Actor Dies at 85 | I Watch Stuff: "Jagdish Raj, the Bollywood actor famous for playing a police inspector in everything, has reportedly died at the age of 85. Over a 21-year career that he ended twenty years ago, Raj played a cop in 144 films, in the process earning the Guinness World Record for being film's most typecast actor. Son-in-law Rakesh Malhotra said the actor's health had been faltering over the last couple years, and he died following a respiratory arrest."

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Obama not even pretending he has legal authority to delay the ObamaCare employer mandate « Hot Air

Obama not even pretending he has legal authority to delay the ObamaCare employer mandate « Hot Air: "He’s going to get away with this and the precedent will be set — or rather further cemented, per McConnell’s other examples of Obama power grabs — that when a law is inconvenient for the president politically, even when it’s part of his own signature legislation, he can simply ignore it. Because he says so."

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Bad news: Clintons not happy with being compared to Anthony Weiner and Huma « Hot Air

Bad news: Clintons not happy with being compared to Anthony Weiner and Huma « Hot Air: "I can’t believe anyone, especially people as politically savvy as Billary, think a guy like Weiner who’ll be a distant memory come 2016 poses any serious problem for the Clinton machine. The annoyance here likely derives from the stature gap between the two couples, the way the royal family might be annoyed to be called “Britain’s Kardashians.” As Dave Weigel said last week, the Weiners are to the Clintons as “Sharknado” is to “Jaws”: Fun in their own pathetically tawdry way, but really just a hollow, farcical imitation."

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The Obamacare “lower premiums” shell game « Hot Air

The Obamacare “lower premiums” shell game « Hot Air: "As you see, the prices aren’t actually going down anywhere. They’re just going up less than projected in some places. And beyond that, the first article linked above demonstrates why even that isn’t thanks to Obamacare. It’s from blue state governments trying to bring the hammer down as hard as possible to put some lipstick on this pig."

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Open thread: Don’t try to rob a gun store with a baseball bat « Hot Air

Open thread: Don’t try to rob a gun store with a baseball bat « Hot Air: "The fact that this never works – as further backed up by this story from Florida – doesn’t seem to deter some people. It’s a gun store. It’s pretty much a given that the owners and the people who work there aren’t weak-kneed pacifists and that they’ve all got (duh) guns. I mean, even the guy who tried to rob a donut shop with a power drill at least stood a somewhat better chance than this rocket scientist."

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Want infrastructure improvement and middle class jobs, Mr. Obama? Approve the Keystone XL pipeline « Hot Air

Want infrastructure improvement and middle class jobs, Mr. Obama? Approve the Keystone XL pipeline « Hot Air: "Then there is his all but declared “war on coal”, a product critical to our energy infrastructure. It begins to become clear that ideology is much more important to the President than middle class jobs.  If Mr. Obama has his way, many thousands of middle class jobs will be lost in the coal mines and coal fired electrical plants as those plants are regulated out of existence. Those who understand  economics  realize the ripple effect those sorts of job losses would have on communities all across the country.   The obvious other consequences of such a policy, such as brownouts and blackouts, don’t seem to be of a particular concern to this president either.  It is clear that while he has the executive power to do it, he plans to use agencies such as the EPA to do his ideological dirty work through regulation.  Congressional oversight is not welcome.  And watch for the big push for climate change legislation coming soon. This is where the left intends to literally create tax revenue from thin air by trying to scare Americans to death."

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Feeling Sorry for Jay Carney | National Review Online

Feeling Sorry for Jay Carney | National Review Online: "Edmund Burke said, “There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men.” Evil men do not always snarl. Some smile charmingly. Those are the most dangerous."

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Who Is Racist? | National Review Online

Who Is Racist? | National Review Online: "The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country."

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Crisis, averted: EU and China manage to avoid a solar-powered trade war « Hot Air

Crisis, averted: EU and China manage to avoid a solar-powered trade war « Hot Air: "The whole saga, of course, is pretty ridiculous, because what the EU and China were really fighting over is their race to see who can out-subsidize the other on the green energy front the fastest. Despite the EU’s accusations, plenty of EU countries have offered all kinds of shameless special treatment to their domestic solar industries, anywhere from direct subsidies and loan guarantees to tax credits and renewable quotas. Neither body has at all managed to build a healthy market; the solar industry still very much lives and dies based on how much government assistance they receive."

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WaPo: Hey, anyone notice the White House press corps is super-white? « Hot Air

WaPo: Hey, anyone notice the White House press corps is super-white? « Hot Air: "Racial and ethnic diversity is prized above all, here, with no mention of socioeconomic, educational, or ideological diversity, which would also bring plenty of new perspectives into the room. There is an African-American man in the White House press corps who often gets a question in, as he’s employed by one of the major cable news networks. That man is Wendell Goler of Fox News. I wonder if those who complain about a lack of diversity in the corps find his contributions worthy or dismiss him because of his employer. He goes unmentioned in this article, while April Ryan is highlighted for questions that often hew closely to specific concerns of the black community."

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A Viable Political Strategy? | The Weekly Standard

A Viable Political Strategy? | The Weekly Standard: "“Even I have trouble explaining to my family that we are not about killing babies,” Democratic operative Donna Brazile told the New York Times after the 2004 election. Abortion was an issue that “put us into the extreme and not the mainstream.”"

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Quelle horreur: Being rude to the French president is no longer an infraction « Hot Air

Quelle horreur: Being rude to the French president is no longer an infraction « Hot Air: "Oh, goodness. Francois Hollande might have thick skin, but he is not at all a much-liked figure in France right now — he’s hardly more than a year into his presidency, but his approval rating in June already dropped to yet another new low with only 31 percent of French citizens having a “good opinion” of him. …I wonder if he isn’t going to be the subject of quite a bit more public ‘rudeness’ in the not-so-distant future."

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Holder to Russia: Just so we’re clear, Snowden won’t face the death penalty or torture « Hot Air

Holder to Russia: Just so we’re clear, Snowden won’t face the death penalty or torture « Hot Air: "I mean, it certainly makes sense, I suppose, to technically get on the record and refute some of the bases for Snowden’s claims for asylum — no, the United States government has no intention of throwing him into the Pit of Despair, and yes, his case will promptly be brought before a civilian court complete with all of the usual lawful protections. …But I highly doubt that the Russian government has been holding back on extraditing Snowden because they’re primarily concerned about his personal wellbeing. Russia doesn’t tend to have a ton of qualms on the human-rights abuse front, you know?"

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Important update from MSNBC: Detroit is fast becoming America’s most “libertarian city” « Hot Air

Important update from MSNBC: Detroit is fast becoming America’s most “libertarian city” « Hot Air: "MSNBC, everybody: Equating the financial collapse and social and economic decay with libertarianism, one abject and fully progressive failure at a time."

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Obama would like to inform you Ho Chi Minh was totally inspired by Thomas Jefferson « Hot Air

Obama would like to inform you Ho Chi Minh was totally inspired by Thomas Jefferson « Hot Air: "While Sterling Beard notes that this may be “factually true,” it is, at the very least, morally and politically problematic to throw Thomas Jefferson out as an “inspiration” to a man whose very name is shorthand for the slaughter of millions. You don’t even have to know anything about history to know that the likes of Stalin and Ho Chi Minh are not on the list of people you should be tacitly praising."

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The Left’s Central Delusion | National Review Online

The Left’s Central Delusion | National Review Online: "The fundamental problem of the political Left seems to be that the real world does not fit their preconceptions. Therefore they see the real world as what is wrong, and what needs to be changed, since apparently their preconceptions cannot be wrong."

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Nice try: MSNBC host calls Detroit ‘America’s most libertarian city’ | Twitchy

Nice try: MSNBC host calls Detroit ‘America’s most libertarian city’ | Twitchy: "Anything to avoid admitting that unchecked liberalism has resulted in nothing more than evidence of the effects of unchecked liberalism."

