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Articles Posted by rightwingintelligentsia

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  • 8 things to know before visiting Libya (Travel article!)

    05/17/2013 9:45:36 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 7 replies
    CNN ^ | May 17, 2013 | Nick Redmayne
    World-renowned chef, author and Emmy winning television personality Anthony Bourdain visits Libya in the next episode of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," airing Sunday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET. Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook (CNN) -- Following Libya's revolution, oil production has been restored and the country has slipped from the front pages. Once more, Libya has become North African rather than southern Mediterranean, and news dispatches surface only when Western government's worst fears appear close to being realized. As most Libyans admit that after four-plus decades of Moammar Gadhafi, it will take time to build a mature...
  • Rush Limbaugh Show LIVE THREAD, Thursday, May 16, 2013

    05/16/2013 9:10:21 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 130 replies
    EIB Network ^ | May 16, 2013 | Rush Limbaugh
    Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show 1270 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
  • Report: Susan Rice’s promotion to National Security Advisor ‘definitely happening’

    05/16/2013 3:05:27 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 26 replies
    Twitchy ^ | May 15, 2013
    Benghazigate might have derailed Ambassador Susan Rice’s bid to be Secretary of State, but the “extraordinary” Rice might have a promotion in her future after all. Foreign Policy reports today that Rice “has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon — a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state.” Writer John Hudson quotes an unnamed source as saying “it’s definitely happening.”
  • Dem. Congressman Brings Baby Grandson to Holder Hearing

    05/15/2013 1:27:33 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 30 replies
    Weekly Standard ^ | May 15, 2013 | Daniel Halper
    Democratic congressman Mel Watt brought his grandson to today's Eric Holder hearing on Capitol Hill:
  • Off-duty officer assaulted by group of men on South Side, police say

    05/15/2013 4:03:39 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 47 replies
    WPXI ^ | May 14, 2013
    PITTSBURGH — An Ohio Township police officer returned to work just days after he was assaulted by a group of men while he was off-duty on the city’s South Side. According to police, the officer told police he was walking on 19th Street between Jane and Sarah streets when he noticed a group of at least five people walking toward him. As the off-duty officer, 26, approached the group, he said he moved out of the way and was going to let them pass by. The victim told detectives that a black male, about 6 feet 3 inches tall wearing...
  • IRS Asks for Reading List, Tea Party Group Sends Constitution

    05/14/2013 12:54:07 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 30 replies
    ABC News ^ | May 14, 2013 | Abby Phillip, Jeff Zeleny
    When Marion Bower decided to start her tea party organization in 2010, she didn’t know that it would take nearly two years for the Internal Revenue Service to approve her request for tax-exempt status. The Ohio woman also did not expect that providing information about the books her group read would be part of the application process. “I was trying to be very cordial, but they wanted copies of unbelievable things,” Bower told ABC News today. “They wanted to know what materials we had discussed at any of our book studies.” She ultimately sent one of the books, “The Five...
  • Worker says woman attacked her for putting too many pickles on sandwich

    05/14/2013 7:56:29 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 33 replies
    WPXI ^ | May 14, 2013
    QUINCY, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is facing an assault charge for allegedly punching a restaurant worker for putting too many pickles on her steak and cheese sandwich, police said Monday. Tina Drouin, 49, ordered the sub from Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs in the Quincy Center subway/commuter rail station at about 2 p.m. Saturday, according to MBTA police. Drouin started loudly complaining, used a profanity, and made other derogatory comments about the ratio of certain ingredients as the worker prepared the sandwich, police said. Finally, she demanded a refund. The worker refused. That’s when Drouin allegedly punched the female worker...
  • ‘I’m not good at math’: The IRS’ public relations disaster

    05/10/2013 1:20:19 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 31 replies
    Washington Post ^ | May 10, 2013 | Aaron Blake
    About a half-hour into a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon, senior Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner said something she will regret. “I’m not good at math,” she confessed as she tried to summon a statistic.
  • Exclusive: Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed of Terror Reference

    05/10/2013 5:05:16 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 4 replies
    ABC News ^ | May 10, 2013 | Jonathan Karl
    When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack....
  • Kevyn Orr: Detroit Is In Worse Shape Than I Thought

