After Millions in Tax Breaks for Hollywood, DreamWorks’ Jeffery Katzenberg Kills 350 Jobs

February 28, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Jobs, Liberals, Movies, Progressives, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite some $430 million in tax breaks for Hollywood in last year’s “fiscal cliff” deal, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has announced that he is cutting 350 people by the end of the year.

After the disappointing box office for DreamWorks’ latest film, The Rise of the Guardians, Katzenberg said that the $165 million loss made him “go back and rethink everything.”

“So it makes you go back and rethink everything, not just the fact that it didn’t work–certainly we spent a lot of time reflecting on that–but more importantly saying, ‘Let’s look at everything and say, ‘What could we be doing better, smarter, more effectively to really position the company in the best possible way gong forward?’ And that’s what we’ve done, and that’s what restructuring is all about,” Katzenberg told the Hollywood Reporter.
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Assault Weapons Ban Could Get Senate Committee Vote Thursday

February 28, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Dianne Feinstein, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, Progressives, Senate, Warner Todd Huston, Washington D.C. | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The wide ranging gun ban bill introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein (D, CA) could be voted out of committee and passed on to the full Senate as early as Thursday.

A schedule posted for the upcoming February 28 executive business meeting shows the Senate Judiciary Committee intends to discuss Feinstein’s and three other gun control bills, though the eight Republican members of the committee have the option to push the meeting off for another week.

The Feinstein bill bans up to 160 specifically named firearms but might have an uphill battle in the Senate as even some Democrat Senators have said it goes too far by banning too many firearms.

Less than a month ago Senate Democrat majority leader Harry Reid (D, NV) shied from supporting Feinstein’s bill directly, though he praised her “enthusiasm” for her gun banning bill.
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Would New Federal Stalking Laws Have Snared Rep. Bill Foster?

February 28, 2013 | Filed Under Bill Foster, Congress, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Progressives, Senate, Sex Offenders/Rape, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This year the Violence Against Women Act is getting some stronger penalties for stalking, assault, and other crimes. With all these new provisions, one wonders that if this law were around 15 years ago, how it would have hit good old Congressman Bill Foster, a man who is guilty of abusing his wife?

The law, called The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S47), would most certainly have sent Foster to jail for a long time. You see the Illinois Democrat has a chequered history of violence against women.

Some of the additions to S47 include,
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Hurray for Washington!

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Jobs, Liberals, Michelle Obama, Movies, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Mary Theroux

But it’s OK. The Obamas make us feel good about ourselves, and, after all, that’s what Hollywood, er, Washington, is all about.

The culmination of last night’s Oscars broadcast with a Live! feed from the White House with Mrs. Obama (hangin’ with her military BFs) marks the official recognition of the Presidency as theater: like the old Western sets, no substance required.

From the very beginning, President Obama was elected based on his strong delivery of stirring words, “Hope and change,” with no serious vetting of his record or policies. Having been awarded the presidency, as the Oscars follow the Golden Globes, Mr. Obama was next awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, solely for his well-scripted promises for peace…

Read the rest at The Independent Institute.

[VIDEO] Guns Didn’t Suddenly Become a Problem, Societal Decay Did

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Connecticut, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

This is a must-see video of testimony on so-called “gun violence.”

Henson Ong, a resident of Waterbury, Connecticut, came before the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the legislative office building in Connecticut’s capital, Hartford. He gave excellent testimony on why guns are not the problem in America.

Obama’s Sequester Lies

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Slavery Flap Shows Emory University Professors are Morons

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under Abraham Lincoln, Children, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Founders, Georgia, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Progressives, Slavery, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier this month the President of Emory University wrote a piece for the school magazine about the efficacy of compromise. By the 24th he was forced to apologize for the piece because he mentioned slavery fully in context in his piece. The faux outrage that his comments caused proved three things: that no one at Emory has any grasp of American history, that the professors at Emory University are morons, and that the student body are utterly unable to employ critical thinking.

The segment that upset everyone was utterly innocuous and cited properly in context by Wagner, without hate or racism. Unfortunately, logic and context isn’t what the race baiters of Emory University are interested in, sad to say.

