The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

News From the People’s Democratic Republic of 3600 New York Avenue

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 13 Comments

The paranoid managerial regime now in charge of The Washington Times has announced a successful further liquidation of the kulaks:

The Washington Times summoned several staff members to the auditorium this morning. Inside sources say management has laid off approximately 25 employees in a newsroom of 90 . . .
Several employees who were not invited to this morning’s meeting… suspect that they will be fired separately. . . .
Meanwhile, TWT consultant John Solomon, who ridiculously insists he has nothing do with layoff decisions, is meeting with the remaining employees this afternoon to discuss operations.

Another Glorious Triumph of the Five-Year Plan!

Such helpless ineptitude would be funny if it were not so tragically sad. FishbowlDC also published a brutal resignation letter submitted last month by the paper’s former deputy editorial page editor:

The Washington Times today is the most unprofessional and dishonest organization I have ever encountered. I can’t continue to spend the lion’s share of my professional time fighting unethical practices being pushed by top leaders in the company.

When I quit five years ago — immediately after it was announced that Solomon had been hired from the Washington Post to replace retiring editor Wes Pruden — some of my co-workers thought I was crazy. Most of those people were subsequently laid off and, whenever I run into one of them nowadays, they congratulate me on having had the foresight to get out while the getting was good.

UPDATE: Veteran photographer Rod Lamkey, sports writer Patrick Stevens and web editor Ted Starkey were reportedly among the kulaks liquidated by the regime in the latest purge. One staffer, Steve Repsher, who got re-hired after being laid off in 2009. was laid off again, but not before remarking the irony:

UPDATE II: By my count, the Washington Times is on its fourth editor in five years. Editor No. 3, Ed Kelley, was hired in June 2011 and lasted only 16 months in the job. David Jackson was hired as his replacement (Editor No. 4) in November. Meanwhile, John Solomon (Editor No. 1) was re-hired by the Times as a consultant in June (after he left the Daily Beast in January) and was reportedly the man in charge of “reviewing all the departments to decide who they retain” in the latest round of layoffs. You have to be sort of a Kremlinologist to understand who’s who in the Supreme Soviet of the People’s Democratic Republic these days.

UPDATE III: In November, Washington Times editorial page editor Brett Decker resigned and, about three weeks later, Kerry Picket announced she was leaving the paper to join Breitbart.com:

“This is a smart move for Breitbart News and a huge blow to the Washington Times. There is no other way to spin it,” said former TWT editorial page editor Brett Decker, who was Picket’s boss from 2009 until last month. “Kerry’s online reporting generates millions of pageviews a year. During my last days at the newspaper, she had about 1 million pageviews for a single post.”

When Kerry walked out, among the valuable assets she took with her was a Twitter following of more than 12,000. Is there any staffer remaining at The Washington Times who has a social-media presence that size? The newspaper’s main Twitter feed has barely 60,000 followers. (By comparison, David Limbaugh has 87,000 Twitter followers, Dave Weigel has 98,000 and Mark Levin has 190,000.)

This just goes to show the myopia of management. A couple days ago, The Glorious Peoples Commissar David Jackson published a “vision” paper with a lot of blather about becoming a “digital-first news organization” in which “our Internet and online audiences will become our first thought.”

This would seem rather difficult when there’s apparently no one in the organization with a significant social-media presence.

Category: Journalism

DeMint At Heritage

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

It sounds as though DeMint hopes to do more as a thought leader at Heritage than he did in elective office.

Why was he incapable of being a ‘big ideas’ guy in office?

The ‘optimistic, positive ideas’ pitch sounds swell, but I thought that’s the approach on which Romney finished a powerful, strong second. See what I did there? Avoiding talking about how we got spanked by broadband, breech-loaded baloney is, itself, tantamount to pure hooey.

You can paint the bleak reality of today’s 5Ws without appeal to violence.

Category: Uncategorized

Tee Hee Hee: Stacy’s Cousin Makes Hawkins’s 20 Most Annoying Libs List

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 25 Comments

by Smitty

I should like to meet Maggie Moo some day to assure her that, while bearing her no personal animosity, this blog finds her ideas emblematic of how jacked up her generation and this country are:

18) Meghan McCain: The GOP and Meghan McCain have the same sort of great love we’ve seen between Chris Brown and Rihanna. Who’d have ever thought that the Republican Party’s pale imitation of Paris Hilton would still hate us after all this time besides — well, everybody?