    05/09/2013 1:18:48 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 21 replies
    CBS Local ^ | May 8, 2013 | Vickie Thomas
    DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit’s emergency manager says the city is bleeding much more red ink than originally thought. That’s what Kevyn Orr told WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “The situation is severe,” Orr said. “It’s worse that we originally thought. It ain’t good.” With just 39 days under his belt, Orr is already putting the final touches on a draft of his 40-plus page financial report, which must be submitted to the state on Monday. “I’ve been spending virtually every day from March 25 when I got here, looking at the city’s financials. This...
  • Charles Ramsey's turbulent 15 minutes of fame

    05/09/2013 4:35:50 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 28 replies
    AP via WPXI ^ | May 8, 2013 | DAVID BAUDER
    NEW YORK — Helping to free three women from nearly a decade in captivity would seem to be enough. Neighbor Charles Ramsey has also become a star, offering moments of levity in an unspeakably horrible story, free publicity for a restaurant chain and unexpected lessons in race relations. Ramsey lived next door to where Ariel Castro is alleged to have kept the women in a makeshift prison until Monday afternoon, when Ramsey happened to be home and heard Amanda Berry's scream.
  • Mission College locked down after cardboard cutout mistaken for gun

    05/07/2013 1:21:12 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 17 replies
    KTVU via WPXI ^ | May 6, 2013
    Santa Clara's Mission College went into lockdown for about 45 minutes Monday afternoon after a cardboard cutout of a gun was mistaken for the real thing, a school spokesman said. As part of a sociology of criminology class project where students were to dress up as criminals, one student wore a ski mask and carried a cardboard cutout of a gun, school spokesman Peter Anning said. The student was taking pictures before the class began when another student panicked and called Santa Clara police at 2:47 p.m. to report a person with a gun, he said. Mission College went into...
  • Report: Man strips naked after claiming to be a monkey outside 7-Eleven

    05/02/2013 1:13:27 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 37 replies
    WFTV ^ | May 2, 2013
    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A man in Daytona Beach called police from a 7-Eleven convenience store, and when an officer arrived at the scene, Daylen Holloman, 20, would not explain why he called authorities, according to an arrest report. The report states that Holloman was taken outside and the officer asked him several questions, including "What's going on?" "Who are you?" "Where are you from?" He replied, "I don't know" to all of the questions, except one. When the officer asked Holloman, "What do you know?" he replied, "I know I'm a monkey." The officer then said Holloman removed his...
  • Aging Fugitive Joanne Chesimard Is First Woman on Most Wanted Terrorists List

    05/02/2013 12:53:48 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 26 replies
    ABC News ^ | May 2, 2013 | AARON KATERSKY
    Joanne Chesimard, a left-wing militant who shot a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike 40 years ago today, has become the first woman on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists. "Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer execution-style," said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark Division. Chesimard, a fugitive living in Cuba under the name Assata Shakur, was a member of the Black Liberation Army in 1973 when she shot and killed Trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop. According to a state police account, "Foerster was severely wounded...
  • Police clash with protesters after May Day rally in Seattle

    05/02/2013 4:05:54 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 11 replies
    Reuters ^ | May 2, 2013 | Eric M. Johnson
    (Reuters) - Eight police officers were hurt and 18 protesters arrested in Seattle on Wednesday when a May Day rally that began peacefully turned violent after dark, with crowds hurling rocks and bottles at police who responded with pepper spray grenades. Protesters threw rocks, bottles and chunks of asphalt at officers, officials said, smashing store and car windows, overturning trash cans and lining up newspaper display racks to block streets. Police in riot gear, some riding in armored SWAT vehicles, responded by repeatedly firing "blast ball" grenades, which emit smoke tinged with pepper spray.
  • Wealth Gap Among Races Widened Since Recession

    04/29/2013 12:42:00 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 28 replies
    NY Times ^ | April 28, 2013 | ANNIE LOWREY
    WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. “It was already dismal,” Darrick Hamilton, a professor at the New School in New York, said of the wealth gap between black and white households. “It got even worse.” Given the dynamics of the housing recovery and the rebound...
  • ATM Receipt With $1 Million Balance Shows Tale Of 2 Cities In New York

