To keep the record straight on the details about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, I want to do a quick recap: In 2007, under Bush, two of Abdulmutallab co-conspirators were released from Gitmo and sent to Saudi Arabia. (source) Abdulmutallab was given a visa to the United States in June 2008, despite being on the terrorist watch […]
I am really curious to hear how the wingnuts spin this one: Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al […]
In an “exclusive” published by TMZ they claimed to have “never before seen” images of JFK on a boat filled with naked woman. Oh the shame! Here’s the image: TMZ is claiming the photo is from the mid-1950’s, but there is a big problem. That exact same photo appeared in Playboy in 1967 as part […]
I’m going with Andrew Sullivan on this one: Her latest interview on the Today show again reveals a total obtuseness. Yes, as was obvious from the original clip, it was clear she was referring to what happened after the incident occurred and the system does seem to have worked from then on. But before that? […]
As Republicans take to the airwaves to lay all the blame on President Obama for the Christmas day attempted terrorist attack, Ben Smith points out that Republicans also can take some of the blame: As Republicans seek to put the blame for the widespread perception of ineptness at the Transportation Security Administration on the Obama […]
As Chris Cillizza points out there was one big news item last week that got lost in the shuffle – redistricting. Look at this break down of states that will gain and lose seats according to the Census Bureau’s early estimates: States Gaining Seats Arizona (+1)*: Gov. Jane Brewer (R) up in 2010; state Senate […]
We hear the phrase “24 hour news cycle” an awful lot, but in reality we don’t have a 24 hour news cycle. Instead this decade has seen a 24 hour news cycle evolve into a 24 hour opinion cycle. Take the case of my previous post of Mary Matalin claiming that Bush inherited 9/11 and […]
I am going to stick with 1980 for my discussion on the federal poverty level because in this post it also works to exemplify the problems. In 1980 families didn’t have as many costs. Two costs are internet and cable. Some might argue that those are luxury items, but when you are talking about a […]
We saw it after Ft. Hood and now we are seeing it again – a Republican Party that cares nothing about actual terrorism, but rather playing politics with it. A perfect example of this is Mary Matalin, who said on CNN yesterday that Bush “inherited” the 9/11 attacks. Inherited to the point that Bush ignored […]
I want to take a post Marcy Wheeler did yesterday and change it to reflect my revised FPL I did in the previous post. 301% of Poverty Level: $66,370 Federal Taxes (estimate from this page, includes FICA): $8,628 (13% of income) State Taxes (using MI rates on $30,000 of income): $1,305 (2% of income) Food […]