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Cynic-in-Chief | National Review Online

Cynic-in-Chief | National Review Online: "But that’s the theme of this entire presidency. Others — Washington, the Republicans, the Constitution, the global economy, Bush, et al. — are always to blame. In 2014, alas, cynicism won’t be on the ballot. He’ll be in the White House."

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Choose Your Own Adventure - Reason.com

Choose Your Own Adventure - Reason.com: "And while those competitors are still telling people what the story is and who the heroes are, video game designers have a more laissez-faire approach: Let the customer decide. No longer are players stuck with bland protagonists made to appeal to everyone: Role-playing games give players the ability to customize their avatars and their narratives, making them as weird and wonderful as they want. Play as an orc. Play as a robot. Play as a man or as a woman. Play with a silly-looking helmet or a scary demon mask. Play as a robotic orc wearing a silly-looking helmet and a demon mask. Over the 45 years that reason has existed, video games have been expanding the freedom that pop-culture consumers have to make those decisions for themselves. It’s an attitude that reason has celebrated from the beginning: It’s your game, your life, your story, your choice.  "

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Best of the Web Today: In Praise of Juror B29 - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: In Praise of Juror B29 - WSJ.com: "The requirement that charges of discrimination be backed up with actual facts is what the left is afraid of."

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Best of the Web Today: In Praise of Juror B29 - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: In Praise of Juror B29 - WSJ.com: "One of the most important, and remarkably under-publicized facts that came out at trial is that one of the detectives, while interrogating Zimmerman at the police station that night, told him that the entire incident had been caught on surveillance video. The detective was bluffing, but Zimmerman didn't know that. His reaction: "Thank God."

"Thank God." How many people who do something wrong, lie about it and are told it's on tape react that way?"

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Meanwhile in Egypt, Morsi accused of murder as violence continues « Hot Air

Meanwhile in Egypt, Morsi accused of murder as violence continues « Hot Air: "And there’s a new game that has begun among those who monitor foreign affairs.  It was much like the game that those who watched the US Senate used to play.  It’s called, “Where in the world is John Kerry?”"

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Irony: IRS employees union wants no part of ObamaCare « Hot Air

Irony: IRS employees union wants no part of ObamaCare « Hot Air: "The simple irony is fairly obvious, but you need to also appreciate the more profound irony – the IRS is ObamaCare’s enforcement arm.  Remember those 16,000 new IRS agents that are going to make sure you comply with the law?  Well, it seems they’ll only pleased to do that if they are exempt from the ACA."

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Senate Dems: Give us tax hikes or you get no tax reform « Hot Air

Senate Dems: Give us tax hikes or you get no tax reform « Hot Air: "That target, according to Reid and Schumer, should be what the Senate Democrats’ tax-hiking budget aimed for – a tax hike of nearly $1 trillion. Needless to say, that’s a non-starter. Republicans in both the House and Senate agreed to more than $600 billion in tax hikes – mostly from upper-income-earners – on January 1 this year as part of the fiscal cliff deal.

Schumer and Reid’s bluster threatens to kill the tax reform movement before it has a real chance. If Democrats are going to marshal around the idea that the tax code is fine as it is and that Republicans will have to give up substantial tax hikes just to simplify the code, we’re not getting reform.

It’s too bad, too. The Baucus-Hatch plan in the Senate would challenge legislators to have to defend special interest tax subsidies on an individual basis. It’s an approach that’s been endorsed by the Alan Simpson/Erskine Bowles coalition. It would grow the economy without growing government revenues. And Senate Democrats would rather exact a pound of tax-hike flesh in order to allow it to happen."

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Hernandez burned by … his own security surveillance system? « The Greenroom

Hernandez burned by … his own security surveillance system? « The Greenroom: "ABC has a video wondering how geniuses like Hernandez manage to live double lives while working in a high-profile industry like the NFL. A better question might be how they manage to dress themselves without instruction."

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Weiner’s sext partner: He’s not who I thought he was « Hot Air

Weiner’s sext partner: He’s not who I thought he was « Hot Air: "One: Weiner never “legislated.” That’s the core reason why he’s polled consistently worse than Spitzer. Spitzer has an actual resume to run on if you can get past his whoring and family betrayals. Weiner’s resume is going on Fox News and bickering with Megyn Kelly. Two: We’re talking here about a guy whose self-control issues are so notorious that even Alec Baldwin — Alec Baldwin — thinks they’re disqualifying."

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Good news: Luke Skywalker’s son in Star Wars VII might be … Ryan Gosling? « Hot Air

Good news: Luke Skywalker’s son in Star Wars VII might be … Ryan Gosling? « Hot Air: "Or maybe they’ll flip the script and cast the next generation of characters against type. Han’s son will be the one who’s naive and Luke’s son will be the one who’s hardboiled, and we’ll have to sit through all sorts of hijinks and excruciating parent/child subplot melodrama because neither father sees eye to eye with his boy. Won’t that be fun? If we’re extra lucky, maybe they’ll let Lucas script those scenes. Kill me now."

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Best of the Web Today: Losing the Plot - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: Losing the Plot - WSJ.com: "If only those who sympathize with Obama were willing to acknowledge his flaws--his intellectual superficiality, moral hubris, susceptibility to flattery and political immaturity among them--they might be able to develop a narrative of his presidency that would be interesting and enlightening. Obama might make a compelling tragic hero if today's journalists had any storytelling ability."

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Transparency: 50 years of omerta for Senate defenses of … tax breaks « Hot Air

Transparency: 50 years of omerta for Senate defenses of … tax breaks « Hot Air: "The 50-years-of-omerta promise shows just how true that is.  Not only do they love the power, they also want to use that power to keep voters from discovering just how much they love it.  There hasn’t been a better argument made for a constitutional amendment to either go to a flat tax or getting rid of the income tax system altogether."

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Video: Auburn cop fired for blowing the whistle on ticket, arrest quotas « Hot Air

Video: Auburn cop fired for blowing the whistle on ticket, arrest quotas « Hot Air: "Hanners blew the whistle on the department’s tactics and was eventually fired for refusing to comply and keep quiet. He says that each officer was required to make 100 contacts each month, which included tickets, arrests, field interviews, and warnings. This equates to 72,000 contacts a year in a 50,000 person town. His claims are backed up by audio recordings of his superiors he made. The Auburn police department declined requests to be interviewed for this story."

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Plea deal in Cleveland sex-slave horror? « The Greenroom

Plea deal in Cleveland sex-slave horror? « The Greenroom: "There could be a couple of reasons why a prosecutor would offer a plea deal in a case like this, even with overwhelming evidence of guilt.  First, the prosecutors might not feel completely comfortable that a jury will convict on the murder charges, which would take the death penalty off the table anyway.  But it’s more likely that the state would like to spare the victims the further trauma of a trial if possible, in exchange for so many consecutive life sentences that Castro will be assured to never leave maximum security.  That also eliminates any appeals, which means that the victims will be freed of dealing with Castro and the case immediately."

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When Did Obama Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now ‘Phony’? | Mediaite

When Did Obama Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now ‘Phony’? | Mediaite: "Obama and his supporters have become more aggressively contemptuous of those pursuing them and have attacked the motives of anyone who would seek to hold a frank discussion about these infractions. This is perhaps the most compelling indication that these and other scandals are anything but “phony.”"

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CNN Guest Compares Alleged Murder Of Sex Offender To Zimmerman ‘Vigilante Justice’ | Mediaite

CNN Guest Compares Alleged Murder Of Sex Offender To Zimmerman ‘Vigilante Justice’ | Mediaite: "This opinion is a dramatic misreading of the verdict in the Zimmerman trial, an example of selective outrage, and a sample of the irresponsible commentary that has become so lamentably common in the wake of that trail’s outcome. "

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The Lies Americans Were Sold In 2012 Exploding In 2013 | Mediaite

The Lies Americans Were Sold In 2012 Exploding In 2013 | Mediaite: "Nakedly exposed as fabrications are these and other hollow campaign trail statements made by the president and his campaign. That is not to say that these comments were never parsed by a handful of bright reporters and commentators at the time; they were. But the president was rarely called out for his misstatements, exaggerations, or sheer petulance masquerading as guile. Where was the mainstream political press at the time? Where are they now?"

