NEWS YOU CAN USE: Salad More Dangerous Than Hamburgers, Expert Warns. Burgers and fries — best thing for you!
Archive for 2013
March 23, 2013
THE CARNIVAL OF CARS IS UP!
THE CYPRUS DEPOSITOR “HAIRCUT” looking more like a buzz-cut now.
NO, THESE PICTURES AREN’T FROM ONE OF MY SCUBA TRIPS. Yesterday I went to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg, and took them with my Lumix LX-5 — still a great little camera — from inside the plexiglas tunnel that goes through the Shark Lagoon. Frankly, I hope I never get such good pics of toothy marine animals when I’m scuba diving. . . .
THE HILL: Top House lawmakers slam ICE division on ‘Fast and Furious.’
Top House lawmakers criticized a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday for its role in the failed gun tracking operation ‘Fast and Furious,’ after a new report detailed the agency’s involvement.
At the urging of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), officials with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit did not pursue leads on potential weapons smugglers, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inspector general report released on Friday.
The 84-page report also found that senior leaders in ICE’s investigative Arizona division failed to read the reports from agents in the field that identified the “flawed methodology” in the “Fast and Furious” operation, according to the report.
The country’s in the very best of hands.
HAVING A FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT IS NOT A CRIME. YET. Government Loses First Offshore Bank Account Prosecution. “[T]he Government rarely loses criminal tax prosecutions. This is believed to be the first unsuccessful prosecution relating to the use of foreign bank accounts in the Government’s ongoing international enforcement efforts. The Government must objectively and carefully select the cases to prosecute — the mere presence of a foreign bank account and foreign trust does [not] mean there has been a tax crime — an assumption which seemed to blindly guide the prosecution of Mr. Pflueger, an innocent man.”
ROLL CALL: DOJ Responds to Vitter on Voting Issue That Could Hinder Perez Nomination. “The Justice Department responded Friday to Sen. David Vitter’s request for more information about its enforcement of a federal voter registration law — a response the Louisiana Republican demanded before deciding whether to drop his threat to block the nomination of Thomas Perez as the next Labor secretary.”
CONFIRMATION FAIL: White House withdraws court nominee who was blocked twice by GOP. “President Obama on Friday withdrew his nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia after the New York lawyer was twice filibustered by Republicans in the Senate.”
THE HILL: Senate endorses Keystone XL in budget amendment vote.
Sen. John Hoeven’s (R-N.D.) amendment was largely symbolic, but served as a clear statement that the Senate backs the pipeline.
“It puts the Senate on record in support of the Keystone pipeline project. And that’s just appropriate,” Hoeven said. “The Department of State has done four environmental impact statements over the last five years — four — and said there are no significant environmental impacts. And it’s time that we in the Senate stepped up with the American people.”
All Republicans voted in favor. The Democrats who supported the measure were Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Chris Coons (Del.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Joe Manchin (W. Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Jon Tester (Mont.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
Hmm.
LAW: Kentucky Supreme Court disbars famed class-action lawyer Stanley Chesley.
The Kentucky Supreme Court has permanently disbarred famed Cincinnati trial attorney Stanley Chesley, often called the “master of disaster” for his handling of national headline-generating class-action lawsuits. . . . Chesley is the latest of several attorneys to lose a law license after participating in a 2001 Boone Circuit Court settlement for $200 million over damages caused by the diet drug fen-phen, which damaged heart valves. The attorneys in that case received the bulk of the settlement even though contracts with their clients said they were entitled to about one-third of the settlement.
That’s not right.
March 22, 2013
ROLL CALL: Sen. Mike Lee Proposes Supermajority to Pass Gun Control Bills. “Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, will offer an amendment to the Democrats’ fiscal 2014 budget resolution that seeks to require a two-thirds majority for the passage of any gun control legislation in the Senate. . . . Lee’s amendment, which his office provided to CQ Roll Call, features a broad definition of gun control and seeks to require a 67-vote supermajority threshold for passage of a number of the proposals that are expected to be debated on the floor next month.”
BUT REMEMBER, WE’RE SUFFERING UNDER AUSTERITY: Biden’s One-Night Paris Hotel Tab: $585,000.50.
THE WORLD’S GREATEST CAT BURGLAR HAS DIED. “Peter Scott, who has died aged 82, was a highly accomplished cat burglar, and as Britain’s most prolific plunderer of the great and good took particular pains to select his victims from the ranks of aristocrats, film stars and even royalty.” His final reflection: “I gave all my money to head waiters and tarts.”
I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Meteor sightings reported from Florida to Massachusetts.
UPDATE: More here, including videos.
THE NEXT STAGE: Capital Controls In Cyprus.
LENA HEADEY: The Photoshoot.
GLAD TO BE OF HELP: Reader Randall DeGeorge writes:
Just wanted to say thanks for the Amazon link on the microSD card sale that you posted last night. My wife and I finally upgraded to smartphones (Galaxy S3 for me, and Galaxy Note2 for her), and I have been looking at various microSD cards around town to upgrade the memory. Your link was perfectly timed, and the prices were considerably better than I could find locally. I was able to get two 64GB high speed cards for just slightly more than I would have paid for one here. Thanks much!!
Glad to be of help!
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Flirt With Strangers Without Being Creepy.
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Chicago Says It Will Close 54 Public Schools. “After weeks of uncertainty, principals at 54 public schools here officially learned from city officials on Thursday that their schools would close, with 11 more to share space with other schools. The closings represent the largest group of campuses to be shut down at one time by a city in recent memory. . . . In Chicago, where about 100 schools have already been closed since 2001, Ms. Byrd-Bennett has said that the district needs to reduce a $1 billion deficit.”
All is proceeding as I have foreseen.
AT AMAZON, 20% or more off on select laptops.
I WONDER WHAT THE PICKUP ARTIST COMMUNITY WOULD SAY ABOUT THIS STORY? I slept with everyone (and it led to true love). Forget about playing hard to get. Ophira Eisenberg says she had as much sex as she liked – and still found the man of her dreams.