When politicians, celebrities, and public figures get called out on controversial tweets, their first instinct is often to reach for the social media whitewash. But as we like to remind those who try to hide from sunlight, Twitchy is forevah.
Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 20 deleted tweets of the year — preserved for posterity, hilarity, and transparency.
This is what Obama means by “sloppiness”-
** Benghazi Terrorists Were Armed By Obama
** US Benghazi SEALs Had Laser Capability and Waited Five Hours For Air Support… But It Never Came
** Obama Administration Was Warned 3 Hours Before Benghazi Attack – Did Nothing
** Ambassador Stevens Called for Help During Benghazi Attack …(But Obama Did Nothing)
** August Cable Signed By Ambassador Stevens Warned Benghazi Consulate Couldn’t Withstand ‘Coordinated Attack’
** There were four previous Islamist attacks in Benghazi this year before the 9-11 terrorist attack.
While the hypocrites in Washington D.C and the Hollywood elites continue to rant and attempt to remove and make gun ownership illegal, here is another example on how to prevent a shooting massacre. This one was prevented in San Antonio, Texas on 17 December 2012. Fortunately for the innocent people at the Mayan 14 movie theater, an off-duty Deputy Sheriff was there to stop the bad guy before anybody could be hurt or killed.
” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after doctors discovered a blood clot during a routine follow-up exam.On December 13th, Secretary Clinton sustained a concussion after fainting due to dehydration from a stomach virus. She has been recuperating at home since the fall. “
The Poor Dear Is Falling Apart . She Must Realize Though , That There Are No Hearings Scheduled Today .
” Gallup released a poll this month stating that the NRA stands at 54 percent approval.
Fifty-four percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the National Rifle Association, while 38% have an unfavorable opinion. The public’s ratings of the NRA have fluctuated since first measured by Gallup in 1993 — from a low of 42% favorable in 1995 to a high of 60% in 2005.
On the other hand, the same polling firm shows that the media is distrusted by 60 percent of the population: approval rates for the media are below 30 percent.
And Congress? Their approval rate was last measured by Gallup at 21 percent. “
” Washington D.C. lawmakers in both chambers left the capitol on early Sunday night after negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff fell apart in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – NV) said there is “still time left to reach an agreement.” In the meantime, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will continue negotiations on the phone tonight with Vice President Joe Biden. “
406 - 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
765 - Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China
870 - Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1492 - 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1502 - Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino
1564 - Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
1600 - British East India Company chartered
1621 - Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov
1660 - James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1687 - 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1708 - Great Alliance captures Bridge
1711 - Duke of Marlborough fired as English army commander
1744 - James Bradley announces discovery of Earth’s nutation motion (wobble)
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk
1758 - British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal
1775 - Battle of Quebec; Americans unable to take British stronghold
1776 - Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors
1781 - Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1841 - Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
1862 - Jan 2nd) Battle of Stone’s River/Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennesse in American Civil War
1862 - President Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
1862 - Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads, Tennessee
1879 - Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
1879 - Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1890 - Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot
1896 - 25th auto built in US
1902 - Boers & British army sign peace treaty
1904 - The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.