    OK, so a lot of rich people live in New York. We know that. It's not news. But it hits home in a non-abstract way when, if you're not one of the very rich, it's rubbed in your face at your local bank. These two ATM receipts were discovered at a local Chase bank by my old colleague Tony Case, the special reports editor at Adweek. He gave me permission to publish his photo of them. They show that someone recently withdrew $300 in cash on a balance of $1 million, just after someone else tried to withdraw $100 on...
  • Escapee from psychiatric hospital slashes rabbi, son with box-cutter outside Paris synagogue

    04/25/2013 10:17:44 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 6 replies
    AP Via Washington Post ^ | April 25, 2013
    PARIS — An escapee from a psychiatric institution slashed a rabbi and his son with a box-cutter on Tuesday, prompting witnesses to tackle and subdue the attacker after a chase through a Paris synagogue, officials said. --snip-- The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which monitors anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, said in a statement that the assailant screamed “Allah-u-Akbar” — or “God is great” — during the attack.
  • Late Union President’s Astonishing $800K Theft

    04/24/2013 12:18:37 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 15 replies
    HotAir ^ | April 24, 2013 | Mike Antonucci
    When former Auburn Teachers Association (ATA) president Sally Jo Widmer passed away last November after more than 35 years at the helm of the small New York teachers’ union, former Auburn mayor Guy Cosentino eulogized her as “a true union leader who put her union first and personal niceties second.” That’s because Cosentino didn’t have access to her checkbook. Members were informed this week that Widmer misappropriated at least $800,000 in union dues during the period 2006-2012. “It appears that money earmarked for the Association was instead used for meals, gasoline, trips, gambling, clothing, grocery shopping – and for cash...
  • Video: Do not try to photobomb Mike Tobin’s live shot

    04/24/2013 10:17:01 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 14 replies
    HotAir ^ | April 23, 2013 | Mary Katharine Ham
    Fox News’ Mike Tobin has reported from the Gaza Strip, okay? He’s a man equipped to keep his head about him in a high-stress situation, his on-camera professionalism honed in war-torn and disaster-swept areas from Lebanon to Joplin. What did you think, ladies? That he couldn’t spot potential incoming threats while doing a live shot? That he doesn’t have the peripheral vision of a parliament of freakin’ screech owls? Owls don’t sound that badass, but they are. Stealthily badass, as Tobin proves to be in this clip when he delivers the Heisman stiff arm to two chicks trying to kiss...
  • Rush Limbaugh Live Thread, Wednesday, April 24, 2013

    04/24/2013 9:07:04 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 64 replies
    EIB Network ^ | April 24, 2013 | Rush Limbaugh
    Call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882 E-mail Rush: ElRushbo@eibnet.com Fax Rush at: 212-445-3963 Write a letter to Rush and mail it to: The Rush Limbaugh Show 1270 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
  • Poverty in America: Millions of families too broke for bank accounts

    04/22/2013 3:18:36 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 47 replies
    NBC News ^ | April 22, 2013 | Bob Sullivan
    Sabino Fuentes-Sanchez hid $25,000 all around his house because he didn't trust banks. Lasonia Christon receives her Wal-Mart salary on a pre-paid debit card. Kim James was homeless for most of the past decade in part because she had no place to save money. There are plenty of reasons people still live all-cash lives, but the sheer number who do it might surprise you. At a time when the majority of Americans use online banking, and some even deposit checks using their cellphone cameras, roughly eight percent of America's 115 million households don’t have a checking or savings account, according...
  • Federal Courthouse (Boston) Evacuated After Bomb Threat

    04/17/2013 12:24:27 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 18 replies
    CBS Local Boston ^ | April 17, 2013
    BOSTON (CBS) – The Moakley Federal Courthouse has been evacuated because of a bomb threat. WBZ-TV’s Karen Anderson was inside the courthouse when she was told to evacuate. Guards were reportedly calling the evacuation, “code red.” Sources tell WBZ-TV a bomb threat was called into the courthouse. A large crowd of media and civilians were gathered outside the courthouse after reports an arrest may have been made in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings.
  • 4 teens accused of assaulting man, stealing his Subway sandwich