President James Wagner’s piece was meant to extol the virtues of compromise and meant his piece to explain that this vaunted compromise was as American as Apple Pie, baseball, and the restl. Pursuant to that, Wagner wrote the following:

One instance of constitutional compromise was the agreement to count three-fifths of the slave population for purposes of state representation in Congress. Southern delegates wanted to count the whole slave population, which would have given the South greater influence over national policy. Northern delegates argued that slaves should not be counted at all, because they had no vote. As the price for achieving the ultimate aim of the Constitution—“to form a more perfect union”—the two sides compromised on this immediate issue of how to count slaves in the new nation. Pragmatic half-victories kept in view the higher aspiration of drawing the country more closely together.

Such as it is, this is correct, straight forward, pure fact. It has not a whiff of controversy to it. Well, it wouldn’t have a whiff of controversy if an intelligent, informed person were reading that excerpt, anyway.

Instead of intelligent people, however, we ended up with dolts like Emory history “professor” Leslie Harris, halfwits like “professor” Leroy Davis, and racebaiters like student Jovanna Jones.
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Firearms Manufacturers Refusing to Sell to States That Pass Strict Gun Laws

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Business, Capitalism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Jobs, Liberals, Media, Progressives, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A number of firearms manufacturers and companies that sell firearms related products have joined a growing list of companies refusing to do business with states, counties, and other government agencies that pass new laws restricting citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

A list of some 34 of these companies has been posted at a website called The Police Loophole. The site informs visitors that the companies have publicly announced that they “will not sell items to states, counties, cities, and municipalities that restrict their citizens rights to own” the products they sell.

“There are some states, counties, cities, and municipalities in our great nation that fail to allow their citizens to fully exercise their right to keep and bear arms with restrictions such as magazine capacity or types of firearms that are widely available to citizens of other states, counties, cities, and municipalities. However, these government entities do not place these restrictions upon their own employees, such as police officers.”

The “police loophole” phrase is a take off on the so-called “gun show loophole” that gun control advocates use in order to push their anti-gun policies. One good “closed” loophole deserves another, as far as these website operators are concerned.
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[VIDEO] Here Are 13 Obama Tax Hikes on the Middle Class in 2013

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

[VIDEO] How NOT to be Raped

February 26, 2013 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Progressives, Sex Offenders/Rape, Warner Todd Huston, YouTube | No Comments

Illinois Middle Schooler Told Marines Themed T-Shirt is ‘Inappropriate’ at School

February 26, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Marines, Military, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Monday, an Illinois middle schooler was told that his U.S. Marines T-Shirt was “inappropriate” to wear in school and that if he didn’t take the shirt off, cover it up, or turn it inside out he’d be suspended.

The shirt Middle schooler Michael McIntyre, 13, wore to school featured a pair of crossed M16 rifles beneath the word “Marines.” The boy’s father, Dan McIntyre, feels that the teacher objected to the depiction of the rifles and that is what sparked her demand that the boy take off the shirt.

The demand was made by Teacher Karen Deverell, a reading and language arts teacher at Genoa-Kingston Middle School, on Monday, February 13. The boy’s father reports that his son followed the orders.

In an exclusive interview, Michael’s father, Dan McIntyre, said, “He’s worn the shirt before, so I don’t know why they said anything this time.”
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Obama Fails to Register ‘OrganizingForAction.net,’ Hilariously, Site Re-Directs to NRA Homepage

February 26, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Barack Obama, Campaign Finance, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NRA, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

At the beginning of the year, President Barack Obama’s new 501(c)4 political nonprofit, Organizing For Action, was launched with all the usual bells and whistles. But the tech wizards at OFA forgot one important rule in today’s Internet world: Register all the iterations of your website address before someone else does.

Now Obama’s team is filing complaints against the folks smart enough to get the addresses before he did.

As Obama’s OFA made its debut, no one in his purportedly Internet-savvy campaign had obtained the corresponding .com, .net, .org or .us sites, nor did OFA register other names that are close to its official one, as is the sensible practice. In the case of the .net address, a fellow named Derek Bovard had already registered the .net address by the time Obama’s team took notice.

Bovard has routed his new site to the homepage of the National Rifle Association.

So, whenever anyone goes to www.organizingforaction.net they end up seeing the homepage of the NRA.