1907 - For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal new year
1910 - US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
1911 - Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize
1914 - Colonel Jacob Ruppert & Cap Huston purchase NY Yankees for $460,000
1930 - US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930
1934 - Helen Richey becomes 1st woman to pilot an airmail transport
1935 - Charles Darrow patents Monopoly
1938 - Dr R N Harger’s “drunkometer,” 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana
1939 - 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton)
1940 - 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton)
1942 - 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton)
1942 - Battle in Barents Sea
1944 - 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden, Utah
1944 - Japanese army evacuates harbor city Akyab
1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
1946 - Pres Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
1950 - Jockeys W Shoemaker & Joe Culmone set record of 388 wins in a year
1953 - Willie Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
1955 - The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1958 - Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X
1961 - 1st performance of Beach Boys
1961 - Beach Boys play their debut gig under that name
1961 - Green Bay Packers shutout NY Giants 37-0 in NFL championship game
1961 - Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
1963 - Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir played music together for the 1st time
1966 - Monkee’s “I’m a Believer” hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks
1968 - 1st supersonic airliner flown (Russian TU-144)
1968 - 1st test flight of Tupolev TU 144
1970 - President Allende nationalizes Chilean coal mines
1971 - Lt Gen Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1972 - Leap second day; also in 1973-79, 1987
1974 - Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3M 5 year NY Yank contract
1974 - Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panama’s Gold 100 balboa coin
1974 - Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac
1974 - Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer
1976 - The Cars played their 1st gig
1977 - Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado
1978 - CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy
1978 - Taiwan’s final day of diplomatic relations with US
1979 - Winterland Rock Concert Hall in SF closes after 556 concerts
1980 - A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
1981 - CNN Headline News debuts
1981 - Lt Jerry Rawlings becomes head of Ghana, suspends constitution
1983 - Brunei gains complete independence from Britain
1984 - Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash
1984 - NYC subway gunman Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
1984 - Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India’s 6th PM succeeds his mom, Indira
1984 - US leaves UNESCO
1986 - Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
1986 - Russian TU-144 flies for 1st time faster than sound
1989 - Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year
1990 - Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting
1991 - CPN, Communist Party of Netherland, last day of existance
1991 - Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.8
1991 - USSR, last day of existence
1994 - 1st snowless December in Baltimore Maryland
1994 - This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
1995 - Cartoonist Bill Watterson ends his “Calvin & Hobbes” comic strip
1997 - Intel cuts price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268
1997 - Microsoft buys Hotmail E-mail service
1997 - More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809
1997 - S Afr & US surgeons separate Zambian Siamese twins joined at the head
1998 - US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for year
1999 - Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
2004 - The official opening of Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet).
2007 - The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.
695 - Muhammad bin Qasim, Syrian general (d. 715)
1378 - Callistus III, (Alfonso the Borja), Pope (1455-58)
1491 - Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
1514 - Andreas Vesalius, Brussels Belgium, anatomist (Fabrica)
1572 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)
1668 - Hermannus Boerhaave, Dutch medical/botanist
1720 - [Bonnie Prince] Charles Edward Stuart, English pretender to throne
1738 - Charles Lord Cornwallis, soldier/statesman “fire when ready Gridley“
1763 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
1815 - George Gordon Meade, Major General (Union Army), died in 1872
1825 - Francis Trowbridge Sherman, Brig Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1905
1859 - Max Fiedler, composer
1860 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)
1864 - Robert G Aitken, US astronomer (Binary Stars)
1869 - Henri Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, impressionist painter (Odalisque), (d. 1954)
1878 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)
1880 - George Marshall, Uniontown Pa, authored Marshall Plan (Nobel 1953), (d. 1959)
1882 - Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway)
1882 - Martin O’Meara, Australian soldier (d. 1935)
