Walter Shapiro, Yahoo!
Just moments after he raised his right hand to take the oath of office at a time of economic despair in 2009, Barack Obama spoke of the resilience of the American people. In that first inaugural address, Obama paraphrased the lyrics from a 1930s Fred Astaire musical as he declared, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Thursday afternoon, at a memorial service in Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Obama invoked the story of 78-year-old marathoner Bill Iffrig who was knocked off...
The Excel Depression
On April - 18 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Paul Krugman, New York Times
In this age of information, math errors can lead to disaster. NASA’s Mars Orbiter crashed because engineers forgot to convert to metric measurements; JPMorgan Chase’s “London Whale” venture went bad in part because modelers divided by a sum instead of an average. So, did an Excel coding error destroy the economies of the Western world?
In this age of information, math errors can lead to disaster. NASA’s Mars Orbiter crashed because engineers forgot to convert to metric measurements; JPMorgan Chase’s “London Whale” venture went bad in part because modelers divided by a sum instead of an average. So, did an Excel coding error destroy the economies of the Western world?
Barack Obama: "The NRA used to support expanded background checks."
On April - 18 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Barack Obama says, 'The NRA used to support expanded background checks.'
After the Senate failed to advance an amendment that would expand federal requirements for background checks on gun purchasers, President Barack Obama took to the White House’s Rose Garden to denounce the vote, calling it "a pretty shameful day for Washington." Flanked by relatives of some of the slain children from Newtown, Conn., and assassination survivor Gabby Giffords, Obama emphasized how broadly Americans support expanded background checks for gun purchases. At one point, Obama invoked his gun-policy adversary, the National Rifle Association. "Even the NRA used to support expanded background checks," he said. "The current ...
>> MoreJohn Duncan: "Well over 90 percent of felony cases, all over the nation, are committed by defendants who grew up in father-absent households."
On April - 18 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False | Rep. John Duncan Jr. says 90 percent of felons grew up in fatherless households
A reader recently sent us a letter he received from his congressman, Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., asking us to check a surprising claim. "Well over 90 percent of felony cases, all over the nation, are committed by defendants who grew up in father-absent households," Duncan wrote. Patrick Newton, a spokesman for Duncan, said the letter was based on the congressman's "knowledge obtained from nearly eight years as a criminal court judge dealing with mostly felony cases." The spokesman went on to say that on Duncan’s first day as a criminal court judge ...
>> MoreThatcher’s Fight: Freedom vs. Tyranny
On April - 17 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
John O'Sullivan, New York Post
With Margaret Thatcher’s funeral today, the generation of leaders who played decisive roles in bringing an end to communism and the Cold War shrinks still further.Millions of anonymous dissidents behind the Iron Curtain helped to bring their system down too — many of them died doing so in countries such as Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan at the last — just as millions of anonymous “peace marchers” in Western Europe tried unknowingly to shore it up.But the leaders who did the most to challenge Soviet communism were Ronald Reagan, John Paul II...
With Margaret Thatcher’s funeral today, the generation of leaders who played decisive roles in bringing an end to communism and the Cold War shrinks still further.Millions of anonymous dissidents behind the Iron Curtain helped to bring their system down too — many of them died doing so in countries such as Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan at the last — just as millions of anonymous “peace marchers” in Western Europe tried unknowingly to shore it up.But the leaders who did the most to challenge Soviet communism were Ronald Reagan, John Paul II...
Our Sense of Peace Is Shattered
On April - 16 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Rachelle Cohen, Boston Herald
On the Tuesday after the Boston Marathon, it’s always as if gremlins have come in overnight to clear away the usual post-race debris. The stands, the railings that hold back pedestrians are always picked up by trucks that run all night. The photographers’ perch over the Boylston Street finish line — always gone.
On the Tuesday after the Boston Marathon, it’s always as if gremlins have come in overnight to clear away the usual post-race debris. The stands, the railings that hold back pedestrians are always picked up by trucks that run all night. The photographers’ perch over the Boylston Street finish line — always gone.
Messing With the Wrong City
On April - 16 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Dennis Lehane, New York Times
WHEN I was 9 years old, at the height of the busing crisis in 1974, I drove with my parents and brother through South Boston on our way to Dorchester, where we lived. On West Broadway we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and crawled for a mile through one of the more frightening mass gatherings I’ve ever witnessed. Effigies of Judge Arthur Garrity and Senator Edward Kennedy and Mayor Kevin White were hung from street lamps and set afire. The flames were reflected in the windows of my father’s Chevy, and I looked through them at the faces of a mob so incensed it was...