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Judge Orders $1 Million Returned to Exotic Dancer - ABC News

Judge Orders $1 Million Returned to Exotic Dancer - ABC News: "“The government failed to show a substantial connection between drugs and the money,” Bataillon wrote in his opinion. “The dog sniff is inconsequential…The court finds the Mishras’ story is credible…Ms. Mishra did have control over the money and directed the Dheris to deliver the money to New Jersey for the purchase of the business.”
Bataillon ordered that Mishra receive cash or a check in the value of $1,074,000 with interest."

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She’s even worse - NYPOST.com

She’s even worse - NYPOST.com: "No one would attack Abedin for staying in her marriage and defending her husband — if it weren’t for the fact that she’s trying to foist an unstable man on all of us.

Her defense of him is so over-the-top that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that she is as power-hungry and deranged as he is. It’s reminiscent of Elizabeth Edwards, willing to ignore her husband’s affair and obvious love child, so long as he still had a chance to become president.

Huma Abedin once inspired pity, but now the growing public feeling toward her is anger. Anthony Weiner has no self-control and no business being New York City’s mayor. The woman who enables him shouldn’t be first lady of our city."

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Polls: Americans favor abortion bans after 20 weeks « Hot Air

Polls: Americans favor abortion bans after 20 weeks « Hot Air: "If I had to wager a guess, I’d say the intensity gap has developed over the increasing clarity of what abortion is and does.  The Gosnell trial made that much more clear, for instance, and the increasing awareness of the science of human life has eroded the whole “clump of cells” fantasy rationalization that allowed people to turn a blind eye to the practice."

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House GOP: We’ll legalize “DREAMers” if border gets secured first « Hot Air

House GOP: We’ll legalize “DREAMers” if border gets secured first « Hot Air: "This all hinges on the border-security package developed by the House, of course.  The Corker-Hoeven amendment turned out to be Swiss cheese in practice, and the White House made the issue all but moot by declaring that it could ignore statutes in ObamaCare that specifically had to do with mandates and triggers.  Unless the House comes up with a tougher border security package and a way to ensure that the Obama administration has no choice but to fund it — perhaps by holding up the DREAMer funding until specific metrics are met, especially on a border fence — then this is probably all academic anyway.  But at least Republicans may force Democrats to “say no to the kids,” and get rid of that noxious talking point for a while."

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Bag ban leads to nationwide increase in shoplifting rates | The Daily Caller

Bag ban leads to nationwide increase in shoplifting rates | The Daily Caller: "On Friday, New Jersey Democratic operative James Devine was arrested for attempting to snatch $22 worth of merchandise from a local ShopRite pharmacy. Devine tried to smuggle lettuce, shampoo and protein powder out of the store, perhaps trying to hide the fact that he was about to make the world’s most disgusting salad.  To avoid detection, he stashed the goods in a reusable grocery bag."

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Government, Not Globalization, Destroyed Detroit - Bloomberg

Government, Not Globalization, Destroyed Detroit - Bloomberg: "As for “small government” being to blame, one has to go back 52 years to find Republicans in control of Detroit’s government. Even then, one would not mistake Louis Miriani, the city’s last Republican mayor, for Norquist.
No, one has to look elsewhere for the reasons Detroit hasn’t been able to recover from its troubles."

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Why Detroit Won't Have a Second Act - Reason.com

Why Detroit Won't Have a Second Act - Reason.com: "A city that showers subsidies on well-connected businesses while thwarting individual entrepreneurs and ignoring basic services is writing its obituary — not its second act."

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Holder vows to force Texas into pre-clearance despite Supreme Court ruling on VRA « Hot Air

Holder vows to force Texas into pre-clearance despite Supreme Court ruling on VRA « Hot Air: "However, with Section 4 invalidated, the DoJ literally has no jurisdiction at all to use Section 5 any longer anywhere, not until Congress provides it.

What Holder proposes to do is to tell Texas to get DoJ approval for its voting (and redistricting) laws before putting them in force, right after the Supreme Court told Texas and the other Section 4 states that they don’t need to do so.  Holder can file a lawsuit to attempt to force compliance, but that’s just bluster. Texas isn’t going to comply, and it’s doubtful a federal court would do anything but laugh at the filing after the ruling last month.  The DoJ has no more jurisdiction to tell Texas to get pre-approval for laws passed under its own sovereignty.  This is grandstanding on a particularly demagogic scale."

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Collapse: Weiner goes limp in new post-scandal poll « Hot Air

Collapse: Weiner goes limp in new post-scandal poll « Hot Air: "Embarrassing confession: I feel a bit of sympathy for him. I know that’s verboten because he’s a hard-left liberal and, by nearly universal acclaim at this point, a weaselly sleaze, but it’s painful to watch someone torch every last bit of dignity they have to chase their demons. He’s not quite Amanda Bynes, but that analogy seems less inapt by the day. Even his old friends from the New York congressional delegation think he needs “serious psychiatric help.” Why his wife lets him persist in this self-immolation at this point, I have no idea. Clearly, after this poll and the near-certainty of more sexting revelations to come, they’re not going to be the first couple of New York. Weiner calculated, I think, that running now was a good idea because, even if he ended up losing, all the embarrassing stuff left over from 2011 would come out during the campaign and be old news by the time of the next mayoral election in four years."

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Change: 53% now support criminal charges against Snowden « Hot Air

Change: 53% now support criminal charges against Snowden « Hot Air: "A significant minority of the people who think government surveillance is intrusive also think the intrusion is justified. And what’s more, they’re less inclined to say it’s intrusive when you ask them about their own personal privacy. All told, despite weeks of revelations that show the feds are mining basically every form of electronic communication, you’ve still got majorities who say that that’s either not intrusive or that it’s justifiable. Is that “winning” the debate? Ask yourself this: How many votes is Justin Amash’s “defund the NSA” amendment apt to get in the House today? Let’s assume something strange happens and the amendment passes, whereupon it’s quickly killed by Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate. Do you think that’ll be a major issue in the midterms, or in 2016? (Rand Paul’s counting on it, I know, but I’m still asking.) The way Snowden wins this debate is if people in Washington start losing their seats because they support the current scope of federal data-mining. Where’s the evidence that that’s going to happen?"

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Is it finally time for the end of door-to-door postal delivery? « Hot Air

Is it finally time for the end of door-to-door postal delivery? « Hot Air: "I’ve recently noticed commercials about the many virtues and necessities of the USPS sponsored by none other than the AFLCIO running across my television screen, and the relevant unions are up in arms about how Americans cannot possibly afford to eliminate a single service offered by USPS because they are all absolutely essential — and while they’re all quick to tout that the USPS doesn’t directly receive any taxpayer funding, they have completely exhausted their line of credit from the U.S. Treasury and, without serious reform, will no doubt be looking for a bailout someday soon."

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It begins: Scammers already cashing in on Obamacare « The Greenroom

It begins: Scammers already cashing in on Obamacare « The Greenroom: "“Scammers are calling unsuspecting people, saying they are with Obamacare or the federal government — and they need your information to send you your Obamacare card.  Some scammers try to sell consumers very poor coverage, or coverage that isn’t even real.  They also request bank account numbers…”"

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Report: Female reporters advised to have escort for interviewing Filner as third accuser comes forward « Hot Air

Report: Female reporters advised to have escort for interviewing Filner as third accuser comes forward « Hot Air: "The Democratic mayor of San Diego and former Congressman Bob Filner has already admitted to “disrespecting” women coworkers and “intimidating” them, saying he needs “help” for what he himself suggests is a pattern of destructive behavior. His behavior has required a standing order not to meet with women behind closed doors and the creation of “workplace safety zones” for women who feel threatened by him. A female city councilwoman reported the complaints of six female employees against Filner two years ago only to have those complaints ignored by the party apparatus. I’m inclined to give some benefit of the doubt when accusers remain anonymous or before the man in question admits his transgressions, but we passed that point a while ago with Filner."