    04/17/2013 4:27:29 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 34 replies
    WPXI ^ | April 16, 2013
    MUNHALL, Pa. — Munhall police have charged four teens in connection with a robbery and assault of a 26-year-old man. Rahim Jamel Gene Thomas, 19, of Homestead, a 16-year-old male from Homestead, a 17-year-old male from Homestead, and a 16-year-old male from Munhall are all charged with robbery, aggravated assault and conspiracy. The victim, who was lying on the sidewalk Friday about 8:30 p.m. at Farragut Street at Main Street, flagged down a patrolling officer. The man claimed he had been robbed of a Subway sandwich, Munhall police Chief Pat Campbell said. The victim described the robbers as four black...
  • Baby boomers may die with college debt

    04/16/2013 3:22:15 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 42 replies
    MSN Money ^ | April 16, 2013 | Aimee Picchi
    Baby boomers are easing into retirement, but some may find their golden years are haunted by student loan debt that could follow them until they die. It's not their children's debt, however -- it's their own. Many boomers returned to graduate school during the recession to bolster their skills, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Student loan debt is actually growing fastest among people over 60, the report notes. More than 2 million Americans over 60 owe student loan debt, with the average balance standing at about $19,500, up from just under $11,000 in 2005, according to the Federal Reserve...
  • In France, an embarrassment of riches as (socialist) ministers reveal wealth

    04/16/2013 9:30:20 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 7 replies
    NBC News ^ | April 16, 2013 | Annabel Roberts
    Michele Delaunay, minister for Senior Citizens in the socialist government of French President Francois Hollande, on Monday revealed that her personal wealth amounted to more than $7 million, including almost $20,000 worth of jewelry, along with antique furniture and paintings worth $260,000. Writing in a regional newspaper, Sud Ouest, she acknowledges that the full extent of her wealth "will be hard to understand for the majority of French citizens who are currently experiencing financial hardship." Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius possesses an even greater fortune: $7.8 million, including an apartment in Paris valued at $3.5 million. They have been...
  • Obama won’t comment on Gosnell case

    04/15/2013 11:22:57 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 53 replies
    Washington Post ^ | April 15, 2013 | Rachel Weiner
    President Obama will not comment on the trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell because the trial is ongoing, a spokesman said Monday. “The president does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial, so I won’t as well,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters when asked about the trial. However, Carney said, the president is “aware” of the case. “Certainly, the things that you hear and read about this case are unsettling,” he added. “But I can’t comment further on an ongoing legal proceeding.”
  • Woman Arrested For Stalking Hugh Jackman In West Village

    04/15/2013 9:26:49 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 8 replies
    CBS Local ^ | April 14, 2013
    NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Superstar Hugh Jackman has battled all sorts of villains in the movies, but he said a run-in with an accused stalker in the West Village was frightening. As CBS 2’s Dana Tyler reported, the stalker – Kathleen Thurston, 47 – appeared in court in Manhattan Sunday afternoon. She remained silent after the hearing, but police said she had plenty to say Saturday morning when she confronted Jackman outside his gym – telling him she loved him and asking if they were going to get married. --snip-- Police said Jackman tried to defuse the situation with the...
  • Grove City juvey escapee stole some Cheetos, police say

    04/11/2013 7:34:52 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 7 replies
    WPXI ^ | April 11, 2013
    GROVE CITY, Pa. — A boy who briefly escaped from a Grove City juvenile detention facility apparently had the munchies. State police in Mercer say the boy, who isn't being named because of his age, escaped from George Junior Republic near Grove City by hiding next to a tree on Monday night. Once he was in the clear, police say the boy walked to a nearby Wal-Mart where he stole a $3.49 bag worth of Cheetos about 11 p.m. Police say staff at the juvenile reform school found the boy walking near the store's parking lot and returned him to...
  • Goat's head delivered to Wrigley Field

    04/11/2013 4:25:21 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 5 replies
    AP via WPXI ^ | April 10, 2013
    CHICAGO -- Goats that previously appeared at Chicago's Wrigley Field were alive and kicking. But not Wednesday, when a goat's head was left in a box outside the home of the Cubs. The box was addressed to team chairman Tom Ricketts. Ricketts is currently in negotiations with city officials and neighborhood business people about the $300 million renovation of Wrigley Field.
  • New MSNBC promo: You have the right to health care, education, housing, and food at all times

