Pray that you will never have to bear
all that you are able to endure.
Jewish saying
Tax Day, or As Barack Obama Would Say:
Jeb's son and George's nephew is running for office....
Chart of the Day
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| Courtesy of Wolters Klumer, CCH-13 via D. Mudoch, National Review |
First, my thoughts and prayers for the victims, multiple deaths and several severely injured including lower limb amputations, and their families. The news coverage is all over the web (e.g., here); Drudge Report has a whole section of links on the tragedy. There have been some reports that a figure of interest has been identified, possibly injured, and/or being interrogated, allegedly a Saudi citizen on a student visa.
I have nothing to add except a few observations:
- Obama has a real problem getting the word 'terrorism' out of his mouth; I myself noticed it when Obama said a few words about the incident. Apparently O'Reilly has criticized him for calling it a 'tragedy' instead of 'terrorism' Here we go again: Benghazi redux. Of course, it was terrorism; the explosions resulted in public confusion and fear: would there be other explosions and victims? The basic unknown was the nature, motive and extent of the attacks. But I don't really mind Obama using the term 'tragedy'. My guess is that Obama worried that people would start thinking 9/11 (already other cities were on heightened alert) and wanted more facts.
- The conservative blogs note that already some in the mainstream media (particularly CNN) are already raising the "right-wing extremist" bogeyman smear again (remember the infamous DHS memo 4 years ago?) If CNN is putting out nonsense like that, it hurts whatever limited credibility CNN has. But I've never understood why other conservatives worry about what the media thinks; overreactions just reinforce them.
- This is really annoying; after it was thought today's explosions may have been triggered by bombs hidden in backpacks, we are already hearing about security spot-checking backpacks. I don't want to attack security, but it gets ridiculous how reactive vs. proactive security has been. Shoe bomber? Everyone gets shoes screened. Bra bombs? Grannies get felt up. Underwear bomber? Even babies' diapers get scrutinized.
Maduro, Chavez' hand-picked successor, barely nipped challenger Capriles by less than 2 points. Capriles has not conceded and is demanding a recount, citing alleged election irregularities. I was frankly surprised--the closest I heard Capriles got to was behind 7 points in the polls. Some conservative bloggers claimed WikiLeaks earlier had flipped results, i.e., Capriles with a majority and a 1-point lead. I of course wanted Capriles to win, although he is more of a moderate with take-it-slow reforms. Maduro has no mandate.
Official Flag of the People's Republic of California
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| HT Drudge Report |
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Jerry Holbert and Townhall |
The Dallas Season Finale: Who Killed JR? Nice swerve; I won't reveal the ending here, but JR Ewing fans will appreciate it. Of course, nobody really believed JR was taken out by a random act of violence. Cliff Barnes, JR's arch-nemesis, is the obvious suspect, and I started to worry when the finale looked like it was heading in that direction. It didn't make sense--Barnes was the chief of a powerful company, and JR was no serious threat--he didn't even control the new Ewing Energies company. Why would Cliff wait until JR was in his senior years to kill him? But the swerve revelation is faithful to the JR character.
Music Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Kiss, "Beth". Their only Top 10 hit (Hot 100). Choosing music over a girl? Nerds would never make that mistake. If Kiss painted themselves up as nerds, they wouldn't have those problems.
