What’s news today?

I’ve got a few, then let’s see what you have.

This one ticks me off. Taxpayers are out $50 Billion on GM, and their workers are getting $5,500 to $7,000 dollar bonuses? Wow.

From 24/7WallSt.

“GM workers can expect bonuses of between $5,500 and $7,000, and Ford’s  employees could receive a payment of more than $8,000 each, according to a  report in The Wall Street Journal. The payments are based on a formula that  gives workers a $1 bonus for every $1 million in North American operating profit  at the two companies.

U.S. auto sales are on track to top 14.5 million units in 2012, up 14% over  last year’s sales total. In the first three quarters of the year, GM has posted  operating profit of $5.55 billion and Ford’s profit totals nearly $6.5 billion.  And the fourth quarter looks good too.”

Looks great. For everybody but taxpayers.

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This one smells fishy. Unrelated. Sure.

From NYCBSLocal

“Federal agents raided an eastern Connecticut gun shop on Thursday, the same gun shop that sold one of the weapons used by the Newtown elementary school shooter.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, assisted by police, moved in on Riverview Sales at 4 Prospect Hill Road in East Windsor at around 5:15 p.m., reported Len Besthoff of CBS 2 sister station WFSB in Hartford.”

“All indications are Thursday’s raid was not directly related to the Newtown massacre investigation, but, as Besthoff reported, it was related to several other crimes committed at the store, including the recent theft of an AR-15 and the attempted theft of a .50-caliber long gun, both by a man with mental illness, Besthoff reported.”

If there was wrongdoing by the owner, by all means, raid him. But why would you raid a store for simply being the victim of attempted thefts?

Like I said, fishy.

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This last one, I’m unsure about, but it wouldn’t exactly break my heart.

From Breitbart

“Several conservative House Republican members are contemplating a plan to unseat Speaker John Boehner from his position on January 3, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Staffers have compiled a detailed action plan that, if executed, could make this a reality.

The Republicans, both conservatives and more establishment members alike, are emboldened after the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” on Thursday evening. Dissatisfaction with Boehner is growing in the House Republican conference, but until now there hasn’t been a clear path forward.

Those members and staffers requested anonymity from Breitbart News at this time to prevent retaliation from Boehner similar to what happened to those four members who were purged from their powerful committee assignments a few weeks ago. Their expressed concern is that if Boehner knew who they were, his adverse reaction toward them would be much more brutal than losing committee assignments, such as a primary challenge in 2014 by a leadership-sponsored candidate.”

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It’s Friday, so let’s change things up.

Open Thread!

So what have you got?

Here’s a couple that might interest you.

Hezbollah battling Al-Qaeda?

From the JerusalemPost

“The Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah has confirmed that its members are in Syria fighting on behalf of the government, United Nations human rights investigators said on Thursday.

There are also reports that Iraqi Shias are coming to fight in Syria,  and Iran confirmed in September that its Revolutionary Guards are in  Syria providing assistance, the independent investigators led by  Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said in their latest 10-page report.

The confirmation of Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian civil war heightens concerns that the regime may pass chemical weapons to the terrorist group. Earlier in December, Israel’s ambassador to Washington Michael Oren warned that Israel will act if Syria passes chemical weapons into Hezbollah’s hands.”

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And this one, it’s long, but interesting, from PJMedia.

“It’s one of my biggest disappointments that I’ve only begun to accept in the past few years: the average level of maturity that we experience in high school is as good as it gets. That’s where most people stop their emotional and intellectual development. Once one realizes and accepts that overgrown teenagers dominate the planet, then literally everything starts to make much more sense.