1892 - Jason Robards Sr, Hillsdale Mich, actor (Acapulco)
1905 - Jule Styne, England, songwriter/composer (1954 Acad Award, 1968 Tony)
1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, Polish/Austrian nazi hunter (Wiesenthal Center)
1912 - Maj-Gen John Frost, British para commander (d. 1993)
1921 - Lynn Compton, Los Angeles, California, jurist (Sirhan Sirhan prosecutor) and commissioned officer (Easy Company, 101st Airborne), (d. 2012)
1924 - Victoria Draves, US, platform/springboard diver (Olympic-gold-1948)
1928 - Amarillo Slim [Thomas Preston], Amarillo Texas, hall of fame professional poker player (1971 World Series main event), (d. 2012)
1930 - Odetta, [Holmes], Birmingham Ala, folk singer (Sanctuary)(see UE 12/02 Deaths)
1931 - Bob Shaw, UK, sci-fi author (Orbitsville, Ragged Astronauts, Vertigo)
1932 - George Schlatter, TV producer (Laugh-in)
1937 - Anthony Hopkins, Port Talbot, Glamorgan, actor (Elephant Man, QB VII, Magic, Bounty)
1937 - Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate
1938 - Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Holland, speed skater (world champ)
1938 - Rosalind Cash, Atlantic City NJ, actress (Omega Man, Wrong is Right)
1939 - Willye White, US long jumper (Oly-silver-56, appeared in 5 Olympics)
1941 - Sarah Miles, Essex England, actress (Ryan’s Hope, Big Sleep, Venom)
1942 - Andy Summers, Blackpool England, rock guitarist (Police-Roxanne)
1943 - Ben Kingsley, Scarborough England, actor (Gandhi, Betrayal, Maurice)
1943 - John Denver, NM, singer (Rocky Mt High), thank God he’s a country boy
1945 - Taylor Hackford, director (Idolmaker, Officer & a Gentleman)
1946 - Barbara Carrera, Managua Nicaragua, actress (Angelica-Dallas)
1946 - Patti Smith, Chicago Il, rock vocalist (Radio Ethiopia)
1947 - Burton Cummings, keyboardist ,singer (Guess Who-These Eyes)
1947 - Tim Matheson, California, actor (Animal House, Fletch, Up the Creek)
1948 - Donna Summer, Boston, singer (Love to Love You Baby, On the Radio), (d. 2012)
1948 - Joe Dallesandro, Pensicola Fla, actor (Heat, Trash, AW Frankenstein)
1948 - Tony Hamilton, rocker (Aerosmith)
1950 - Inge Helten, German FR, sprinter (Olympic-bronze-1976)
1951 - Fermin Goytisolo, rocker (KC & Sunshine Band-Give It)
1951 - Michael Allen Bantom, Phila, basketball player (Olympic-silver-1972)
1951 - Tom Hamilton, Colorado Springs Co, rock bassist (Aerosmith-Dream On)
1953 - James Remar, Boston, actor (48 Hours, Rent-a-Cop, Cotton Club)
1956 - Steve Rude, American comics artist
1959 - Bebe Neuwirth, Princeton NJ, actress (Lilith-Cheers, Damn Yankees)
1959 - Paul Westerberg, singer (The Replacements)
1959 - Val Kilmer, actor (Top Secret, Top Gun, Willow)
1963 - Scott Ian, US heavy metal guitarist (Anthrax-I’m the Man)
1964 - Klari MacAskill, Budapest Hungary, kayaker (Olympics-5-92, 96)
1965 - Julie Doucet, Canadian underground cartoonist
1965 - Gong Li, Chinese actress
1965 - Nicholas Sparks, American author
1970 - Dan Howe, Kingston Ontario, canoeist (Olympics-96)
1971 - Erin Warren, Winchester Mass, luger (Olympics-1994)
1973 - Curtis Myden, Calgary Alberta, 200m/400m swimmer (Oly-2 bronze-96)
1974 - Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist
1974 - Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver
1977 - Donald Trump Jr., son of Donald Trump and Ivana Trump
192 - Lucius AA Commodus, Emperor of Rome (180-192), murdered at 31
335 - St. Silvester I, Catholic Pope, dies in office
406 - Godagisel, King of the Vandals, dies in battle
439 - Melania the Younger, Roman monastery founder/saint, dies at about 56
1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)
1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
1382 - Daigaku, Zen teacher/46th head of Engakuji, dies in Kamakura Japan
1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader
1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)
1616 - Jacques Le Maire, pirate/explorer (Lemaire Strait), dies at 31
1647 - Giovanni Maria Trabaci, composer, dies
1650 - Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
1691 - Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)
1719 - John Flamsteed, 1st Astronomer Royal, dies at 73
1775 - Richard Montgomery, General in Continental Army during American Revolutionary War, dies in attack on Quebec
1802 - Francis Lewis, Welsh/US merchant/signer (Decl of Ind), dies at 89
1862 - James Edward Rains, lawyer/Confederate brig-gen, dies in Battle of Stone’s River at 29
1862 - Joshua Woodrow Sill, US Union brig-general, dies in Battle of Stone’s River at 31
1890 - Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)
1893 - Jacob G de Scheffer, Dutch vicar/theologist, dies at 74
1894 - Thomas J Stieltjes, mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at 38
1910 - John Moisant, American aviator (b. 1868)
1910 - Arch Hoxsey, American aviator (b. 1884)
1936 - William FA Ellison, Irish clergyman/astronomer, dies at 72
1948 - Malcolm Campbell, English race driver, dies at 63
1951 - Philipp A Kohnstamm, Dutch philosopher/physicist, dies at 76
1953 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer/founder (KLM), dies at 64
1966 - Chief Nipo Strongheart, Native American actor (Pony Soldier), dies at 75
1971 - Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940)
1971 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
1972 - Roberto Clemente, slugger (Pitts Pirate), dies in a plane crash at 38
1980 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian cultural philosopher, dies at 69
