Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has a special request for the U.S. government: He wants to be taxed more, he writes in today’s New York Times. The trouble is, he leaves out some very important facts—while feeding into President Barack Obama’s calls for higher taxes. “Our leaders have asked for ‘shared sacrifice,’” he proclaims. “But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.” “Shared sacrifice” is a well-worn catchphrase peppering President Obama’s remarks …
A lengthy article in today’s New York Times about Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) contains at least five major factual errors, including one that the undermines the central premise of the story, the congressman’s office asserted in a high-profile showdown with the Grey Lady. The newspaper already admitted to one mistake in the 2,700-word story, but reporter Eric Lichtblau said he would not correct other factual errors pointed out by Issa’s staff. Now, the central assertion of Lichtblau’s story — that Issa directed federal funds to increase the value of property he …
While Russia gives the illusion of looking for missile defense cooperation, it has waged a full-scale campaign against U.S. missile defenses. Dmitry Rogozin, special representative of the president of the Russian Federation for interaction with NATO in missile defense, recently stated that Moscow has been working to bring the issue of the European missile shield to a “broad open discussion.” Rogozin’s comments followed a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Consider another statement by Rogozin: “It is obvious that the missile shield planned to be established on the …
At the beginning of the month, Lloyd’s of London, the world’s leading marine insurance market, designated Nigeria and Benin as “war-risk” zones due to an escalation of piracy. While the vast of majority of the world’s pirate attacks take place off the Horn of Africa and more specifically in the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea has become a popular target for pirates looking to make a quick buck. The Gulf of Guinea is a major trade hub, and neighboring countries are increasingly sources of oil, metals, cotton and …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Gallup: Obama job rating sinks below 40% for first time – Michael A. Memoli, Los Angeles Times Economists’ outlook darkens: See 30% chance of recession – Paul Davidson and Barbara Hansen, USA Today Debt panel should educate the public on tough choices – Boston Globe Postal Service running out of money – James Gattuso, Orange County Register Day to remember before we die – James Carafano, Washington Examiner Rumsfeld: A Voice …
A New Jersey Superior Court issued an injunction against a local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers, which is one of the two unions currently on strike against Verizon Communications, and represents about 10,000 of the 45,000 striking employees. The injunction prohibits a range of activities, some of which have reportedly been employed by various union picketers in efforts to obstruct or harass the company or its workers since the strike began more than a week ago. Among the practices specifically forbidden under the court’s ruling: the throwing …
A major donor to the Democratic Party has received favorable treatment from the Obama administration, including a choice appointment to a federal advisory committee, and lavish praise from the president himself. Yet health information technology vendor Epic Systems Corp. opposes a key administration position on health IT. Its founder, Judith Faulkner, has spoken out on numerous occasions against “interoperability” in electronic medical records technology. So why was Faulkner appointed to a 13-member panel charged with recommending how $19 billion in stimulus money be spent? One can’t help but notice that …
Forget “One if by land; two if by sea.” An Amphibious Ready Group can come at America’s enemies by land or sea—and in numbers much greater than ones and twos. These Navy–Marine task forces are deployed around the world to do everything from humanitarian assistance and refugee evacuation to combat operations. Amphibious Ready Groups are like a Swiss Army knife. A typical group carries about 2,000 ground troops and a couple of boatloads of attack and support aircraft. It’s a mean machine. In a recent interview, the commanding officer of …
Obamacare has suffered a devastating blow. On Friday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the individual mandate in President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation is unconstitutional. With its ruling, the court affirmed the principle that the Constitution means what it says—Congress does not have unfettered power to force the American people to comply with any and all dictates it creates. The federal government’s argument in favor of Obamacare’s individual mandate, in contrast, is without limit—and it’s a position that the court strongly rejected: The government’s position amounts to …
For Americans, the best-case scenario is that Washington’s ruling kleptocracy sleepwalks its subjects into smaller homes, smaller cars, smaller lives, and soft despotism so beguilingly they don’t notice it’s over until late in the day. A more likely prospect is a catastrophically convulsed America that descends into Balkanized ruin and social collapse on a planet with no global order in which the former hyperpower still makes the most inviting target. So predicts the despondent Mark Steyn in his new book After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. A columnist for National …
