Outside of the Republican media bubble, I don't think there has been any doubt that Republicans, not President Obama, are the ones insisting on implementing the sequester's automatic spending cuts. Yet to hear House Speaker John Boehner tell it, you'd never know that. Boehner even went so far as to hold a press conference with the phrase "#Obamaquester" on a placard on his podium, and a "#Countdown to Obamaquester" clock in the background.(See photo below)

Wednesday, however, the unexpected happened -- Boehner admitted his lie. He came clean during an an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tapper's new show, "The Lead." Boehner initially tried to blame President Obama for the sequester, saying that "he forced this process to occur." Then Tapper pointed out that President Obama didn't want the sequester cuts ... and Boehner actually conceded the point:

"Well, no, he didn't want the cuts. But, uh, we have the sequester as a result of his demands. And I've told my colleagues in the House that the sequester will stay in effect until there's an agreement that will include cuts and reforms that will balance the budget over the next ten years."

Let there now be no doubt, this is the #Boehnerquester. Obama doesn't want the sequester cuts, John Boehner does -- and he'll insist on keeping them in place until even harsher budget cuts are enacted.

H/T Jed Lewison

Continue reading »

After a New York newspaper, the Journal News, published an interactive database of all the gun-permit holders in the region, an angered blogger retaliated by posting the names and addresses of almost every employee of the publication. Christopher Fountain said he was offended by the paper’s “conflating legal gun owners with some crazed tormented devil up in Newtown,” and “wondered how they would like it if their addresses were published.” The spark that lit the powder keg: emails he said he received from “abused women who were under protective order and in hiding” who said they feared for their safety after their information was posted on the Journal News database.

Gawker:

Christopher Fountain has spent the last three days posting the names and addresses of nearly every Journal News employee from Publisher on down.

In fact, as Talk of the Sound's Robert Cox noted after plugging the staffers' contact info into an interactive map of his own that some of the people listed by Fountain may no longer be at the paper due to several years of downsizing.

Asked today on CNN to justify his retribution, Fountain said he was offended by the paper's "conflating legal gun owners with some crazed tormented devil up in Newtown," and "wondered how they would like it if their addresses were published."

My grandmother always told me that "Two wrongs never make a right," and that's all I can think of to add to this debacle.

DOWNLOADS: (260)

PLAYS: (2689)

Embed

Thanks to Heather for the videos!

During an interview on CNN Wednesday night, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange warned that mass surveillance was becoming a worldwide problem as technology progressed. Assange has just published a new book about the internet, called "Cypher Punks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet."

Assange told CNN host Erin Burnett that the Internet has merged with global civilization, giving governments and others an unprecedented ability to spy on virtually anyone, because the technology to do so has become cheaper.

"Rather, the new game in two is strategic surveillance," he said. "It is cheaper now to intercept all communications in and out of a country. Store it permanently than it is to simply go after one particular person."

Now while you get the impression, at first, that Mr. Assange is a guest on CNN to discuss his new book. It could have indeed been quite an interesting topic, but that doesn't seem to be what Erin Burnett had in mind as she continuously tries to interrupt...

Continue reading »

Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist imprisoned for his role in a wide-ranging Washington corruption scandal, has appeared as a pundit on CNN. The BBC asks "Why have US television networks turned into comeback springboards for disgraced public figures?"

Excellent question, and nice to hear that others wonder the same thing.

Via:

On Thursday, Abramoff joined presenter Soledad O'Brien, New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza and others to analyse the recent US Supreme Court decision ratifying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law.

Introducing Abramoff, O'Brien acknowledged he had spent more than three years in federal prison - then plugged his new book.

She questioned him about the impact of the healthcare decision on the lobbying profession and how lobbyists would seek to influence Congress on the matter.

"Always nice to have you," she concluded. "We appreciate it. Thank you."

What conclusion did they reach?

"The journalistic mission became secondary to using notorious names to attract audiences."

It's an interesting outsiders look at what the BBC refers to as "decline of public moral standards" in American television news. Full article here.

Here's a clip from CNN's live coverage of the No NATO protests on Sunday in Chicago. At about 5:45 into the video, CNN finally takes a closer look at the police beating protesters with batons and a shocked Don Lemon wonders aloud, "Does anyone deserve that?"

[H/T MoxNews for video]

The Disabled National Veterans Foundation has spent more on marketing services than on actually helping veterans. A private company runs its fundraising, which often ends up costing more than $1 to raise $1. The foundation does sometimes send charities "badly needed" donations. "They sent us 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's," said one charity's executive director. "We didn't have a lot of use for 11,520 bags of coconut M&M's."

Full Transcript:

A national charity that vows to help disabled veterans and their families has spent tens of millions on marketing services, all the while doling out massive amounts of candy, hand sanitizer bottles and many other unnecessary items to veteran aid groups, according to a CNN investigation.

The Disabled Veterans National Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., and founded in 2007, received about $55.9 million in donations since it began operations in 2007, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms.

Yet according to the DVNF's tax filings with the IRS, almost none of that money has wound up in the hands of American veterans.

Instead, the charity made significant payments to Quadriga Art LLC, which owns two direct-mail fundraising companies hired by the DVNF to help garner donations, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms.

Those forms show the charity paid Quadriga and its subsidiary, Brickmill Marketing Services, nearly $61 million from 2008 until 2010, which was the last year public records were available.

The independent group CharityWatch gave the DVNF an "F" grade. More than 30 veterans charities were rated by the independent group by the amount they spend on fundraising compared to actual donations, and two-thirds were given either a D or F grade, according to CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff.

"Up to $2 billion is raised in the name of veterans in this country and it's so sad that a great deal of it's wasted," Borochoff said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars of our charitable dollars intended to help veterans is being squandered and wasted by opportunists and by individuals and companies who see it as a profit-making opportunity."

Continue reading »

I was shocked at first to hear CNN's Erick Erickson say on the air "Watching a hippie protester get tased just makes my day." He was speaking of a member of Occupy DC who was tased recently by Park police. After I recalled exactly who Erickson is, and how he referred to former Supreme Court Justice David Souter as a "goat f-cking child molester," not so shocked anymore.

Eternally disappointed in CNN, yes, but not shocked.

These are the videos that show the Occupy DC protester, Lash, being tased by the Park police. The video on the bottom of the post is the one that shows Lash suffering what appears to be a seizure as he lays face down on the pavement.

I don't think I care to know anything else about Erickson, ever.