News/Politics 3-19-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, so feel free to chime in. 🙂

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Officials in Florida are still piecing together a plot to attack an Orlando college campus.

From NBCNews

“A former student found dead in a University of Central Florida dorm room along with makeshift explosives and weapons was planning an attack on the school’s Orlando campus, the university police chief said on Monday.

The man’s body was found at about 1 a.m. at the Tower 1 residence hall, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.

A fire alarm had gone off less than an hour earlier, and as campus police responded, a 911 call came in reporting a man with a gun, police said. When police went to investigate, they discovered the man’s body as well as a .45 caliber handgun, a .22 caliber tactical weapon and four homemade explosive devices. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition were also found, police said.”

Other info on the planned attack was found in the dorm room.

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I have a feeling this is making several people in the Obama admin nervous, including Hillary.

From TheSmokingGun

“Armed with confidential memos to Hillary Clinton that were stolen from the e-mail account of a former White House aide, a hacker has distributed some of the documents to a wide array of congressional aides, political figures, and journalists worldwide.

In a series of weekend e-mail blasts, the hacker known as “Guccifer” disseminated four recent memos to Clinton from Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of the former Secretary of State.”

“Most of the e-mail recipients were sent four separate memos that were e-mailed to Clinton by Blumenthal during the past five months. Each memo dealt with assorted developments in Libya, including the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. One memo marked “Confidential” was sent to Clinton on September 12.”

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Well, what are they waiting for? Let’s get to it.

From TheHill

“Republican lawmakers are threatening to subpoena U.S. survivors of the  terrorist attack in Benghazi.

Exasperated GOP members say unless they get more answers from the White  House, they will call on the survivors to testify before Congress, and might  hold up President Obama’s nomination to replace the U.S. ambassador who was  killed on Sept. 11, 2012 in Libya.

The recent revelation that U.S. survivors are recuperating at Walter Reed  Hospital has sparked GOP demands that the White House provide Congress with  access to them. It has also breathed new life into the controversy that was  highlighted repeatedly during the 2012 presidential campaign.”

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Oh for cryin’ out loud…….  🙄

Via TheDailyMail

“Sunday evening’s episode of the History Channel’s hit series ‘The Bible’ threw up an awkward coincidence when viewers noticed that Satan bore a remarkable resemblance to President Obama.

Twitter exploded into life during the airing of the latest edition of the Mark Burnett-produced series with most noting the striking similarities between the 44th President and the devil played by actor Mehdi Ouzaani.”

“The miniseries’ popularity is somewhat of a mystery. For one, the drama wasn’t a hit with television critics, receiving a mediocre score of 44 on the Metacritic site.”

A mystery? Really?  🙄

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And here’s an interesting read, although not really news to conservatives. It’s probably shocking to liberals though, since it refutes their pathetic “Uncle Tom” meme.

From Reason.com

“In Django Unchained, director Quentin Tarantino’s bloody ode to the spaghetti western set in the pre−Civil War American South, Samuel L. Jackson portrays the despicable character of Stephen, the head house slave on a hellish Mississippi plantation. Reviewing the film for The Boston Globe, critic Wesley Morris struggled to convey the villainy of Stephen’s character, turning to a present-day comparison for help. “The movie is too modern for what Jackson is doing to be limited to 1858,” Morris wrote. “He’s conjuring the house Negro, yes, but playing him as though he were Clarence Thomas.”

It was not the first time a liberal writer had taken a cheap shot at the conservative Supreme Court justice. New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse once described Justice Antonin Scalia as Thomas’ “apparent mentor,” yet we now know that Thomas has been the one quietly influencing Scalia’s jurisprudence. But the comparison to the slave power system was particularly contemptible, especially because no Supreme Court justice since Thurgood Marshall has written more frequently or powerfully about American racism than Thomas.”

“Many of his critics may be too ignorant to know it, but Thomas’writings are steeped in African-American history and grapple repeatedly with the long shadow cast by slavery and Jim Crow. He may not be a modern liberal, but there is no question that Clarence Thomas is part of a civil rights tradition that started with Frederick Douglass.”

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8 thoughts on “News/Politics 3-19-13

  1. An interesting article Michelle. I have thought about this a good bit. Another thing that bothers me is Obama’s appointments in this second term. There is a saying in business, “Personnel is policy”. That is, you can tell what the policy is by the people you put in the job.
    This entire set of appointments bothers me, from start to finish.

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  2. Michelle,

    I think it’s a big deal too. And thanks for the PJMedia link. The video from Encounter Books is a good one.

    I’m trying to remember the name of the voice in this video at your link. He does several for ReasonTV as well. If anyone can remind me, I’d appreciate it.

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  3. And it looks like some others are planning to do the same to depositors in other countries as well. If this thing starts cascading, things will get worse real fast.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1303/S00306/national-planning-cyprus-style-solution-for-new-zealand.htm

    “National planning Cyprus-style solution for New Zealand

    The National Government are pushing a Cyprus-style solution to bank failure in New Zealand which will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts, the Green Party said today.

    Open Bank Resolution (OBR) is Finance Minister Bill English’s favoured option dealing with a major bank failure. If a bank fails under OBR, all depositors will have their savings reduced overnight to fund the bank’s bail out.

    “Bill English is proposing a Cyprus-style solution for managing bank failure here in New Zealand – a solution that will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts,” said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

    “The Reserve Bank is in the final stages of implementing a system of managing bank failure called Open Bank Resolution. The scheme will put all bank depositors on the hook for bailing out their bank.”

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  4. We’ll know more on Thursday when the Cyprus banks reopen. If it’s anything like the reaction before the bank closings, a bank run will commence then. At which point all bets are off.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/19/us-cyprus-parliament-idUSBRE92G03I20130319

    “Cyprus’s government proposed on Tuesday to spare small savers from a divisive levy on bank deposits but said it expects parliament to reject the measure, needed to secure an international bailout and avoid default and a banking collapse.

    Unless parliament accepts the levy on deposits, EU countries say they will withhold a bailout, plunging one of the smallest European states closer to financial oblivion with potentially severe consequences for the rest of the troubled euro zone.”

    “Stunned Cypriots emptied cash machines over the weekend and banks are to remain shut on Tuesday and Wednesday to avoid a bank run. Hundreds of protesters rallied outside parliament on Monday, honking horns and holding banners saying “We are not your guinea pigs!”

    “If they vote for this tax they will face the fury of the people,” said Markos Economou, a 47-year-old physics teacher and father of two. “The banks and the politicians should pay for this mess, not the people.””

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