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Breaking: Judge overrules objections to Detroit bankruptcy « The Greenroom

Breaking: Judge overrules objections to Detroit bankruptcy « The Greenroom: "The PEUs had wanted to stop the bankruptcy under the state constitution, which requires municipalities to guarantee pension obligations. Municipal bankruptcies, however, are within federal jurisdiction since the Depression.  This means that Detroit can force unions to negotiate on pension terms in a bankruptcy proceeding — still a politically dangerous task, but one that will be necessary to unwind the massive debt load of the city."

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Review & Outlook: Obama's New York Model - WSJ.com

Review & Outlook: Obama's New York Model - WSJ.com: "New York's ratio is one to one. This means that insurers must vastly overprice coverage for, say, a 28-year-old who exercises regularly and doesn't smoke but vastly underprice coverage for a 55-year-old with high-cost chronic illnesses. Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo adopted this rule in 1992.

Premiums shot up 30% to 40% on average in the first year, often much more, and continued to spike. Insurers shed books of business, while customers cancelled their policies. Enrollment fell 38% in three years. About a dozen major insurers at the time sold the dominant style of indemnity coverage, similar to traditional fee-for-service Medicare. By 1996, every one had fled the state."

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Beyonce Loses Hair Extensions in Brush with Fan

Beyonce Loses Hair Extensions in Brush with Fan: "Situation Room visitor, White House frequenter, and object of Michelle Obama idolatry Queen Bey/Beyoncé/Mrs. Carter of the Mrs. Carter Show Tour got her coif caught in a fan.  Not a fan-fan like a stage fan, but one of those used to blow around J. Lo’s or Beyoncé’s flowing locks in order to make them look like they’re able to maintain the glamour edge in the midst of a 100 mph hurricane gale."

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Florida Capitol Protester Loves Stephen K. Bannon's 'Occupy Unmasked'

Florida Capitol Protester Loves Stephen K. Bannon's 'Occupy Unmasked': "It was gratifying to see that Occupy Unmasked had reached across political boundaries and impacted people outside of the anticipated conservative audience. Breitbart argued that culture trumps politics, and a film can be the first step. That initial contact needs to be followed up by respectful, honest dialogue from conservatives willing to both listen to other people's experiences and to unapologetically share the benefits of freedom with them. Breitbart's vision of a bigger tent lives on. "

'via Blog this'

Roman Polanksi's Rape Victim Pens Tell-All Book

Roman Polanksi's Rape Victim Pens Tell-All Book: "Samantha Geimer has been understandably reluctant to relive being drugged and raped by director Roman Polanski back in 1977. She was 13 years old at the time."

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Family rescued by George Zimmerman from car accident cancels press conference in fear of “blowback” « Hot Air

Family rescued by George Zimmerman from car accident cancels press conference in fear of “blowback” « Hot Air: "Incidentally, is there an agency (or a charity) at either the state or federal level that provides security for high-profile criminal defendants upon release or acquittal? I’m not thinking about that for Zimmerman specifically, just in general. O.J. could have used it, I’m sure; so could Casey Anthony. I think they’re both guilty as sin, and maybe O.J.’s a special case because he could afford to pay for his own protection, but it seems weird to discharge a defendant from court on grounds that they’re “free” to go when they’re facing hundreds or thousands of death threats with little professional help in thwarting them. National media holds these people out, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, as monsters and then they’re left to fend for themselves against a public that despises them. Is that their idea of “rough justice”? I’m not sure prison wouldn’t have been safer for Zimmerman."

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Standing her ground: Woman shoots assailant dead at Texas gas station « Hot Air

Standing her ground: Woman shoots assailant dead at Texas gas station « Hot Air: "If a man steps out from the bushes in front of a woman on an isolated path at night, brandishing a knife, and tells her to get undressed, in theory she’d be required in a “duty to retreat” jurisdiction to run if she has the opportunity, even if she has a gun in hand. Would any jury convict her if she decided to stand her ground and shoot the bastard right there? Almost certainly not, but that’s because even people in DTR jurisdictions recognize the injustice of making a victim take a needless risk in a dangerous situation. Three: Er, what’s going on here with the woman pausing after the shooting to take photos? The news station’s legal expert says she likely won’t be charged, which is true, but if I’m the prosecutor I’d want to know more about that. Very strange."

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When regulations attack: Meet Hector Ricketts, small-biz success story stifled by government « Hot Air

When regulations attack: Meet Hector Ricketts, small-biz success story stifled by government « Hot Air: "Take 20 minutes of a day to learn about this man and his fight. It’s well worth your time. Ricketts is a symbol of the very real damage an overzealous government, prone to cronyism, can do to the little guy. Sometimes government’s victims can be hard to find while the stories of those it subsidizes can be pinpointed and personalized easily. Malone, as part of his work with the Charles Koch Institute, is finding the unintended consequences behind these laws, and they are men and women like Hector. HonestEnterprise.tv will host more of these stories, so stay tuned, and I know from working with Malone in the past that they’ll be entertaining."

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How to Make Nerds Rejoice | The Weekly Standard

How to Make Nerds Rejoice | The Weekly Standard: "(You can see Miller’s brush strokes in what might be my favorite Batman moment. In Brad Meltzer’s series Identity Crisis, Batman attempts to explain his existence, saying, “People think it’s an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It’s never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I’m doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn’t that day. And tomorrow won’t be either.” There are a number of deep truths wrapped in this bit of self-justification, but the overarching conceit, of course, is a lie.)"

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Why Anthony Weiner's problem is ours, too - CNN.com

Why Anthony Weiner's problem is ours, too - CNN.com: "to redeem and forgive him.
When he was first caught in the sexting scandal, it took him what seemed like forever to fess up -- after lying, and saying he had been hacked. And now, while hinting last spring there were other women, he never actually said his sexting did not stop when he left Congress. He says it's behind him now. Thanks for that.
Eliot Spitzer, who is trying to manage his own political redemption as he runs for New York City comptroller, was no doubt thrilled to be asked about Weiner. He deflected the question, as if to imply—as others have—that it's a personal matter, between Weiner and his wife. Sad to say, it no longer is."

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When Ambition Trumps Shame « Commentary Magazine

When Ambition Trumps Shame « Commentary Magazine: "Let’s state upfront that the mysteries of the Weiner-Abedin marriage or that of any other politician ought not to be treated as public property. But when these politicians use their wives as human shields against the brickbats coming their way as a result of their own misbehavior, such unions are revealed to be more political compacts than personal business. In acting in this manner, Abedin appears to be following in the footsteps of her mentor Hillary Clinton, whose willingness to stand by her man when he dallied with a White House intern saved President Bill Clinton’s bacon. But the public spectacle of the Weiner-Abedin press conference illustrates that this model of behavior reveals their pact to be based on a joint decision to pursue political power no matter what the costs to their privacy or how much shame they brought on their family. Given that her own need to enable his lust for power seems to have trumped every other natural instinct she might have had, it raises the question of how much credence voters will place in Abedin’s vouching for the would-be mayor."

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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell repays $120k in loans, apologizes: “I broke no laws” « Hot Air

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell repays $120k in loans, apologizes: “I broke no laws” « Hot Air: "You’re only allowed to run for one consecutive gubernatorial term in Virginia anyway and this year’s race has already been well underway, but the moderate hit to his public image might put a bit of a damper on any plans he may have had for giving the job another go four years from now (or, indeed, any other political ambitions he may have had in mind). The bigger question was whether the Democrats would be able to succeed in painting Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli and the Republican brand with the same brush, but it doesn’t sound like many of Virginia’s voters have really paid too much close attention to McDonnell’s mini-scandals at all, and even if this is the last revelation of the McDonnell mini-scandals, the Democrats will undoubtedly continue to try."

