Archive for November, 2012

I’M GLAD THE SOBER FOLKS AT BUZZFEED are above running this demeaning image. Oh, wait . . . .

GO TO LAW SCHOOL, GRADS, BECAUSE WHAT ELSE IS THERE? “A law dean — Lawrence E. Mitchell of Case Western — argues that ‘Law School Is Worth the Money’… because what else are you going to do with the money you don’t have your life?”

TOM MAGUIRE: Walk, Don’t Run To The Gym. I was going to make a Ventures joke, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

WHITE HOUSE BAD FAITH: Boehner Angered by Leak of Phone Call. “Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Republican leaders are fuming after a late night phone call with President Barack Obama was leaked to the press, despite an agreement that it would not be, according to several GOP aides. Republicans believe the administration leaked details of the 30-minute Wednesday night phone call to Politico, which is causing them to question whether they can trust the White House to keep details private, a sentiment that has caused progress in the negotiations over the ‘fiscal cliff’ to stall.”

White House aides deny leaking it. Maybe it was the CIA folks who are listening to Obama’s calls. . . .

THE INCREASING UNIMPORTANCE of imported oil. It’ll be even less important if fracking and the Keystone pipeline move forward.

CAN WE STOP MODERN DAY MAD SCIENTISTS? Forget geoengineering. I’d look at an infectious-disease expert with Deep Ecology beliefs. . . .

OUR BRIGHT NATIONAL FUTURE: 200 Square Foot Homes. “Austin, 23, sees the tiny home he’s building as perfect for Generation Y — underemployed, credit-crisis kids who know they will probably never achieve the ‘Mad Men’-era American ideal of a one-income family with a large house in the suburbs, two kids and two cars.”

Takeaway quote: “These tiny houses feels like we are going backwards.” I believe you mean Forward!

IS THE PRESS turning on Susan Rice? “Well, when Right Turn and Mother Jones agree, is there any room for doubt? (Or maybe it’s the sign of the apocalypse?)”

Related: “Rice was always expendable. She was the capsule into which the Benghazi scandal was enclosed for burial.”

Say, speaking of that, what about all the people who were rescued from the Consulate? What are their names? Why haven’t we heard anything from them?

UPDATE: Reader Robert Frick emails:

Regarding your question about the people rescued during the Benghazi attack on Sept 11, 2012, I would guess the reason the public has not been told who they are is because most if not all are CIA. The work they were doing may be classified and/or they are under a general order not to talk to the press. This is fairly common for people who work for intelligence services. Classified status of course has never stopped press outlets like the NY Times from publishing details of secret projects when it serves a political purpose. Still, I don’t see why an outfit like FOX News or a foreign press couldn’t at the very least publish a general expose that doesn’t reveal names.

Who the people extracted from Benghazi that night are is just one of the questions I’ve been waiting for the press to ask ever since we learned of this horrific incident. The others are what exactly was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi the day he was murdered, and if the president really gave an order to do everything possible to help the remaining men still under attack, who countermanded him with the Stand Down order? I don’t know what’s more shameful – a likely presidential cover-up or the refusal of the American press to inquire seriously about it.

If all the people in the Consulate — not the CIA Annex a mile away, but the actual Consulate — were CIA, then that would be quite unusual, and would suggest that there was a lot going on. It would also support the claim that the attack on the consulate was an effort to free jihadis who had been seized and held for interrogation, though by all accounts that was going on over at the Annex. But who knows? There’s certainly not much press interest in reporting on it.