Naturally, Obama and his fellow community organizers were furious. So furious, in fact, that they have replied by filing complaints against Bovard–and, apparently, a variety of other people who had registered domain names that OFA now wants.
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Chicago Police Chief McCarthy’s Shocking Ignorance of History, the Law, and the U.S. Constitution

February 25, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Chicago, Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, President, Progressives, Rahm Emanuel, Security/Safety, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago’s top cop is a shockingly ignorant man. Apparently what he knows of American history, the law, and the U.S. Constitution can be held in a thimble. This became glaringly obvious in a radio interview he gave to WLS Radio’s political reporter Bill Cameron.

Chief Garry McCarthy’s blather about the Second Amendment is amazing for its total lack of knowledge. For such a high-ranking official he displays an incredible lack of command on the subject. But, perhaps there is a reason? Perhaps it is less a simple lack of knowledge and more willful ignorance on his part, a purposeful dearth of knowledge he indulges to excuse his authoritarian, un-Constitutional desires to take away the natural, God-given rights of the citizens he polices?

His ignorance is so egregious the only proper way to reply to it is to take his “points,” such as they are, one at a time. So, the following is a transcript of the segment interspersed with my comments.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on WLS, AM 890 with reporter Bill Cameron. 2//17/13

McCarthy: You know, I’m troubled by the special interest. I really, really am and I wonder if we looked at other parts of our society and if there was special interest influencing police work I believe that would be called corruption. So, if it has to do with donating money versus a popular vote I think we have a bigger problem in this country and somebody’s gotta wake up to that.

Even as it almost sounds logical, this is little else but a rhetorical smoke screen that is meaningless and is purposefully meant to both muddy the waters of the discussion and mislead the public. After all, a democratic republic is special interests guiding politicians. Our entire system is set up to operate this way. There isn’t anything shocking, new, different, or even necessarily dangerous about special interests. We’ve always had them.

It is even in the Federalist Papers, the articles written to encourage the people to vote yes on the U.S. Constitution. (Federalist Number 10)
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Chicago Tribune’s Anti-Republican Hit Piece

February 25, 2013 | Filed Under Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In his recent column on the GOP candidates running to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr., the Chicago Tribune’s Bill Ruthhart either lied about his ultimate goal or he is just a terrible journalist. Either way his latest piece turned out to be a mere hit piece instead of news.

Ruthhart’s piece was apparently supposed to be informing the Tribune’s readers about the several Republican candidates vying to replace the disgraced Jesse Jackson, Jr. in the special election for Chicago’s Second Congressional District. Instead of giving a fair representation of that information, though, Ruthhart misled readers.

In the case of candidate Eric Wallace, Ruthhart offers opinion, not facts, and with Paul McKinley the writer doesn’t give all the facts pertinent to the points he raised so that readers can fully understand what is going on with the candidate.

First Ruthhart smears Eric Wallace as a dunce.
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Texas Moves to Block Police from Enforcing New Federal Gun Laws

February 25, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Regulation, Republicans, Texas, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

If passed, a bill introduced in the Texas State legislature would prevent state and local police officers from enforcing any new federal gun control laws.

The Firearm Protection Act, sponsored by Republican Representative Steve Toth (The Woodlands, Dist. 15), would stop Texas law enforcement officials from confiscating so-called assault weapons or large capacity ammunition magazines.

“There’s a federal law, there’s a 30-round magazine right in front of you – what do I do?,” Toth said to reporters. His bill, he said, firmly answers that question.
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Fox Business Network’s Claman to Interview Acting Tres. Sec. Neal Wolin Tuesday

February 25, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Fox Business Network, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

What: FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Liz Claman will have an exclusive interview with Acting Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin on Tuesday, February 26th from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in Chicago, IL. Appearing on FBN’s After the Bell (4PM/ET), Wolin will discuss cyber security and employment in the United States.

Wolin received the Alexander Hamilton Award in 2011–the highest honor given to a Treasury official.

Many in Washington thought that Wolin was former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s pick to replace him at Treasury, but it wasn’t long before rumors swirled early in January that Wolin was also headed for the exit door (many feel he wasn’t happy upon realizing he wouldn’t get Geithner’s job). Wolin was asked to stay on as the department’s temporary chief while the President endeavors to get his pick of Jacob Lew confirmed in the Senate.

Wolin may have had a roadblock to confirmation, though, in that he was a key architect of the disastrous Dodd-Frank bill, a law very unpopular with Republicans, to say the least.