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Are Republicans already dissatisfied with the 2016 field? « Hot Air

Are Republicans already dissatisfied with the 2016 field? « Hot Air: "The affection for Cruz will endure, I think, just because there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. He knows who his base is and he knows what they want. He can be the guy who meets 100 percent of grassroots conservatives’ criteria instead of only 80-90 percent like the rest, provided he doesn’t do something before 2016 as anathema to the tea party as Rubio did on amnesty. If he remains dependably tea-party-ish on all major issues (he can be bipartisan on less major ones to build a resume for the general), he’ll have a huge chunk of the base with him. The big loser in that case would, I assume, be Rand Paul, who’s probably the next closest thing to a pure tea-party candidate in the field. I think there’s a fair number of mainstream conservatives who like Paul but are leery of him on foreign policy and electability grounds, yet will lay their misgivings aside and vote for him if there isn’t another tea-party type in the field without those liabilities. Cruz is that guy."

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Could France succeed where Detroit has failed? « Hot Air

Could France succeed where Detroit has failed? « Hot Air: "Much like the recently and officially bankrupt city of Detroit, France and its explicitly Socialist leadership are struggling to find a way out from underneath the crushing fiscal burden of much too much government spending and extravagantly underfunded pensions, and their politics are largely dominated by ultra-liberals and big labor to the degree that putting the country on the long-term path to fiscal sustainability isn’t really on the radar. Hollande’s big goal at the moment is to push through just enough reform so that they won’t have to address the problem again until 2020… but what happens after that? And what about all of the additional debt they’ll be wracking up in the interval?"

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Video: Weiner’s creepy press conference « Hot Air

Video: Weiner’s creepy press conference « Hot Air: "Watch the vid of the presser. Two years ago, Kirsten Powers called Weiner’s endless lying spanning weeks of scandal “sociopathic.” You get a better sense of that watching this than you do from any of his pressers back then. There’s not a whisper of real remorse or embarrassment here even though this isn’t the first time he’s had to cop to sleazy behavior at a press conference and even though the fact that he went on sexting for a year after leaving office gives voters every reason to think he’s compulsively reckless. The whole thing has a pro forma “let’s get this over with” check-the-box feel to it."

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Study: Feds underestimating the number of protected bird deaths at all the wind farms they aren’t prosecuting « Hot Air

Study: Feds underestimating the number of protected bird deaths at all the wind farms they aren’t prosecuting « Hot Air: "The federal government has made it their especial business, not merely to restrict recreational and productive commercial access in many areas of the full one-third of the surface area of the United States it controls — often on the proclaimed behalf of the Spotted Owl, the Sage Grouse, the Golden Eagle, etcetera — but also to aggressively pursue and prosecute any hydrocarbon companies that they discover have been responsible for killing any protected birds via their industrial activities."

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Obama Strikes Out by Heather Mac Donald - City Journal

Obama Strikes Out by Heather Mac Donald - City Journal: "Obama’s silence about black family breakdown at this particular moment, when he knew that his words would get maximum attention, is a monumentally lost opportunity. It is also deeply puzzling, given that in the past Obama has admirably broken the taboo against mentioning the toll of fatherlessness—if not as often as the catastrophe merits, at least more than the race industry would like. His failure to address the issue now suggests that the rhetorical conventions of black victimology, once activated, are so powerful that they crush anything that stands in their way."

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Open thread: Carlos Danger to hold press conference at 5 p.m. « Hot Air

Open thread: Carlos Danger to hold press conference at 5 p.m. « Hot Air: "In a better world, Andrew Breitbart would be there live on the scene, preparing to step to the podium and run this show. In the world we live in, we’ll have to settle for this squirrelly little horndog once again fielding embarrassing media questions about his sexual psychodrama."

'via Blog this'

Poll: Majority of Americans favor piecemeal approach to immigration over Senate bill « Hot Air

Poll: Majority of Americans favor piecemeal approach to immigration over Senate bill « Hot Air: "We already knew a large majority also prefer the more conservative method of securing the border first, before a path to citizenship. Now, the Republican-led House has the support of the American people on both priorities and process."

'via Blog this'

Review & Outlook: A Global Revenue Grab - WSJ.com

Review & Outlook: A Global Revenue Grab - WSJ.com: "The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Friday presented its action plan to combat what it calls "base erosion and profit shifting," or BEPS. This is bureaucratese for not paying as much tax as government wishes you did. The plan bemoans the danger of "double non-taxation," whatever that is, and even raises the specter of "global tax chaos" if this bogeyman called BEPS isn't tamed."

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Oh, good: Pelosi rolls out a Democratic economic agenda… “for women” « Hot Air

Oh, good: Pelosi rolls out a Democratic economic agenda… “for women” « Hot Air: "Riiiight. Because I’m sure that this has nothing to do with rehashing a bunch of Democratic policy initiatives into somehow women-specific issues in order to perpetuate the idea of women as some kind of political Other as well as preserving the handy-dandy War-on-Women meme by eviscerating Republicans when they don’t automatically go along with it. Who cares that Republicans are standing firm against a bunch of terrible and economically damaging policy ideas? They’re anti-women! And goodness knows that whole united-front approach to ObamaCare in the run-up to the 2014 midterms isn’t panning out, so she’s going to need to give her caucus something else to talk about."

'via Blog this'

Big Three broadcasters gave Wendy Davis three times as much coverage as Gosnell trial « Hot Air

Big Three broadcasters gave Wendy Davis three times as much coverage as Gosnell trial « Hot Air: "If the coverage had been at all critical and objective, a case could be made for this being a rational choice. One trial involved the grotesque nature of late-term abortions and the horrific conditions that led to the death of at least one woman in a clinic, conditions allowed by a refusal of the state of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia to effectively  regulate abortion clinics — a conclusion explicitly reached by the grand jury that indicted Kermit Gosnell.  The other involved keeping Texas from effectively regulating clinics to prevent more Gosnells.  Had the coverage of Davis and the Texas bill taken that approach, or even something approaching balanced, perhaps the disparity in coverage wouldn’t be that jaw-dropping."

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Kerry's Mideast Fool's Errand Ignores Reality - Bloomberg

Kerry's Mideast Fool's Errand Ignores Reality - Bloomberg: "But as I've written before, I think Kerry is on a fool's errand, and I think the collapse of these talks, which is almost inevitable, could have dangerous consequences. Remember what followed the collapse of the Camp David peace process in 2000: years of violence, including horrific bus-bombing campaigns"

'via Blog this'

Hannity returns fire on Scarborough: 'A prop for Washington insiders' - POLITICO.com

Hannity returns fire on Scarborough: 'A prop for Washington insiders' - POLITICO.com: "“It’s not really worth responding to liberal Joe and his under 400,000 viewers or whatever he has," Hannity said on Fox News. "His radio show failed, his TV show is failing, he has kind of sold his soul, you know, on a liberal network, and he attacks conservative and is used by a prop by his insider Washington pals to attack conservatives.""

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Free to choose after Walker reforms, thousands of Wisconsin workers abandon government unions « The Greenroom

Free to choose after Walker reforms, thousands of Wisconsin workers abandon government unions « The Greenroom: "He’s been a strong, fearless, effective conservative reformer, who’s beaten the Left like a drum, and plunged his remaining opposition into a state of disarray.  If he wins next year and keeps his train chugging along, these whispers will grow louder.  As they should."

'via Blog this'

Best of the Web Today: Meet William Wilkins - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: Meet William Wilkins - WSJ.com: "As this column has argued before, the higher this scandal goes, the better it is for the country. We say that not because we don't care for Barack Obama--let's be honest, a President Biden would be no bargain either--but because the president can be held accountable if it turns out he or his top aides essentially instructed the IRS to steal the 2012 election. A corrupt administration can be dealt with, as Richard Nixon's was 40 years ago.

By contrast, if career IRS employees acted on their own, it means the integrity of American democracy itself is threatened by an out-of-control administrative state. In that case, how to solve the problem is not at all clear."

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Obama Tries to Talk His Way Out of Summer Swoon | Fox News

Obama Tries to Talk His Way Out of Summer Swoon | Fox News: "President Obama’s poor job approval ratings have become as much a part of late July as sweet corn and a fire sale on the Cubs’ roster. But this time, Team Obama has a plan to prevent the second-half slump that played out in every year of his presidency."