1980 - Raoul Walsh, US director (High Sierra), dies at about 88
1985 - Rick Nelson, singer/actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet), dies at 45
1985 - Sam Spiegel, Academy Award winning producer (Betrayal), dies at 84
1986 - Lloyd Haynes, actor (Pete Dixon-Room 222), dies at 54
1990 - Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A), dies at 62
1993 - Brandon Teena, Transsexual, murdered (b. 1972)
1994 - BAM “Bob” Schreiner, airline owner (S Aviation Group), dies at 79
1994 - Thomas J Watson Jr, CEO (IBM), dies of a stroke at 79
1994 - Woodrow “Woody” Strode, US rugby player/black cowboy actor (Oil), dies
1997 - Dominique de Menil, arts patron/human rights advocate, dies at 89
1997 - Michael Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, dies in ski accident at 39
2000 - José Greco, Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
2002 - Kevin MacMichael, American guitarist (Cutting Crew) (b. 1951)
2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)
2005 - Enrico di Giuseppe, American tenor (b. 1932)
2007 - Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect and designer (b. 1917)
2008 - Donald E. Westlake, American author (b. 1933)
” Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a reply brief with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking access to the names of the five Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) bin Laden raid operatives disclosed by the Obama Department of Defense (DOD) and the CIA to Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the filmmakers behind the critically acclaimed and controversial film Zero Dark Thirty, which concerns the capture and killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Judicial Watch’s brief was filed as news reports emerged indicating that the Inspector General made a criminal referral to the Obama Justice Department in September 2012 regarding Undersecretary Michael Vickers, who was alleged to have improperly leaked the name of at least one operative to the filmmakers.
Documents previously uncovered by Judicial Watch reveal that the Obama administration sought to have “high visibility” into bin Laden-related projects, and granted Boal and Bigelow unusual access to agency information in preparation for their film. However, Obama administration officials also disclosed in sworn court documents related to this lawsuit that the sensitive information released to Bigelow and Boal could cause an “unnecessary security and counterintelligence risk” if released to the public. The admission seems to contradict the public statement by Obama White House spokesman Jay Carney regarding the controversy: “We do not discuss classified information,” Carney told reporters. “
” The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is publicizing an interesting little story out of Galloway Township in New Jersey:
When a 16-year-old New Jersey boy doodled in his notebook on Tuesday, December 18, he probably didn’t expect to be arrested by the end of the day. However, when school officials saw the sketches, which they state appeared to be of weapons, and the boy “demonstrated behavior that caused them to be concerned,” the police were called.
At no point in time did the boy threaten the school, school officials, or his classmates. He cooperated fully with authorities, and a search of the school itself found nothing dangerous…. “
” A subsequent search of the boy’s home led to his arrest because they found several electronic parts and chemicals. He was charged with the possession of an explosive device and put in juvenile detention. “
“engineering and environmental sciences and specializing in hands-on learning”
“There was no indication he was making a bomb, or using a bomb or detonating a bomb,”
“thankful that we had a staff member that (saw something that) caused her some concern, and that she had the sense to report it to school officials. These are things that teachers receive training on all the time.”
” Thomas isn’t an engineer; his expertise is merely that of a hard-core fan’s. But with two tubs in hand, he decided he had to put one on the track. He needed only an appropriate drivetrain, suspension, seat, and, well, everything else that makes up a modern Formula 1 car. Resources were—and remain—scarce. He says: “It quickly became clear that it was very difficult, or even impossible, to get the right parts. I have to use what I can get.” He trades among a community of F1 parts collectors, and he checks eBay every day. His shed is filled with F1 components, and he says making them fit has been part of the fun. His sidepods, for example, are from a later Williams-BMW. He learned to work with carbon fiber, chopped up the pods, and modified them to fit with a BAR engine cover. This resourcefulness has served him well: His total outlay has been only about $13,000, and from the look of it, you’d think he had a complete car. “
” “Because Hobby Lobby is a secular employer, it is not entitled to the protections of the Free Exercise Clause or RFRA [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act],” Delery told the court on behalf of the administration. “This is because, although the First Amendment freedoms of speech and association are ‘right[s] enjoyed by religious and secular groups alike,’ the Free Exercise Clause ‘gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.’”