    04/10/2013 1:01:48 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 44 replies
    HotAir ^ | April 10, 2013 | Allahpundit
    Via Newsbusters, something to tide you over on a news day that started out fast and has slowed considerably. Give Harris-Perry credit, at least, for fine-tuning her messaging. You’re not going to sell swing voters on far-left liberalism by telling them their kids don’t really belong to them, but tell them that they have a right “at all times” to things they need and you’re golden. If you polled the public on whether people should have a right to all of this, where would the numbers top out? Seventy percent? Eighty? The American public loves, loves, loves government spending, partly...
  • Justice Thomas: Many black communities in decline

    04/10/2013 3:07:51 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 39 replies
    PITTSBURGH – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday he is heartbroken over the persistent poverty and social troubles among many black communities but has no answers on how to solve these problems. Thomas spoke to an appreciative audience at Duquesne Law School in Pittsburgh. The crowd of about 1,200 people responded with both applause and laughter as he discussed politics, the makeup of the Supreme Court, race, and his own struggles to find his path in life. Thomas said he doesn’t bear any ill-will toward other people who hold views sharply different from his. “If I was going to...
  • Woman uses bag of spaghetti sauce to rob bank

    04/09/2013 8:20:30 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 22 replies
    WPXI ^ | April 9, 2013 | Rick Couri
    Bank tellers thought it was a bomb but it turned out to be a pasta topping. A woman sat a bag of red liquid on the counter of the Fifth Third bank and demanded money. The teller, not knowing what was in the bag gave her cash and the woman described to be in her 60's left the bank. Once police and the bomb squad arrived at the bank in Clinton Township Michigan they were able to check the contents and confirm it was only spaghetti sauce and not a bomb.
  • Police: Va. Minister Painted Racial Slurs on House Before Setting It On Fire

    04/04/2013 8:27:31 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 27 replies
    CBS Local DC ^ | April 4, 2013
    <p>CHESTERFIELD, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — A minister at a Virginia church faces charges of setting his house and car in Chesterfield County on fire.</p> <p>Chesterfield County police had investigated the fires as a possible hate crime because a racial slur had been painted on the house. Police believe 41-year-old Olander D. Cuthrell, who is black, painted the slurs on his home before he set it on fire.</p>
  • Pittsburgh mayoral candidate A.J. Richardson arrested

    04/03/2013 10:45:41 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 9 replies
    WTAE ^ | April 3, 2013
    PITTSBURGH —A self-described community activist running an underdog campaign for mayor may be an even longer shot now that he's been charged with driving under the influence. A.J. Richardson, 36, was arrested early Wednesday in Pittsburgh's West End. Police say they found him slumped over the wheel of his green minivan that was stopped on Steuben Street with the engine still running at about 3 a.m. According to the criminal complaint, Richardson refused a blood test and "became verbally hostile stating that he was going to be mayor repeatedly." --snip-- Richardson, whose full name is Abdula Jamal Richardson, is running...
  • White House 'Memphis Soul' Concert to Feature Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Queen Latifah, and Others

    04/02/2013 4:12:01 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 20 replies
    Weekly Standard ^ | April 2, 2013 | DANIEL HALPER
    Next week Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Queen Latifah, and many others will perform at the White House in a "Memphis Soul" concert, the White House announced today. "As part of their 'In Performance at the White House' series, the President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House for a celebration of Memphis Soul music. The program will include performances by Alabama Shakes, William Bell, Steve Cropper, Al Green, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Sam Moore, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and Justin Timberlake, with Booker T. Jones as music director...
  • Marine who served in Iraq ticketed for flying American flag

    04/02/2013 12:05:39 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 68 replies
    KRMG via WPXI ^ | Posted: 4:35 p.m. Friday, March 29, 2013 | Rick Couri
    Gregory Schaffer said after his tour of duty in the Marines he wanted to go home and fly a flag in his yard. But a complaint from an anonymous neighbor got Schaffer in some hot water. Schaffer got a citation from the city of Hypoluxo, Florida that said he needed a building permit to put up the flagpole. The Marine told a TV station “it’s sad. It’s sad that we have to go through that just to fly a flag.” Schaffer added “It’s disgusting that anybody should have to go through that. I fought for the flag, now I’m paying...
  • Obama to unveil $100M initiative to map human brain