Wolin was president and chief operating officer of the property and casualty insurance companies of the Hartford Financial Services Group. Previously he served under Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

Tune in on Tuesday, February 26, 2013; 4:00 PM/ET – 5:00 PM/ET
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Visual Aid: The Stupidity of What Constitutes an ‘Assault Weapon’

February 23, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Law, Liberals, Liberty, President, Progressives, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

First of all, there is no such thing as an “assault weapon.” But, despite that fact, when half-wit leftists try to define what an “assault weapon” is, all they really end up doing is describing what such a weapon looks like not what the weapon does.

Essentially you get this…

Note that the two weapons in the illustration above are both single shot muskets. But when all sorts of cosmetic bric-a-brac is added to the musket, it sure makes it appear more menacing.

All the fancy grips, plastic stocks, bayonet lugs, scopes, all this stuff is superficial, cosmetic, and none of them make the weapon any more dangerous than when it started out.

Well, this is where we are with the nonsensical “definitions” that liberals foist on us all as they attempt to define what an “assault weapon” is. All we get are what it looks like, not what it does.

As the photo above proves, ANY GUN can be made to LOOK LIKE an “assault weapon.” But what a gun looks like has precisely nothing to do with what it can do, how quickly it can fire, how supposedly “dangerous” it is.
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Whole Foods Apologizes for ‘Racist’ Sign Showing Obama Selling Chicken

February 23, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, New York, New York City, PCism, Race, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

After many complaints, a Whole Foods store in New York City took down a sign featuring an artist’s depiction of President Obama selling whole organic chicken.

The drawing appeared on a chalk board placed on the sidewalk outside the store located at Columbus and 97th Streets on the city’s Upper West Side.

Some customers and neighbors complained that using the President’s image to sell chicken was an offensive racial stereotype.

On Thursday, Channel 4, WNBC in New York, interviewed a man that lives in the neighborhood of the store.

“There are certain things that have been used to put down black people,” Woody Henderson told reporters.
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AFP Congressional Scorecard Released

February 23, 2013 | Filed Under Americans For Prosperity, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Progressives, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Americans for Prosperity has launched a new project for Americans to track their congressmen. The new website is part of an interactive version of AFP’s congressional key vote scorecard, which includes AFP key votes from the past three congresses.

Eighteen House members and one senator rated an A+ conservative rating while twenty-one reps. and one senator rated an F.

The new scorecard can be seen at afpscorecard.org. (A printable version can be seen HERE).

“The AFP Scorecard is an easy way for our activists, the media, and the general public to keep an eye on Washington. Now that the Scorecard is available on an interactive website it will be even easier to keep an eye on Congress,” said AFP Director of Policy James Valvo.
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Could CNBC Be Depriving Viewers of Vital Information?

February 23, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Cable, Capitalism, CNBC, Ethics, Fox Business Network, NBC, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

There was once a day when particular media outlets were so dominant that they could essentially make the rules on who they permitted to appear with them whether in print, on the radio, or on TV. Those days are long gone, of course. So, why does CNBC still think it has the power to demand that guests appear solely on its network? And, in so doing is CNBC depriving its viewers of the vital financial information that they need to plan their business days?

CNBC is the most watched financial-centered cable news network, certainly. Though its younger competitor, Fox Business Network, has been making amazing inroads into CNBCs viewer base, the older network is still on top of the heap… for now.

But will that hold if CNBC’s booking practices stay as they are now? One might wonder.
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Obama Resorts to Local TV Interviews to Push Tax Hikes

February 22, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama has launched a campaign to push his tax hikes by granting interviews to local TV news programs in eight states that will likely be affected by budget cuts that are soon to be realized as a result of sequestration.

The goal of Obama’s local interviews is to halt $85 billion in budget cuts. The five-minute segments were granted to stations in states that have a high military presence. Adding weight to Obama’s local TV interview campaign, the Pentagon announced cost-saving layoffs of up to 800,000 civilian employees who will be furloughed for 22 days.

In the interviews Obama warned of the potential job loss that might occur in those eight states and blamed Republicans for it all because of the sequestration that is soon to hit.
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MSNBC: Why Not Let Sonia Sotomayor Become The Next Pope?