WHEN I was 9 years old, at the height of the busing crisis in 1974, I drove with my parents and brother through South Boston on our way to Dorchester, where we lived. On West Broadway we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and crawled for a mile through one of the more frightening mass gatherings I’ve ever witnessed. Effigies of Judge Arthur Garrity and Senator Edward Kennedy and Mayor Kevin White were hung from street lamps and set afire. The flames were reflected in the windows of my father’s Chevy, and I looked through them at the faces of a mob so incensed it was...
GOP Waves the White Flag on Gay Marriage
On April - 16 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Achy Obejas, In These Times
How far has same-sex marriage come this year?Just consider that Karl Rove, the man who allegedly masterminded the 2004 Republican strategy to churn out anti-gay state referendums as a “wedge” to stoke evangelical turnout and propel George W. Bush to a second term, told ABC’s This Week on March 24 that he could see a 2016 GOP presidential candidate supporting same-sex marriage.Sure, Rove is seemingly on the ropes—under attack by his own right-wing forces for not producing during the last election cycle—but this is the man who must have looked...
How far has same-sex marriage come this year?Just consider that Karl Rove, the man who allegedly masterminded the 2004 Republican strategy to churn out anti-gay state referendums as a “wedge” to stoke evangelical turnout and propel George W. Bush to a second term, told ABC’s This Week on March 24 that he could see a 2016 GOP presidential candidate supporting same-sex marriage.Sure, Rove is seemingly on the ropes—under attack by his own right-wing forces for not producing during the last election cycle—but this is the man who must have looked...
Arizona Citizens Defense League: Says a gun bill before the Senate "is proposing the universal registration of all firearms and their owners."
On April - 16 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Gun-rights group says Senate bill proposes ‘universal registration of all firearms and their owners’
Just what’s in that new gun bill under debate in the Senate? Opponents would love to tell you all about it. "Stop Federal Universal Firearms Registration!" says the subject line of an email from an Arizona group this week. The message urges readers to contact their senators, warning: "In reality S. 649 is proposing the universal registration of all firearms and their owners." The bill, known as the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, would make all gun sales subject to the nation’s background check laws, with limited exceptions. Does it propose ...
>> MoreYes, There’s a Media Cover-Up on Gosnell Trial
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Kirsten Powers, Dly Beast
The local press has extensively covered the shocking testimony about the Philadelphia "House of Horrors" where Gosnell allegedly killed seven babies and one woman since the trial began on March 18, nearly a month ago. But while it seems obvious that the national media has mostly ignored the story, a bevy of left-wing journalists and activists have loudly disagreed in recent days—asserting that the big three networks and the major newspapers have appropriately covered a trial that none sent a reporter to cover.“If you’ve never heard of the Gosnell...
The local press has extensively covered the shocking testimony about the Philadelphia "House of Horrors" where Gosnell allegedly killed seven babies and one woman since the trial began on March 18, nearly a month ago. But while it seems obvious that the national media has mostly ignored the story, a bevy of left-wing journalists and activists have loudly disagreed in recent days—asserting that the big three networks and the major newspapers have appropriately covered a trial that none sent a reporter to cover.“If you’ve never heard of the Gosnell...
“Central Park Five”: Recalling a Gross Injustice
On April - 14 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
George Will, Wash Post
From Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” American history is replete with examples of printed words accelerating social justice. Still, from Mathew Brady’s 1862 photo exhibit of “The Dead of Antietam” to the televised fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 to the cameras that brought Vietnam into American living rooms, graphic journalism has exercised...
From Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” American history is replete with examples of printed words accelerating social justice. Still, from Mathew Brady’s 1862 photo exhibit of “The Dead of Antietam” to the televised fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963 to the cameras that brought Vietnam into American living rooms, graphic journalism has exercised...
Perils of a Politically Correct Pentagon
On April - 13 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Michael Walsh, New York Post
One of the core functions of government is to defend the nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic — that’s part of the oath of enlistment that all service personnel take. But only a flinty, clear-eyed — and politically incorrect — assessment of all threats can enable the military can do its job.Today, however, the brass at the Pentagon seems hell-bent on turning the world’s most powerful military into an arm of the PC Police, a fresh field for “politically correct” bureaucrats on which to push their morally blind...
One of the core functions of government is to defend the nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic — that’s part of the oath of enlistment that all service personnel take. But only a flinty, clear-eyed — and politically incorrect — assessment of all threats can enable the military can do its job.Today, however, the brass at the Pentagon seems hell-bent on turning the world’s most powerful military into an arm of the PC Police, a fresh field for “politically correct” bureaucrats on which to push their morally blind...
