Scandal, The Juice, and Outer Limits

Scandalville: The President fired the acting IRS commissioner over the scandal about targeting conservative non-profit political groups. Steven Miller knew about inappropriate audits last fall and didn’t tell the administration. In a brief speech to the press, President Obama said, “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

  • One hundred pages of Emails about the Benghazi attacks show internal wrangling between the State Department, the CIA, and even within the CIA about what to tell Congress and the public. The Emails clearly show a gaggle of people discussing what should be said in the so-called “talking points”. The back and forth included debate over prior security warnings, whether to call the incident an attack or a demonstration, and whether to describe some participants as “Islamic extremists” or “Al Qaeda”.  Part of the concern was that Congress would use some of the information against the administration. Every version, including the final one said, “this assessment may change” as more information developed.

National: Six people are dead and seven missing after overnight tornadoes in North Texas. At least 50 are injured.

Crime Beat: A Paunchy and graying OJ Simpson appeared in a Las Vegas court yesterday to plead for a new trial on the armed robbery charges that landed him in prison for 33 years. Simpson his lawyer had told him it was OK to go to a Las Vegas hotel room to recover football memorabilia. “I thought this is stuff I should have, not some guy selling it in a hotel in Vegas,” he said.

  • A Phoenix jury decided that boyfriend-killer Jodi Arias is eligible for the death penalty because the murder involved extreme cruelty. A third phase of trial will determine whether she actually gets death, or life in prison.

The Obit Page: Billy Sol Estes, a Texas character whose name was synonymous with scandal, died in his sleep at age 88. In 1962 during the Kennedy administration his name was on the lips of every newscaster when he was accused a bilking a federal crop subsidy program. Estes spent time in prison but was a life-long con man. In one scheme he made a fortune selling investments in fertilizer tanks that didn’t exist. Time Magazine described him as “a welfare-state Ponzi”.

Outer Limits: NASA announced that the planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has been crippled by a mechanical failure and might become useless. Kepler has discovered two planets somewhat larger than earth where liquid water is a possibility. The spacecraft was launched in 2009 as part of NASA lower cost space exploration.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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