Ryan is Speaker, CNBC is the Loser

Mr. Speaker: Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan was elected Speaker of the House yesterday, a job he didn’t really want, taking over for John Boehner who was hogtied and rolled out by the far right wing. Ryan is the 54th Speaker in history, and at age 45, the youngest since 1869. Speaking immediately after the vote, Ryan said, “Let’s be frank, the House is broken. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.”

Ryan’s test is to see whether, unlike Boehner, he can work with the extreme conservatives and get things done.

In his final address to the House, Boehner poked fun at his colleagues saying, “Now as much as I enjoy working with all of you, some of you could learn to dress better …. You know who you are.” But trying to leave the House of Representatives with a civic lesson, he said, “Real change takes time. Real freedom makes all things possible, but patience is what makes all things real. Believe in the long slow struggle.”

Nation: Several people were injured yesterday when a Boeing 767 bound for Caracas, Venezuela caught fire on takeoff from Ft. Lauderdale. The Dynamic International Airways jet had 101 people on board, including the crew. One person was seriously injured. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, but the pilot of another plane reported to the tower that he saw fuel leaking from the Dynamic jet.

>Preppie sex offender Owen Labrie, 20, was sentenced to a year in jail yesterday on his conviction for statutory rape and using a computer to lure a minor into having sex. Labrie had graduated from the St. Paul’s boarding school in 2014 and was headed for Harvard before he was accused of raping a 15 year old schoolmate. He will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The Obit Page: Tillman the skateboarding English bulldog from Southern California died this week at age 10. He’d get two feet on the board, push off with the other two, and ride with a smile and his tongue hanging out. The brindled dog became a viral video sensation because he could also surf and snowboard.

Postgame Show: Political analysts may differ on which presidential candidate got the most, or the least, out of the third Republican debate, but the host network CNBC has been universally declared the loser. CNN’s Brian Stelter said, “When you hear the audience booing the moderators, you know you are in a very tough spot.”

But the three little known hosts, Carl Quintanilla, John Harwood, and Becky Quick, actually asked some pointed questions that did not get realistic answers. Ben Carson skated away on what he would do about the trillion dollar deficit left by his 10 percent flat tax. Donald Trump on walling off Mexico, throwing out 11 million illegal immigrants, and cutting taxes by $10 trillion without increasing the deficit merely said, “Right.”

Carly Fiorina said she could bring 70,000 pages of tax code down to three. Quintanilla asked, “Is that using really small type?”

Most of the prompts from the moderators consisted of, “We’re going to move on,” but CNBC’s John Harwood may have tripped the wire when he asked, “Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?”

Ted Cruz eventually blasted the panel saying, “The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media.” Maybe, but the answers illustrated why they don’t trust politicians either.

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Thursday, May 2, 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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