The Gun Lobby’s Dumbest Argument
On April - 13 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast
As the Senate gets set to show that you can fight the National Rifle Association, let’s consider what has to be the worst reason ever put forward by anyone to oppose anything in the entire history of the human race: that the actions under consideration “won’t prevent” future tragedies or “wouldn’t have prevented” such-and-such sociopath from unloading hundreds of rounds into the bodies of children. Gun nuts invoke this argument as if it’s some kind of clincher, a discussion-ender. It’s anything but. It...
As the Senate gets set to show that you can fight the National Rifle Association, let’s consider what has to be the worst reason ever put forward by anyone to oppose anything in the entire history of the human race: that the actions under consideration “won’t prevent” future tragedies or “wouldn’t have prevented” such-and-such sociopath from unloading hundreds of rounds into the bodies of children. Gun nuts invoke this argument as if it’s some kind of clincher, a discussion-ender. It’s anything but. It...
How Newtown Families Saved Gun Control
On April - 12 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Dana Milbank, Wash Post
In a city where David’s righteousness almost never beats Goliath’s might, what Nicole Hockley and the other Sandy Hook families did to the gun lobby this week was nigh unto miraculous.A week earlier, gun-control legislation had appeared to be a lost cause. But over the course of four days, Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son, Dylan, in December, joined with 10 other kin of the Newtown dead — and brought the legislation back to life.
In a city where David’s righteousness almost never beats Goliath’s might, what Nicole Hockley and the other Sandy Hook families did to the gun lobby this week was nigh unto miraculous.A week earlier, gun-control legislation had appeared to be a lost cause. But over the course of four days, Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son, Dylan, in December, joined with 10 other kin of the Newtown dead — and brought the legislation back to life.
Gun Debate Highlights Voter Distrust of Government
On April - 12 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Scott Rasmussen
Gun control advocates sound puzzled by congressional resistance to relatively modest gun control legislation. Many cite a poll showing 90% of Americans support more background checks and suggest the National Rifle Association is the only reason Congress won’t implement the will of the people.There are a few problems with this argument. First, it implies that Congress normally does what voters want. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most voters consistently opposed the Wall Street bailout, the president’s health care law and the cash-for-clunkers plan. All became law.
Gun control advocates sound puzzled by congressional resistance to relatively modest gun control legislation. Many cite a poll showing 90% of Americans support more background checks and suggest the National Rifle Association is the only reason Congress won’t implement the will of the people.There are a few problems with this argument. First, it implies that Congress normally does what voters want. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most voters consistently opposed the Wall Street bailout, the president’s health care law and the cash-for-clunkers plan. All became law.
There is No Gosnell Trial Coverup
On April - 12 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Irin Carmon, Salon
This week, the right wing has been working the refs, demanding to know why the press has been allegedly silent on the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor who allegedly committed horrific acts against his patients with impunity for years. Fox News’ Kristen Powers kicked it off with an Op-Ed in USA Today, claiming, “The deafening silence of too much of the media, once a force for justice in America, is a disgrace.” Michelle Malkin has helped spearhead a Twitter campaign. Breitbart.com calls it “a full-blown, coordinated blackout throughout...
This week, the right wing has been working the refs, demanding to know why the press has been allegedly silent on the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor who allegedly committed horrific acts against his patients with impunity for years. Fox News’ Kristen Powers kicked it off with an Op-Ed in USA Today, claiming, “The deafening silence of too much of the media, once a force for justice in America, is a disgrace.” Michelle Malkin has helped spearhead a Twitter campaign. Breitbart.com calls it “a full-blown, coordinated blackout throughout...
Yipes, It’s Congress on the Move
On April - 10 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Gail Collins, New York Times
Wow, there’s a lot going on in Washington! Budgets are flying all over the place. The Senate might actually start voting on a gun bill Thursday. And immigration reform has now gotten so far that the House of Representatives has a bipartisan Gang of Eight working on it.
Wow, there’s a lot going on in Washington! Budgets are flying all over the place. The Senate might actually start voting on a gun bill Thursday. And immigration reform has now gotten so far that the House of Representatives has a bipartisan Gang of Eight working on it.
Dick Cheney: Says it’s "an old wives’ story" that Margaret Thatcher told George H.W. Bush not to go wobbly.
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The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Dick Cheney disputes Margaret Thatcher’s famous ‘no time to go wobbly’ quote
It’s one of Margaret Thatcher’s most memorable quotes, spoken to President George H.W. Bush after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait: "Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly." It evokes the image of a weak-spined Bush, bolstered by the Iron Lady. Dick Cheney, the defense secretary who would become vice president, recently called it "an old wives’ story." And we said: Really? Cheney fondly recalled the former British prime minister, who died Monday, in an interview that day with Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. Van Susteren: "But there's that famous quote where, ...