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Where would a Detroit bailout end? « Hot Air

Where would a Detroit bailout end? « Hot Air: "I’d disagree with the last point, at least in part.  Public-employee unions have remained very influential in Detroit and other large urban centers, and drive public policy through union dues turned into political campaigns and contributions that oppose reform of big-spending policies.  That’s why they’re seen as an obstacle now rather than part of the solution."

'via Blog this'

Boehner: No debt ceiling hike without more spending cuts « Hot Air

Boehner: No debt ceiling hike without more spending cuts « Hot Air: "Maybe Republicans will declare a belated victory on normal order and leave the Age of Cliffs to the past.  No one will know the real answer for another six or seven weeks, but I wouldn’t bet on a big debt-ceiling fight."

'via Blog this'

No Comment From Weiner Camp On New Alleged Sex Chats

No Comment From Weiner Camp On New Alleged Sex Chats: "Anthony Weiner’s campaign did not respond Tuesday to repeated inquiries about a new set of unverified images suggesting that he exchanged sexually charged messages — and an explicit image — with a woman last summer.
The screenshots of conversations — on the nightlife site The Dirty — could not be independently confirmed. They consist of screenshots of exchanges on Facebook and the lesser-known social network Formspring between a woman (whose avatar is blurred) and a man alleged to be (and who she appears to believe) is Weiner, but who also uses the handle “Carlos Danger.”"

'via Blog this'

Ray Kelly: The NYPD Is Guilty of Saving 7,383 Lives - WSJ.com

Ray Kelly: The NYPD Is Guilty of Saving 7,383 Lives - WSJ.com: "Never mind that in each of the city's 76 police precincts, the race of those stopped highly correlates to descriptions provided by victims or witnesses to crimes. Or that in a city of 8.5 million people, protected by 19,600 officers on patrol (out of a total uniformed staff of 35,000), the average number of stops we conduct is less than one per officer per week."

'via Blog this'

Statism is turning America into Detroit – Ayn Rand's Starnesville come to life – Telegraph Blogs

Statism is turning America into Detroit – Ayn Rand's Starnesville come to life – Telegraph Blogs: "The Observer, naturally, quotes a native complaining that ‘capitalism has failed us,’ but capitalism is the one thing the place desperately needs. Detroit has been under Leftist administrations for half a century. It has spent too much and borrowed too much, driving away business and becoming a tool of the government unions."

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Statism is turning America into Detroit – Ayn Rand's Starnesville come to life – Telegraph Blogs

Statism is turning America into Detroit – Ayn Rand's Starnesville come to life – Telegraph Blogs: "What isn’t dumped is stolen. Factories and homes have largely been stripped of anything of value, so thieves now target cars’ catalytic converters. Illiteracy runs at around 47%; half the adults in some areas are unemployed. In many neighbourhoods, the only sign of activity is a slow trudge to the liquor store."

'via Blog this'

DOJ Declines to Prosecute Officials Involved in Tax Record Scandal | Washington Free Beacon

DOJ Declines to Prosecute Officials Involved in Tax Record Scandal | Washington Free Beacon: "“Any agency with access to tax records is required to act with neutrality and professionalism, not political bias,” Grassley said in a statement. “The Justice Department should answer completely and not hide behind taxpayer confidentiality laws to avoid accountability for its decision not to prosecute a violation of taxpayer confidentiality laws.”"

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Legal experts on why DOJ is investigating Zimmerman | The Daily Caller

Legal experts on why DOJ is investigating Zimmerman | The Daily Caller: "“I haven’t heard of this before with an acquitted defendant,” said University of Pennsylvania law professor Kermit Roosevelt of the use of an email tip line, “but it doesn’t surprise me that much.”"

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Andrew Puzder: A CEO's-Eye View of ObamaCare - WSJ.com

Andrew Puzder: A CEO's-Eye View of ObamaCare - WSJ.com: "These kinds of responses are why I question the ACA's viability. The new law's success depends on young, healthy people who are lower-risk signing up for health insurance to offset the costs of insuring individuals who are at higher risk. If predominantly high-risk individuals sign up, health insurance is going to be very expensive. Yet, even after the ACA takes effect, people will still be able to get medical care at the emergency room. Further, the ACA prohibits insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. In other words, individuals will no longer have much incentive to get health insurance as a hedge against the possibility of developing a medical condition."

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Andrew Puzder: A CEO's-Eye View of ObamaCare - WSJ.com

Andrew Puzder: A CEO's-Eye View of ObamaCare - WSJ.com: "No wonder the employer mandate was delayed. It's hard to see how it will work."

'via Blog this'

Rhetoric, race and reality in America - latimes.com

Rhetoric, race and reality in America - latimes.com: "What is so insidious about this message of victimhood and division is its dishonesty. Despite the tragic death of Martin under circumstances that no one will ever know the true nature of, there is no "big business" of killing blacks in America. There is no wave of bigotry directed at blacks. All this talk is demagogic posturing, and it's dangerous. Young people will absorb this message and view the "other" with suspicion and fear."

'via Blog this'

GOP: The ObamaCare database is going to be a “honey pot” for identity thieves, fraud « Hot Air

GOP: The ObamaCare database is going to be a “honey pot” for identity thieves, fraud « Hot Air: "“It’s the greatest collection of private identification information ever assembled on Americans that will be put into one place,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan, who chairs a House cybersecurity subcommittee. “It is every bit of sensitive information one would need to know to completely take over the identification of a person,” said the Pennsylvania lawmaker."

'via Blog this'

Buzzfeed: Bloomberg anti-gun group lost 50 mayors this year « Hot Air

Buzzfeed: Bloomberg anti-gun group lost 50 mayors this year « Hot Air: "As if MAIG wasn’t already shooting itself in the foot in its public relations, its curious web-hosting arrangement came to light.  Bloomberg, who has billions of dollars in wealth, had Big Apple taxpayers footing the bill for his anti-gun crusade.  Given MAIG’s efforts to attack officeholders for their votes, the decision to host the site on city government servers, the cheap attempt to shrug off its own costs made MAIG seem not just incompetent at PR but possibly at following the law, too."

'via Blog this'

Great news: Obama to pivot to the economy « Hot Air

Great news: Obama to pivot to the economy « Hot Air: "First, if the scandals are phony, then the White House doesn’t need to provide any counter-narrative to them; they will implode on their own.  So far, that’s not happening, and the fact that the President needs a campaign agenda tells us they won’t any time soon, either."

'via Blog this'

MSNBC Finds MLK In A Hoodie Challenging, Courageous, But Drudge’s Obama In Hoodie ‘Tasteless’ | Mediaite

MSNBC Finds MLK In A Hoodie Challenging, Courageous, But Drudge’s Obama In Hoodie ‘Tasteless’ | Mediaite: "Are images of African-American men in a hoodies “tasteless” and offensive? Apparently they are, but only if individuals promoting those images are conservatives. That is the standard established on Monday when one MSNBC host described an image of President Barack Obama clad in a hoodie “tasteless” because it appeared on a conservative website."

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No, Virginia, you cannot have offshore drilling — but here’s an offshore wind lease as a consolation prize « Hot Air

No, Virginia, you cannot have offshore drilling — but here’s an offshore wind lease as a consolation prize « Hot Air: "But there is mounting concern in the power industry that the costs of these policies, combined with other measures such as the carbon floor price and big subsidies for renewable energy, will be much higher than government estimates and will have a sizeable impact on what average consumers pay for their gas and electricity."