Defining Quote: “…I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting for change from inside the Republican Party….If I don’t see some changes in the next four years, I’m going to consider registering as an Independent in 2016.” — Megan McCain

Great post. Thank you, Hawkins!

via Insty

Category: Meghan McCain

It’s Never Enough for Liberals

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 37 Comments

Having just raised taxes — before the “ink from the autopen” is even dry — Democrat Maxine Waters is demanding still more:

The first thing that we’ve got to do is look at where we still have unfairness in the tax system and make sure that the people of influence, the billionaires and the millionaires and the corporate interests are paying their fair share.

Meanwhile, Donald Douglas reports, liberal talk-radio host Thom Hartmann wants America to “outlaw billionaires“:

I think we should have a wealth tax in the United States and I think all wealth over $1 billion should be taxed at the 100 percent rate. If you can’t make it on a thousand million dollars, a billion dollars is a million dollars a thousand times, if you can’t make it on a billion dollars, well, there is no therefore. There’s nobody who can’t make it on a billion dollars. So, any wealth over a billion dollars, a hundred percent of it goes to help those of us who have less. You can call it redistribution of wealth, that’s fine, I am perfectly comfortable with that language. I think we should outlaw billionaires.

“Eliminationist rhetoric“! But what about those Qatari billionaires who just bought Al Gore’s Current TV? Should they have been outlawed before or after they paid Gore a cool $100 million?

Category: Liberals, Taxes

Will ObamaCare Cover This Injury?

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 7 Comments

An unexpected occuptional hazard:

CLEVELAND — A woman was seriously injured after a bizarre incident inside a local strip club early Wednesday morning.
It happened at Christie’s Caberet in The Flats, just after 1 a.m.
According to police, 22-year-old Lauren Block, of Richmond Heights, was reportedly on the second floor of the club when she went over the balcony and landed on her head. . . .
[A] witness said he was getting a lap dance from Block on the second floor of the club when something went terribly wrong.
The reporting officer said this of the incident: “(The witness) stated that (the dancer) grabbed the rail, as he was facing away from the balcony, and she tried to complete some sort of jump/dance move, and accidentally went head first over the rail.”
Block reportedly fell 15 feet and suffered “major head trauma.”
She was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, where she is listed in critical condition.

If Sandra Fluke can demand free contraceptives, surely strippers should be covered for major head trauma. Health care is a human right!

Category: Ohio

LIVE AT FIVE: 01.04.13

Posted on | January 4, 2013 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Boehner Barely Survives As Speaker

House Minority Leader Pelosi yields the gavel to reelected Speaker of the House Boehner

Ten Republicans withhold votes, cutting margin to three; Pelosi also suffers five defections

Disputes Brewing If Chavez Too Sick To Attend Own Inauguration
Venezuelan government says president suffering from severe lung infection

Argentina Reasserts Claims To Falklands
President Kirchner releases letter calling on UK to obey UN resolutions, talk about islands’ sovereignty



POLITICS
First Faux-Indian Senator Sworn In As 113th Congress Convenes

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) takes the oath of office

Some moron from a family of drunks, politicians and rapists (BIRM) also sworn in

MSNBC Wets Itself Over “Diversity” Of 113th Congress

IL Senate Democrats Wave White Flag On Gay Marriage, Gun Control Bills

Feds Approve Health Insurance Exchanges In Seven More States

First Hindu Congresswoman Takes Oath On Bhagavad Gita

Senator Mark Kirk Makes Dramatic Return After Stroke

Boehner Says No More One-On-One Meetings With Obama

Administration Delivers Delayed Regulatory Agenda; Could Cost $123 Billion To Implement



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Prices Slip On Profit Taking After Fiscal Cliff Rally: NYMEX $92.92, Brent $112.14
Google Beats The Rap
ADP Estimates 215,000 Jobs Created In December
Welcome To The Fiscal Farce
Nordstrom, Costco Report Higher December Sales
Stocks Drop After Fed Signals End To Bond Buys
Spam Canner Hormel Buys Skippy Peanut Butter From Unilever
Can Waze Save Apple Maps?
Samsung Still Rules US Mobile Market
LG, Panasonic, Sony TVs Will Use Android Phones As Remotes
Sprint Set To Unleash Prepaid Service This Month
Snapchat’s Vanishing Photos: The Latest Photo Sharing App
Minecraft Achieves 5 Million XBox Downloads, 17.5 Million Total