>> MoreRand Paul Was Right to Reach Out to Black Voters
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Josh Kraushaar, NJ
The most important political event on a busy Wednesday in Washington wasn’t the long-awaited release of President Obama’s budget. It wasn’t even the bipartisan Senate compromise on gun control between Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey. It was Rand Paul’s gutsy speech at Howard University making a pitch to a skeptical African-American audience for why they should consider supporting the Republican Party. He was the first Republican politician to speak their since Colin Powell in 1994, according to school officials, and stayed to answer questions after his...
The most important political event on a busy Wednesday in Washington wasn’t the long-awaited release of President Obama’s budget. It wasn’t even the bipartisan Senate compromise on gun control between Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey. It was Rand Paul’s gutsy speech at Howard University making a pitch to a skeptical African-American audience for why they should consider supporting the Republican Party. He was the first Republican politician to speak their since Colin Powell in 1994, according to school officials, and stayed to answer questions after his...
An Earnest Accidental Racist?
On April - 10 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker
A few years ago, the country singer Brad Paisley described his chosen genre by saying that it was a bit like hip-hop, “for a whole different ethnicity.” This is a claim that few of his peers would be likely to make. Not because they wouldn’t want to be compared to rappers—plenty of country singers have discovered that a dash of hip-hop swagger can be helpful. (The duo Florida Georgia Line currently has a hit with “Get Your Shine On,” which resurrects an old hip-hop commandment.) Paisley’s assessment was unusual because of...
A few years ago, the country singer Brad Paisley described his chosen genre by saying that it was a bit like hip-hop, “for a whole different ethnicity.” This is a claim that few of his peers would be likely to make. Not because they wouldn’t want to be compared to rappers—plenty of country singers have discovered that a dash of hip-hop swagger can be helpful. (The duo Florida Georgia Line currently has a hit with “Get Your Shine On,” which resurrects an old hip-hop commandment.) Paisley’s assessment was unusual because of...
A Troubling Pattern at Universities
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Michael Moynihan, The Daily Beast
Last week NYU Law announced that former Weather Underground member and convicted murderer Kathy Boudin would be a scholar-in-residence. She’s the latest in a series of former left-wing radicals with cozy university appointments. Michael Moynihan on how left wing criminals ended up lecturing America’s college students.Last week, Rutgers University fired its mercurial basketball coach after he was videotaped “shoving, grabbing and throwing balls at players in practice and using gay slurs,” according to ESPN. Under pressure from school administrators,...
Last week NYU Law announced that former Weather Underground member and convicted murderer Kathy Boudin would be a scholar-in-residence. She’s the latest in a series of former left-wing radicals with cozy university appointments. Michael Moynihan on how left wing criminals ended up lecturing America’s college students.Last week, Rutgers University fired its mercurial basketball coach after he was videotaped “shoving, grabbing and throwing balls at players in practice and using gay slurs,” according to ESPN. Under pressure from school administrators,...
Dannel Malloy: Air travelers "can’t get on a plane in the United States without someone doing a background check" on them.
On April - 9 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Air travelers get background checks but some gun buyers don’t, says Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, whose state is still mourning the massacre of 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school, is pushing for a federal expansion of background checks on gun purchases. In an interview on MSNBC, Malloy cited strong public support for expanded checks and claimed that another, more pedestrian area of American life is more tightly controlled than weapon transfers. "I’m a governor. I can’t get on a plane in the United States without someone doing a background check on me, but I could go places in this country and buy a weapon and ...
>> MoreDon’t Know Much About Gun Laws
On April - 8 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Benenson & Connolly, New York Times
IN polls, a slight majority of Americans consistently say that we need better enforcement of our gun laws. But there’s a problem with that: many don’t really know what our gun laws are.
IN polls, a slight majority of Americans consistently say that we need better enforcement of our gun laws. But there’s a problem with that: many don’t really know what our gun laws are.
Debunking Krugman’s European Austerity Narrative
On April - 8 - 2013 ADD COMMENTS
Dan Mitchell, Cato
Statists are in a tough position. For years, they’ve been saying the United States should be more like Europe.And, as shown in these very funny cartoons by Michael Ramirez and Bob Gorrell, President Obama is a cheerleader for that effort.But now Europe’s welfare states are collapsing, so the left is scrambling to come up with some way of rationalizing their support for ever-growing levels of taxation and spending.
Statists are in a tough position. For years, they’ve been saying the United States should be more like Europe.And, as shown in these very funny cartoons by Michael Ramirez and Bob Gorrell, President Obama is a cheerleader for that effort.But now Europe’s welfare states are collapsing, so the left is scrambling to come up with some way of rationalizing their support for ever-growing levels of taxation and spending.