'via Blog this'

No, Virginia, you cannot have offshore drilling — but here’s an offshore wind lease as a consolation prize « Hot Air

No, Virginia, you cannot have offshore drilling — but here’s an offshore wind lease as a consolation prize « Hot Air: "Earlier this year, Virginia’s two (Democratic, ahem) senators introduced legislation to end the offshore oil-and-gas leasing shutout that the Obama administration effectively imposed on the eastern seaboard and west coast with the five-year drilling plan they released last year, which only allows for drilling in limited areas in the Gulf Coast and for lease sales off the coast of Alaska later on. With our economic growth still moving at a snail’s pace, opening up more areas for drilling would provide a lot job opportunities as well as bring in more government revenue, and it didn’t take long for the House to take up and pass their own version of some offshore-drilling expansion legislation."

'via Blog this'

WashPost Can't Locate Critics of Al Sharpton's Complete Blur of Racial Activism and MSNBC 'Anchoring' | NewsBusters

WashPost Can't Locate Critics of Al Sharpton's Complete Blur of Racial Activism and MSNBC 'Anchoring' | NewsBusters: "One of the most shocking MSNBC moves was the decision to hire the highly controversial political activist Al Sharpton as a host on its "Lean Forward" network. Despite the clear conflict of interest of a so-called "news network" hiring a man to anchor his own show as he leads highly charged political and racial marches, both MSNBC and the Washington Post can barely recognize the serious ethical and professional problems with employing Sharpton."

'via Blog this'

Gun Owner Ed Schultz Flip-flops on Guns in 24 Hours | NewsBusters

Gun Owner Ed Schultz Flip-flops on Guns in 24 Hours | NewsBusters: "Unless you want to feel safe, in which case a gun may prove useful, especially if you are being attacked. I'm reminded of a song title I wish John Lennon lived long enough to write -- happiness is a bodyguard with a warm gun."

'via Blog this'

No, Marissa Alexander is Not a "Reverse Trayvon Martin" in Florida

No, Marissa Alexander is Not a "Reverse Trayvon Martin" in Florida: "A closer examination of the facts in Marissa Alexander’s case, however, reveals why a judge rejected Alexander’s pre-trial “Stand Your Ground” defense — a specific defense under Florida law that George Zimmerman never asserted — and why a jury eventually convicted her on multiple charges, resulting in a mandatory prison sentence of at least 20 years. If Alexander’s case suggests a failure of the legal system to mete out appropriate justice, then the problem lies with Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing requirements, not with the state’s self-defense laws."

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By Hook, Crook, or Comic Book | National Review Online

By Hook, Crook, or Comic Book | National Review Online: "There are many strange elements in the current debate over illegal immigration, but none stranger than the general failure to discuss the role of Mexico."

'via Blog this'

Uh, oh: California’s biggest insurer for small business has no interest in the small-business exchanges « Hot Air

Uh, oh: California’s biggest insurer for small business has no interest in the small-business exchanges « Hot Air: "Oh, my. At the national level, ObamaCare’s advocates have been concerned that the specialty small-business exchanges, which the president so extravagantly promised would be one of the law’s many generous and helpful provisions, are not going to be able to attract enough insurers to keep them competitive or even viable. There’s been only piddling interest across other states, and once more, California is stepping forward to provide some of the pioneering examples of insurers outright rejecting to get involved in the state-run scheming. The Obama administration is already delaying on its promises to small businesses as they try not to panic about their priority of getting the individual exchanges up and running on time, but this certainly doesn’t bode well for the well-trumpeted choice and competition these exchanges were supposed to inherently foster."

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A Message to Trayvon Martin Sympathizers | Romany Malco

A Message to Trayvon Martin Sympathizers | Romany Malco: "If we really wanted to ensure Trayvon Martin's killing was not in vain, we'd stop perpetuating negative images that are now synonymous with black men in America. We'd stop rapping about selling drugs and killing niggas. The next time we saw a man beating a woman, we'd call for help or break it up, but one thing we would not do is stand by with our cellphones out -- yelling WORLDSTAR! Instead of rewarding kids for memorization, we'd reward them for independent and critical thinking."

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Pelosi: Why, no, I have no desire to denounce the molesty Democratic mayor of San Diego « Hot Air

Pelosi: Why, no, I have no desire to denounce the molesty Democratic mayor of San Diego « Hot Air: "Let’s face it. Unless and until there’s news Filner aggressively used Ron Burgundy quotes while “forcibly kissing,” threatening, and touching the asses of his female subordinates, thereby pushing this story into the Buzzfeed gif news cycle, this is going exactly nowhere on the national stage. The biggest thing NPR can find wrong with the Filner affair is that it’s distracting from San Diego’s awesomeness. Here’s to eventual affidavits featuring amorous references to “Pleasure Town” and “a whale’s vagina.”"

'via Blog this'

Study: New York Times could use binders full of women sources « Hot Air

Study: New York Times could use binders full of women sources « Hot Air: "Now, please enjoy the spectacle of the nation’s leading newspaper, whose sources represent men almost four times more often than women, allowing a president, with a history of paying women on his campaign and in his administration less than men, to lambaste Romney for using “binders full of women” to improve representation of women in his cabinet. And scene."

'via Blog this'

Video: The media’s got a fee-vah and the only prescription is complaining about “Stand Your Ground” laws « Hot Air

Video: The media’s got a fee-vah and the only prescription is complaining about “Stand Your Ground” laws « Hot Air: "Had he chose, Zimmerman could have demanded a “Stand Your Ground” hearing in the pre-trial phase. If the judge had ruled in his favor, the charges would have been thrown out. He waived his right to that hearing, which means the media obsession with SYG is a total non sequitur, sort of like their obsession with gun laws post-Newtown that would have done zip to stop Adam Lanza. Right? Not exactly. The concept of standing your ground, i.e. having no duty to retreat when force is being used against you, is also part of the general self-defense law that Zimmerman did successfully invoke in being acquitted."

'via Blog this'

Video: Obama tries to break it to the left that the DOJ’s not going to prosecute Zimmerman « Hot Air

Video: Obama tries to break it to the left that the DOJ’s not going to prosecute Zimmerman « Hot Air: "The line that’s getting attention from this afternoon’s impromptu presser is that Trayvon Martin “could have been me 35 years ago,” but that’s both implausible and tangential to his real message. Why implausible? Because, if you believe Zimmerman’s account of the fight, Martin ambushed him and then pounded on him relentlessly after he’d fallen to the ground. Say what you like about President Spock, it’s hard to imagine him reacting that way to anything. To believe the “I could have been Trayvon” claim, you have to believe the most sinister explanation for what happened between Martin and Zimmerman — that Zimmerman killed him essentially in cold blood for the crime of being black, not in self-defense. No one outside of O’s lefty base seems to believe that anymore, which tells you who the target audience here is."

'via Blog this'

Summer Spotlight—Hotline Miami Review: A Real Hero?

Summer Spotlight—Hotline Miami Review: A Real Hero?: "At the end of the day, this is a game about a violent man in an equally violent and sinister world trying to do what he has to in order to survive, whatever his motivations may be. It’s that simple narrative at the center of the convoluted and subversive story, combined with the blisteringly exhilarating and rewarding gameplay, that pushed me onward."

'via Blog this'

Stevie's Epic Fail: Musicians Ignore Wonder's Florida Boycott

Stevie's Epic Fail: Musicians Ignore Wonder's Florida Boycott: "Wonder remains a musical legend, but his career isn't as white hot as it once was. Should some of today's top-selling acts joined Wonder's boycott it could have some cultural resonance. At this point, it appears Wonder is alone in his musical protest despite the entertainment industry's overwhelming anger toward the verdict."

'via Blog this'

Bill Cosby: Zimmerman Acquittal Not About Race

Bill Cosby: Zimmerman Acquittal Not About Race: "“Let’s not go into a racial discussion unless we really have something there,” he told radio hosts Domenick Nati and Nate Foutz.
Cosby also blasted the news media and said that he had stopped paying attention to “high-profile” court cases after the Casey Anthony murder trial because journalists were so convinced she would be found guilty and yet she was not....
Regarding the Zimmerman trial, Cosby said that he did not think the state of Florida was able to prove its case against him. “I found that the prosecution did not tell the story well. And they lost,” Cosby said."