SPORTS
Ducks Run Past Wildcats At Fiesta Bowl

Ducks RB De’Anthony Thomas returns the opening kickoff 94 yards for a TD

And then they ran up the score to 35-17 over Kansas State

McNabb Says Eagles Shouldn’t Hire Kelly (Video)

Knicks Steamroll Spurs 100-83

Andy Reid, KC Chiefs Nearing Deal

Penn State’s O’Brien Stays Put After Interview With Browns

New Day, Same News In NHL Lockout Talks

Even Sergio Romo Gets Hosed By The TSA

Murray Chass To Give Up Hall Of Fame Ballot After One Last Dumb Vote

Unsigned Kyle Lohse Hasn’t Talked To Cardinals In Months



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jenny Craig, Medifast Uninterested In Unspeakable Armenian As Spokesthing

Unspeakable Armenian: REJECTED

Jenny Craig looking to promote “real weight loss for real women”. ‘Nuff said.

Kelly Clarkson: Weight Loss Is For Love

Bradley Cooper & Zoe Saldana Split Again

Bethenny Frankel Still Living With Jason Hoppy After Legal Separation

Frank Ocean Busted For Weed On The Go, Driver’s License Confiscated

Lindsay Lohan Paid $100K To Party At Posh London Gala On New Year’s Eve

Britney Spears Working On Next Album

Blacks Turn Out In Force For Tarantino’s “Django Unchained”



FOREIGNERS
Former Delhi Policewoman Says Criticism Of Police In Gang Rape Case Well Deserved
Delhi Rapists Charged With Kidnapping, Rape And Murder; Police Will Seek Death Penalty
State Department Warns Richardson, Schmidt Not To Visit North Korea
Morsi Aide Rapped Over Call For Jews To Return
Suspect In NY Subway Bomb Plot To Be Extradited From UK To US
Malala Yousafzai’s Father Given Consulate Post In Birmingham; Family To Stay In UK
Mexican Troops Kill Twelve In Zacatecas Gunfight
Rebels Threaten To Quit Congo Talks
It’s Cash Only At The Vatican After Bank Of Italy Cuts Off Credit Card Processing



BLOGS & STUFF
Power Line: Better Late Than Never – Boehner Swears Off Secret Deals
Hit & Run: Boehner Re-Elected Speaker But Loses Libertarians’ Votes
Just One Minute: Kevin Drum On Lead And Crime
Hot Air: Pelosi Tells GOP “You Really Ought To Take Back Your Party”
Fred Barnes: The President Who Wants It All
Via Meadia: US Electricity Use Falls As Economy Greens
Bryan Preston: Are Women No Longer Allowed To Fight In Al Jazeera’s “War Room”?
Media Decoder: Time Warner Cable Says They’ll Keep Open Mind On Reinstating Al Jazeera (Formerly Current TV)
Sense Of Events: Americans Are “Liberal-tarian”
Breitbart: FBI – More People Killed With Hammers, Clubs Each Year Than Rifles
Gateway Pundit: Former Dem NYC Mayor Candidate Mark Green Equates Gun Owners To Child Molesters
Israel Matzav: “Unprecedented Support For Israel,” My Tuchus
American Power: Online Pay Models In 2013
NRO Corner: Clinton Adviser Rips Fox News Producer For “Asinine” Question

Category: Live at Five

World’s Least Intimidating Criminal

Posted on | January 3, 2013 | 12 Comments

Say hello to Zachary Dalton Howard of Niceville, Florida. About 10 p.m. on Dec. 22, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department, 22-year-old Howard walked into a convenience store “dressed in a long black coat, hoodie and blue jeans. He told the clerk he had a firearm but never showed a weapon. He left without getting any money after the clerk showed him an empty cash register drawer.”

Howard then went to a nearby Winn-Dixie grocery store, where he called his mother for a ride home.

After he was arrested, Howard told deputies he never had a weapon. He has been charged with one count of robbery.

(Via Florida Sun-Sentinel and Huffington Post.)

Category: Crime, Florida

Joe Biden, Class Act

Posted on | January 3, 2013 | 8 Comments

Three headlines from Drudge:

Remember when they said Sarah Palin wasn’t ready to be vice president?

Category: Uncategorized
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