    04/02/2013 6:57:47 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 47 replies
    CBS News ^ | April 2, 2013
    President Barack Obama is proposing a new investment into research to map the human brain in hopes of unlocking some of its mysteries, a senior administration official says. The president planned to propose a $100 million investment for next year during remarks Tuesday morning, the White House said. Obama mentioned the idea in his State of the Union address, comparing the potential to the Human Genome Project that mapped DNA. "Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy. Every dollar," Obama said in the address to Congress in February. "Today, our scientists are mapping...
  • ‘Kid President’ stars in White House April Fools’ joke video

    04/01/2013 9:07:22 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 7 replies
    Yahoo! News ^ | April 1, 2013 | Oliver Knox
    It's no "U.S. Army training special cat unit," but the White House on Monday rolled out an April Fools' joke video starring "Kid President"—9-year-old viral video maker Robby Novak. "It looks like you were expecting somebody else," Novak, dressed in a dark suit and wearing a red power tie, says from the podium in the White House briefing room. “April Fools on all y’all! I’m Kid President and I hope everyone has an awesome day. It’s everybody’s duty to give the world a reason to dance. I made it to the White House! I’m here! Peace.” (Peace? Or budding Richard...
  • Afghan teenager fatally stabs US soldier

    04/01/2013 8:14:53 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 29 replies
    AP via MyFoxDC ^ | April 1, 2013 | KIM GAMEL
    KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - An Afghan teenager killed an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck while he played with a group of local children, officials said Monday. The killing comes as the monthly U.S. death toll rose sharply in March to 14 with the start of the spring fighting season when the Taliban and other insurgents take advantage of improved weather to step up attacks. Sgt. Michael Cable, 26, was guarding Afghan and U.S. officials meeting in a province near the border with Pakistan when the stabbing occurred last Wednesday, two senior U.S. officials said....
  • Grand jury indicts 35 in Georgia school cheating scandal

    03/30/2013 4:10:49 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 38 replies
    CNN ^ | March 29, 2013 | Chelsea Carter
    Atlanta (CNN) -- In what has been described as one of the largest cheating scandals to hit the nation's public education system, 35 Atlanta Public Schools educators and administrators were indicted Friday on charges of racketeering and corruption. The indictment is the bookend to a story that was once touted as a model for the nation's school districts after the district's test scores dramatically improved in some of its toughest urban schools. Among those indicted by a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury was Beverly Hall, the former schools superintendent who gained national recognition in 2009 for turning around Atlanta's school...
  • Has disability become a 'de facto welfare program'?

    03/28/2013 9:35:53 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 67 replies
    NBC News ^ | March 28, 2013 | Barbara Raab
    When President Clinton signed "welfare reform" into law in 1996, he promised to end welfare as we know it. Now, some new reporting suggests we've created a new kind of welfare -- only most Americans aren't aware of it. The number of people who depend on checks from Social Security's disability programs has soared in recent years, according to NPR's series "Unfit for Work: the Startling Rise of Disability in America." The reports, which began over the weekend and continue this week, raise the question: How disabled are the recipients, really? As you might imagine, they have touched a nerve....
  • Police: Dog Runs Over Pedestrian With Car

    03/27/2013 12:34:39 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 39 replies
    CBS Local ^ | March 27, 2013
    YORK, Pa. (AP) – Police say a dog that was left in an unattended vehicle pushed it into drive and the car struck a pedestrian in central Pennsylvania. West York Police say the accident happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and the pedestrian was found lying in the street. The York Daily Record reports police say the car had been left running when the dog inside knocked it into gear, causing it to slowly drive away.
  • Mayors Gone Wild (Another member of ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ arrested)