February 22, 2013 | Filed Under Abortion, Bible, Cable, Catholicism, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Liberals, Progressives, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On a February 17 broadcast of MSNBC Live, panelist Chris Smith thought it would be a great idea to have U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor replace retiring Pope Benedict as head of the Catholic Church.

Smith, a contributing editor of New York magazine, thought Sotomayor would offer a “trifecta” of liberal attributes.

“Here’s a trifecta: Latin, female, American. It would do a lot of good. I mean it’s ridiculous, we’re talking about a religion here where women can’t even become priests… but it would speak to some of the issues about how the Church needs to open itself up,” Smith said.

Smith also offered another reason that Sotomayor would be a great Pope. It is because she is a Puerto Rican who lived in the Bronx and is “someone who lived in the real world.” Smith felt this “real world” life is something that “would be good for whoever is Pope.”

Smith was the only one that offered a “fantasy pick” for the new Pope. The other panelists picked current cardinals.
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Birthday of a Giant: Where Have you Gone George Washington?

February 22, 2013 | Filed Under Conservatives, Declaration of Independence, Ethics, Founders, George Washington, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is February 22nd, the birthday of our first President, George Washington.

I don’t celebrate “President’s Day.” I celebrate the presidents individually, not the whole gaggle of them at once. But I most certainly don’t celebrate George Washington, the father of our country, as just another president. These days, George Washington has been relegated to that “truth telling guy” to be seen on the one dollar bill and on TV commercials at the end of February or that guy lumped in with Lincoln on “President’s Day.” And that is a shame, indeed, for, without George Washington, our presidency and nation might have become a far different place.

What made Washington such a giant for our times as well as his? For one thing, he knew how to act in public.

Back in the 1700’s

In the year 1759 a man named William Robertson wrote a book called The History of Emperor Charles V. It was a book that some claim was the standard after which modern historical study and writing has come to be patterned. Mr. Robertson, who became Principle of the University of Edinburgh in later years, introduced a salient point into the era of the Scottish Enlightenment. That idea was that “Politeness” in society would result in becoming a civilized nation. And it was a politeness perpetuated and spread through capitalism that was the best avenue to achieving that civilized level.
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NCIS: LA Paints Patriots as Terrorists

February 21, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Hollywood, Liberals, Los Angeles, Progressives, Tea Party, Terrorism, TV, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The February 19 episode of CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles offered a veritable smorgasbord of liberal tropes–Tea Party types portrayed as terrorists, private healthcare insurance companies slammed and a potpouri of anti-capitalist themes.

The episode started off in an interesting direction when the NCIS team came across the murder of a 1960s leftist radical who had been on the run from the feds for inadvertently killing a fellow terrorist. But it wasn’t long before the idea of a ’60s-era radical became an attack on all things conservative.

As the team members entered into their investigation, they discovered a tie to a local college professor. The team decided to go undercover and, as Agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) began to socialize with students, she found one planning an Occupy Wall Street protest on campus.

All the talk about Occupy was entirely positive, of course, but in one scene as the peaceful Occupy gathering was in full swing, a group of violent thugs dressed in red and sporting bandana masks burst onto the scene. The thugs, wielding bats, assaulted the peaceful Occupiers and destroyed their displays.
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When Indicted, Networks Barely Mentioned Jesse Jackson, Jr’s Misuse of $750,000 in Campaign Cash

February 21, 2013 | Filed Under ABC, Budget, Campaign Finance, CBS, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jesse Jackson, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A survey of news coverage by the big three networks of the indictment of former Chicago Democrat Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. was sparse to non-existent for the first three days after the indictment was made public. Even when his trouble was reported, the fact that he is a Democrat went unmentioned.

Jackson was indicted on Friday, February 15, but as Friday, then the weekend rolled on, the big three networks didn’t seem much interested in covering the story. In fact, a survey of the coverage found that the big nets gave the story scant attention that Friday and, while there were a few ultra short reports on the indictment on Saturday, there was no coverage at all on Sunday.

On Friday, for instance, NBC’s Nightly News gave the story short attention. By Saturday, Good Morning America gave the story a whole 18 seconds. Worse, even when the network news shows did report the story on Saturday evening, Jackson’s party affiliation was never mentioned.

