Dan Calabrese

Obama’s economic speech full of nothing in 3 minutes

The economy is bad and getting worse, and even he seems to know he can't keep blaming Bush, so Obama is resorting again to his favorite act. He goes on the road and gives speeches attacking Republicans (but different ones now) for the failures of his own policies. The whole thing is too much to subject you to, so here's the three-minute lowlight special:

Issa proposes end of door-to-door mail delivery; congressional freakout in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

Remember, the U.S. Postal Service is bleeding cash to the tune of $15.9 billion a year. And unlike most federal bureaucrats, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is looking for ways to cut costs. (Granted, the government could get rid of the Postal Service and privatize the whole thing, but for now let's deal with today's reality of a government agency that is still operating and at least trying to be more cost-effective.)

Daily Caller: IRS official met with Obama two days before advising colleagues on how to target conse

Nice piece of dot-connecting by investigative reporter Patrick Howley at the Daily Caller, whose review of the White House visitor logs casts serious doubt on the notion that Obama had nothing to do with IRS targeting of conservative groups. The nuts and bolts are these: William Wilkins is the IRS chief counsel, and one of only two IRS officials directly appointed by Obama. He's the one who issued guidance to others at the IRS about how to target Tea Party groups and other conservatives. And two days before issuing a new set of guidelines to this effect in April, guess where he was:

AP: Republicans can’t help ‘solve problems’ because voters expect them to vote conservative

We've come to expect this sort of rot from the Associated Press. The AP would tell you it is objective in its news reporting, but when it publishes an "analysis" like this one from Beltway automaton Charles Babington, you don't have to look very hard to see how the AP gives away its real biases.

Liberals: Hey, our brilliant urban model would work great if people would stop leaving

I love Robert Reich, the former Clinton Secretary of Labor. I don't love the way he thinks, but I love the way he will often take off the mask and honestly express what the left really thinks - especially when they are exasperated by a situation they can't explain away with their usual Bolshevik. The Detroit bankruptcy is one such situation, and Reich went on Twitter the other day with this gem:

And now: The Thomas Friedman/Sharnkado/Carbon Tax column

Here's what apparently happened: Friedman wrote the column, then had one of those blue-screen-of-death/didn't-save-properly snafus, and when that happens of course the content that was lost goes to the Official Ricochet File Depository, where a friend of ours sometimes delivers Jimmy John's. Anyway, I guess he thought he was watching CNN and not Syfy, and this is what he wrote. I'm told. Peering out my hotel window in Shanghai, it occurs to me that we often miss the big picture when it comes to climate change, for the simple reason that we can't cut through the usual back-and-forth to implement the correct solutions.

Detroit declares bankruptcy

This is surely uncharted territory, but as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said, it was 60 years in the making.

Someone explain to the left: You’re not ‘subsidizing’ a business when they earn money and you don’t

Lefty types are going all in this morning sharing a piece from Salon that claims taxpayers are "subsidizing" generous executive compensation at big corporations. It's written by former Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who demonstrates that like most of the left these days, he doesn't know what a subsidy is:

White House reporters mock Daily Caller intern who asks Jay Carney what they should have asked him

It's ironic that the White House press corps are up in arms about a high school student asking a question of Jay Carney in the briefing room. The culture of the White House press corps is about as close to high school as you're going to find, and when it comes to juvenile questions . . . well, come to think of it, maybe that was the issue.

Oh goody: Congress messes further with student loan interest rates

The first thing that went wrong here occurred seven years ago, when Congress decided to pander to college students and their families by passing a temporary reduction of student loan interest rates to 3.4 percent. Congress wrote the lower rate to expire, and a rate of 6.8 percent to return five years later, because Congress always does that to mask the true long-term costs of such panders. They extended the rate in 2012 for one yet, but could not reach a deal to extend it again this year, so the 6.8 percent rate is back, much to the consternation of the panderers in Washington.

Hail Hillary! Woman who has never done anything gives speech; people care for some reason

Not wanting to allow me a peaceful evening of just watching the All Star Game, Rob decided to bring Hillary Clinton to the fore of my consciousness by sending me this link. Ostensibly it was yet another George Zimmerman story, although that part amounted to little more than Hillary spewing some mindless bromide about it. But read further and you'll realize something broader about the whole story. And think further and you'll realize it applies to Hillary Clinton's entire career - and life, for that matter.

Cuban Missile Crisis II? Panama catches North Korea bringing missile parts through canal

It's not 1962 anymore, and the players are not Kennedy and Khrushchev, but for some reason a North Korean ship left Cuba recently with sophisticated missile parts on board. It doesn't seem too likely that Cuba is providing North Korea with missile parts, so it's not entirely clear what kind of transaction was going on or who played what roles.

Wow: Big city editor wishes ‘no peace,’ lifetime of hell on George Zimmerman

It's a measure of just how out-of-control the media has gotten on the Zimmerman story that anyone would even think about writing what Stephen Henderson, editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press, wrote yesterday.

Business groups paying Hillary $200,000 per speech for some reason

Hey, if she can get them to pay it, far be it from me to argue that anyone should stop it from happening. Supply and demand, baby. It's the same reason I have no problem with ballplayers making more money than some guy working to cure cancer - because when private parties freely enter into an agreement, God bless them. And they are, as the Washington Post reports:

China’s vice-premier: It’s sort of like we’re married to the U.S., but not, you know . . . in a gay

I really see no point in spoiling this with comment. Behold:

Guy swims five hours to save his family

It's not that I wouldn't do the same to save mine. Nor that you wouldn't. It's the fact that he actually pulled it off that makes it so amazing. Swimming five hours is not easy, but if you love your family as much as John Franklin Riggs clearly does, the swimming challenge is nothing compared with the thought of losing them. Fox News reports:

Lovely: Now Texas pro-aborts chant ‘f*** the church’?

Hot off their stellar performance last week shouting "Hail Satan!" the Texas pro-aborts now come back with a chant that LifeNews.com is pretty sure sounds like "f*** the church."

Latest media talking point: IRS scandal ‘fizzles’

It actually started back in May at Daily Kos. Then it hit the big time two weeks ago in U.S. News and World Report, where one-time Ted Kennedy biographer Susan Milligan takes the meme mainstream. The same day, it appears in Political Wire. Two days later, the Daily Beast picks it up. Late last week, it shows up in the Macomb Daily, which hilariously cites the New York Times as a voice of authority on the matter.

Sorry, but 195,000 new jobs is not good

It sounds like such a big number. 195,000! There are six digits and everything. And it's better than what we're used to during the Obama presidency, so shouldn't we all be pretty pumped that the economy generated that many jobs in June?

Guess where they find those loud Texas pro-abortion protesters

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air was the first I noticed with this piece this morning, but it definitely bears repeating everywhere people can see it, since you can be sure the mainstream media won't tell you this in the midst of their hero worship of Texas Senate filibuster queen Wendy Davis.