    03/27/2013 8:04:04 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 20 replies
    Washington Free Beacon ^ | March 26, 2013
    Mayors Against Illegal Guns member and Democratic Gainesville, Fla., Mayor Craig Lowe was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and property damage after police found him asleep in his car at the scene of a crash last Thursday. Police said Lowe appeared intoxicated and his Honda Civic was badly damaged, according to WKMG in Orlando. “I regret that my actions Thursday morning have disappointed so many friends, supporters, and citizens of Gainesville,” Lowe said in a statement. “I hope that in the future I will again prove worthy of the public’s trust and confidence.” The Gainesville Democrat faces...
  • Pee-controlled video games on target at minor-league park

    03/27/2013 7:35:01 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 25 replies
    Toronto Star ^ | March 26, 2013 | Andrew Livingstone
    The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are taking “X-Stream” games to an entirely new and unheralded level. The Pennsylvania-based Triple-A affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies will be the first team in North America to introduce pee-controlled video gaming in men’s washrooms when the season opens next week. The IronPigs announced that the, um, unique, flow-controlled gaming experience would be available at Coca-Cola Park on opening day April 4. Fans who use the urinals will be able to compete against other flow-goers for the top score and the chance to hold the flow king crown. “Our fans are always looking for the next...
  • Student loan write-offs hit $3 billion in first two months of year

    03/26/2013 9:52:55 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 34 replies
    Chicago Tribune ^ | March 26, 2013 | Elvina Nawaguna, Reuters
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Banks wrote off $3 billion of student loan debt in the first two months of 2013, up more than 36 percent from the year-ago period, as many graduates remain jobless, underemployed or cash-strapped in a slow U.S. economic recovery, an Equifax study showed. The credit reporting agency also said Monday that student lending has grown from last year because more people are going back to school and the cost of higher education has risen. "Continued weakness in labor markets is limiting work options once people graduate or quit their programs, leading to a steady rise in delinquencies...
  • Trio Of Family Members Attack Bar Security Guard After DJ Won’t Play Song

    03/26/2013 8:18:57 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 40 replies
    KDKA ^ | March 25, 2013
    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A local family is accused of beating up a bar security guard, after a DJ wouldn’t play the song they had requested. It happened at the bar Savoy in the Strip District, this past weekend. Police say 29-year-old Dion Daye Jr. ,who requested the song, was arrested, in addition to two family members, 50-year-old Dion Daye Sr. and 25-year-old Dorian Daye, after they all teamed up and attacked a security guard. The DJ’s refusal to play their song allegedly upset the trio which was asked to leave. Then Dion Daye Jr. allegedly punched the security guard. The...
  • D.C. police say ecoATMs, which give cash for used cellphones, are a problem

    03/25/2013 8:19:03 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 17 replies
    Washington Post ^ | March 25, 2013 | Cecilia Kang
    Here’s an easy way to get some cash: Drop a used smartphone in any of the 13 ATM-like kiosks at shopping malls around the Washington region and, within minutes, the machine will spit out as much as a few hundred dollars. The process is so simple that local police fear these ecoATMs are fueling one of the nation’s most pervasive criminal trends — cellphone theft. The kiosks have become a particular thorn for police in the District, where 40 percent of all forced robberies last year involved a cellphone, the highest percentage in the nation. In a recent investigation, D.C....
  • Aurora, Colo., theater shooter James Holmes converts to Islam

    03/22/2013 5:24:00 AM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 22 replies
    Washington Times ^ | March 21, 2013 | Jessica Chasmar
    <p>The man who shot up an Aurora, Colo., movie theater during a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” last summer has reportedly converted to Islam and prays up to five times a day.</p> <p>A prison source say the beard James Holmes sported in court last months represents his new-found faith. The source said Mr. Holmes has turned Muslim as a way of justifying his horrific crimes on July 20 which left 12 people dead and 58 people wounded, the Daily Mail reports.</p>
  • How Viable Is Rand Paul for 2016?

    03/20/2013 12:34:58 PM PDT · by rightwingintelligentsia · 74 replies
    New York Times ^ | March 20, 2013 | Nate Silver
    Perhaps no Republican has had a better 2013 than Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who drew attention and praise for his talking filibuster against the C.I.A. director nominee John Brennan, then last week won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Then, on Tuesday, as my colleague Ashley Parker reports, Mr. Paul gave a speech to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, outlining his plan for immigration reform. Mr. Paul has been fairly explicit about his potential interest in running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, so it is safe to assume that at...