Interestingly, not one of the Sunday morning politics shows mentioned the indictment at all.
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S.E. Cupp’s Unhelpful Apostasy

February 20, 2013 | Filed Under Conservatives, Glenn Beck, GOP, Media, Policy, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Youthful commentator S.E. Cupp of the lamentable MSNBC recently made some trouble for herself by an ill-considered slam on Rush Limbaugh. Then, she made it worse with a subsequent doubling down on her unhelpful and unnecessary attack.

For those unaware, S.E. Cupp is a young, conservative commentator that has been close to Glenn Beck–close as in his employee–and last year began a stint as the token conservative on an MSNBC show called The Cycle.

To catch you up on the controversy, Cupp was quoted in The New York Times saying that we should not be afraid to “call out Rush Limbaugh” when he does or says something she deems outrageous.

Unsurprisingly, Miss Cupp was cremated on Twitter for her slam on Rush. While much of the attacks she sustained on Twitter were over the top and unwarranted, the essential criticism of her position is correct.

Instead of taking the criticism, though, in a follow up column published on February 19 in the New York Daily News Miss Cupp doubled down on her position.
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MSNBC’s Horrid ‘Race Joke’ Segment Mostly Anti-White/Anti-Conservative Jokes

February 20, 2013 | Filed Under Cable, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, MSNBC, Progressives, Religion, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry must have thought she was getting “edgy” in a recent segment on her show when she turned to the topic of “race jokes.” But instead of Maury Povich or Jerry Springer she ended up with sanitized PCism and another prosaic, partisan attack on whites and conservatives–the latter the only subject MSNBC ever seems to discuss.

To open the February 18 segment, Harris-Perry suggested that a good way to talk about race is to do so with humor. “Maybe race jokes are the place where we can actually talk about race,” she said.

One wishes that Harris-Perry had taken just a minute to define what she meant by “race jokes,” though. After all, there is humor based on damaging stereotypes and humor based on amusing, even affecting ethnic eccentricities and the two are not the same. In fact, when Harris-Perry asked the panel to throw out their best “race jokes,” her offering was a classic Jewish joke, a joke that wasn’t so much “race humor” as warm, cultural humor.
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PBS Anchor Judy Woodruff Angry Over Delay in Hagel Nomination

February 20, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, PBS, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff is angry and looking to hold someone accountable for the delay in the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Obama’s next Secretary of Defense.

Last week Woodruff demanded to know if anyone was going to “pay the price” for the delay in Hagel’s nomination. Woodruff made her demand during the February 15 broadcast of a segment of “Shields and Brooks,” with Republican Michael Gershon sitting in for New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Woodruff began the Hagel segment saying that the block of the former Nebraska Senator’s nomination was “unprecedented.” This, of course, is not true at all. There isn’t anything “unprecedented” about holding up a president’s nominations. It has happened repeatedly, especially in the last 40 years.
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Time Warner Looking to Sell Off Time Magazine Group

February 19, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Time Warner is looking for a way to throw in the towel on its magazine holdings by selling them off to Iowa-based Mederith Corp. and possibly ending its reign as the nation’s largest magazine publisher.

Reports from those close to negotiations say that Time Warner would retain its newsweekly, Time magazine, as well as Sports Illustrated and Forbes. But Time Warner would hand over titles such as People, InStyle, and Real Simple among others.

Sources claim that the proposal would see Time Warner and Meredith spin off their magazine holdings into a new, separate company. This plan, it is said, would afford Time Warner some new tax benefits.
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Feminist, HuffPo Blogger Naomi Wolf Joining Al Jazeera

February 19, 2013 | Filed Under Al-Jazeera, Anti-Americanism, Anti-Semitism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Political consultant, feminist, and Huffington Post blogger Naomi Wolf is in talks to join Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned news network that purchased Al Gore’s cable network, Current TV.

Responding to inquiries, Wolf said the talks are “extremely informal and very, very preliminary.”

Wolf currently writes for both the Huffington Post and the UK Guardian and has already scaled back her work the British newspaper. Huffington Post has areported that Wolf will be ending her association with the Internet site though no terms were announced.

Naomi Wolf has a long history of feminist activism authoring such books such as The Beauty Myth and Promiscuities but she also has a history of consulting for Democrats such as Al Gore. It was during Gore’s 2000 campaign when Wolf famously advised the Democrat nominee to wear “earth tones” in order to appeal to women.
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