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Charles Barkley: Zimmerman may have profiled, but I agree with the verdict « Hot Air

Charles Barkley: Zimmerman may have profiled, but I agree with the verdict « Hot Air: "I have very specific and enthusiastic feelings about Charles Barkley. Whether he’s agreeing with my politics, vehemently disagreeing with them, talking crazy, talking smack, or just hawking Right Guard, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again— the man is a national treasure."

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‘This Town’ Needs an Enema | RedState

‘This Town’ Needs an Enema | RedState: "It is a city where the new aristocrats move and do not want to leave. It is a town in need of an enema."

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Bust: The numbers behind Detroit’s road to doom « Hot Air

Bust: The numbers behind Detroit’s road to doom « Hot Air: "David Freddoso, proprietor of the great Conservative Intel and columnist for the Washington Examiner, went to town on the nation’s biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy today, laying out on Twitter exactly what got Detroit where it is, what misguided tools city officials used to try fixing it, and the very real damage to a region and its people that a giant, failing city causes."

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White House: What, repeal this expensive, dirty boondoggle of an ethanol mandate? Ridiculous! « Hot Air

White House: What, repeal this expensive, dirty boondoggle of an ethanol mandate? Ridiculous! « Hot Air: "Oh, I’ll tell you what’s ridiculous: That the artificial incentives (hint: mandate) created by the Renewable Fuels Standard are messing with worldwide food prices, to the detriment of the poor; that both environmentalists groups and oil companies now think that ethanol is a generally terrible idea; that all of this biofuel production is turning out to be demonstrably not even a little bit “green,” as it brings marginal lands into production and costs more carbon to produce than it actually saves; that Europe (Europe!) is now scaling back on what they’re beginning to admit is one heck of an expensive taxpayer subsidy; that the federal government’s arbitrary standards are a factor in rising gas prices; and that somehow, somehow, the Big Ethanol Lobby and the bureaucrats who love them are still able to say that this was ever a worthwhile endeavor while maintaining a straight face. That is all highly, wildly ridiculous."

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Jake Tapper to Spitzer: You’re kind of a sleazy privileged hypocrite, don’t you think? « Hot Air

Jake Tapper to Spitzer: You’re kind of a sleazy privileged hypocrite, don’t you think? « Hot Air: "Weiner was also far less popular in the Quinnipiac poll, which continues to amaze me. Is that a simple function of more time having passed since Spitzer’s scandal or is the public really making a moral judgment that a guy tweeting nude pics of himself is worse than a guy breaking a law that he himself signed in order to have sex with prostitutes? Weiner’s supposed to be the better retail politician between the two of them. In that case, why is Spitz more popular (or less unpopular)?"

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A Lesson From L.A. in the Zimmerman Case | RealClearPolitics

A Lesson From L.A. in the Zimmerman Case | RealClearPolitics: "Uncontested testimony at the trial also showed that the officers had tried to arrest King without striking him. King, who had taken up weight lifting while in prison on a robbery conviction, was large and strong. He had thrown the four officers who were trying to handcuff him off his back. The sergeant who was directing the arrest then fired two Taser charges at King. He staggered and went down, then climbed back to his feet. The officers were convinced King was under the influence of PCP. All this happened before the taping -- and the beating of King -- began."

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Matthews Insists ‘Obamacare’ Will Be ‘Popular’ With ‘Working People’ … Except Unions? | Mediaite

Matthews Insists ‘Obamacare’ Will Be ‘Popular’ With ‘Working People’ … Except Unions? | Mediaite: "Analysts have noted that the ACA is likely to reduce incentives for workers to join unions, prompting the outcry from labor leaders dependent on their members’ dues. Nevertheless, this development clearly makes one question just what “workers” Matthews was referring to when insisted that that the law was destined to become popular."

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Zimmerman: Alternate Juror E-54 Would Have Voted to Acquit - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

Zimmerman: Alternate Juror E-54 Would Have Voted to Acquit - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. With each passing day, the case appears less and less like a case of monumental social and political import. There was a shooting and the evidence showed self-defense. The state misjudged how an impartial jury would view its evidence and overcharged the crime. The jury applied the law to the evidence produced at trial and acquitted."

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Alternate juror in Zimmerman case: The prosecution presented “no details, no evidence” in closing « Hot Air

Alternate juror in Zimmerman case: The prosecution presented “no details, no evidence” in closing « Hot Air: "Well worth your time if you can spare it, especially if you watched the CNN interview with juror B37. The contrast is striking in that B37 seemed convinced of Zimmerman’s basic decency but thought he bore some moral responsibility for the shooting by leaving his car to keep an eye on Martin. This guy, juror E54, is in a sense the opposite: He’s very much no-nonsense and “just the facts,” seemingly agnostic on what type of man Zimmerman is, but ultimately he thinks Zimmerman bears even less moral culpability for the incident than B37 does."

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Rep. Hoyer: These ObamaCare delay bills are the work of “purely partisan politics” « Hot Air

Rep. Hoyer: These ObamaCare delay bills are the work of “purely partisan politics” « Hot Air: "What’s more, even after the White House’s veto threat, 35 Democrats voted to bestow the White House with the proper authority to delay the employer mandate, and then a full 22 Democrats voted for the delay in the individual mandate as well. Hey, even if Republicans were just highlighting the poor politics of this law for a number of Democrats, that’s bipartisanship! Unlike, you know, when the entire health care law was passed without the vote of a single Republican. Awkward?"

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See How Much Teacher Union Membership In Your State Is Falling « The Greenroom

See How Much Teacher Union Membership In Your State Is Falling « The Greenroom: "Some affiliates are no longer viable as independent entities, but much of NEA’s reputation hinges on its having an affiliate in each state. The chances of the national union allowing one to fold are nil. Since even in the fat years NEA wasn’t increasing its market share of the public education workforce, the only way the current situation will turn around is through massive hiring increases by school districts, particularly in the mandatory collective bargaining states. Whether that will happen is the shape of political battles to come."

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Round Two: 'Shoot the Messenger' Flops at IRS Hearings - Guy Benson

Round Two: 'Shoot the Messenger' Flops at IRS Hearings - Guy Benson: "Parting thought: If, as Democrats suggest, the targeting impacted both sides and this is all a big non-scandal, where is the "progressive-assigned" version of Elizabeth Hofacre?  That is to say, where is the IRS employee tasked with screening dozens of targeted liberal organizations whose superiors wouldn't permit any resolutions for months (and ultimately years) on end?  If such an employee exists, don't you think we'd have heard about him or her by now?"

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Obama to Detroit: Drop Dead | Via Meadia

Obama to Detroit: Drop Dead | Via Meadia: "Progressive politicians, wonks, and activists can only blame big corporations and other liberal bogeymen for so long. The truth is that corrupt machine politics in a one-party system devoted to the blue social model wrecked an entire city and thousands of lives beyond repair. The sooner blues come to terms with this reality, the greater chance other cities will have of avoiding Detroit’s fate."

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Ouch: Detroit files for biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history « Hot Air

Ouch: Detroit files for biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history « Hot Air: "It’s happened. The long and defiant march of progressive policies has finally succeeded in fully transforming Detroit from a mid-century bastion of middle-class prosperity to one of the biggest and brokest cities in America. After a review declared the city to be in a state of financial emergency earlier this year and Gov. Rick Synder invoked a rule allowing him to appoint an emergency manager to try and pull Detroit back from the fiscal abyss, they’ve spent months trying to negotiate a way out of it — with creditors to accept fractions of what they’re owed, with unions to cut benefits, and etc — but alas, it was too little, too late for the financially beleaguered city."

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Best of the Web Today: Is This the Face of 'Privilege'? - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: Is This the Face of 'Privilege'? - WSJ.com: "Liu gives away the game by begrudging him the presumption of innocence, which is not a "privilege" at all but a fundamental constitutional right. That the jury found reasonable doubt even that Zimmerman committed manslaughter suggests that the prosecution overreached in charging him with murder. Those charges were brought, of course, in response to intense political pressure from racial activists, the liberal media and even the president of the United States."

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