In keeping with Delery’s argument, the Washington Post, as a corporation, can use its First Amendment-protected freedom of speech to write editorials in support of the Obama administration imposing its contraception mandate on businesses like Hobby Lobby. But the members of the family that created and owns Hobby Lobby, because they formed Hobby Lobby as a corporation, have no First Amendment freedom of religion that protects them from being forced by the government to act against their religious beliefs in providing abortion-inducing drugs.
The second argument the administration makes to justify forcing Christians to act against their faith is more sweeping. Here the administration argues it can force a person to act against his religion so long as the coercion is done under the authority of a law that is neutral and generally applicable—in other words, as long as the law was not written specifically to persecute Christians as Christians, the government can use that law to persecute Christians. “
” President Obama turned up on NBC’s “Meet the Press” for the first time since the passage of ObamaCare, and gave exactly the performance that every veteran Obama-watcher would have expected: a bitter, intransigent partisan claiming to be the only non-partisan, non-ideological participant in the “fiscal cliff” drama. “I’m not driven by some ideological agenda – I’m a pretty practical guy,” he explicitly stated, offering his past four years in office as evidence.
“They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they’re behaving is that their only priority is making sure that the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected. That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme,” the President lied shamelessly about his Republican opponents, breezily ignoring all those calls for genuine fiscal responsibility and spending restraint from the other side of the aisle. No one who has spent more than ten seconds actually listening to Republicans talk about the fiscal cliff could fairly conclude that opposing “tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans” is their only theme. The tax increases Obama keeps demanding won’t have any serious effect on the federal fiscal crisis - even if you’re gullible enough to believe that Obama would become the first Democrat in modern history to actually spend every nickel of a “deficit reduction” tax increase on reducing the deficit, the rosiest scenario for the biggest tax hike he’s called for would not even chip 15 percent off the ten-year projected deficit. But the President is banking heavily on the idea that, between the bully pulpit of the Presidency and the bias of an activist media, few in the public are going to spend ten seconds listening to any Republicans. “
” It took some 22 hours for American help to arrive in Benghazi after all the t’s had been crossed and the i’s had been dotted, and the body of America’s ambassador to Libya had been dragged through the streets by “rescuers” stopping along the way to pose for cell phone pictures with his corpse.
By way of comparison it takes about 16 hours for a boatload of Libyan illegal immigrants to row to the Italian island of Lampedusa. Support for the Americans under fire in Libya would have arrived sooner if a few former members of the Harvard Rowing Team had gotten in one of the many rowboats beached on the shores of Lampedusa and pushed the oars all the way to Benghazi.
Obama Inc. blamed the second set of September 11 attacks on a movie, which was giving Al Qaeda credit for not only orchestrating worldwide attacks on American embassies and consulates, but doing it in a matter of days based on nothing more than a YouTube trailer. That would make Al Qaeda one of the more impressive organizations around, but the administration found it easier to give Al Qaeda credit that the terrorist group didn’t deserve rather than accept the blame that it did deserve.
When madmen in America shoot up schools or movie theaters, Obama blames the weapons they used and calls for gun control. When madmen in the Middle East shoot up American consulates and embassies, he blames movies and calls for film control. “
” The year is coming to a close. Thank goodness.
Maybe in 2013 we won’t have to worry about Honey Boo Boo, Gangnam Style, Kony 2012 and Mayans. Those topics and more were the ephemera of the year. While Democrats and Republicans were fighting to see which party could run America, the traditional media were trying to run it into the ground by consistently taking a one-sided approach to coverage.
On every major news story of the year – abortion, gay marriage, the economy, the fiscal cliff and guns – major media outlets consistently and openly sided with the left. Gone was any pretense of neutrality. From the media’s campaign against Mitt Romney to their campaign for gun control, the bias of the press was never worse.
Picking out bad media moments is like looking for egos in Washington or corruption in Congress. Here are the year’s lowlights:
10. The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife: Journalists love anything that tears down Christianity. Give them a spicy tale of Jesus’s wife and they treat it like it’s, well, gospel. The New York Times front-paged a story about a cell phone-sized scrap of papyrus that included the phrase: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’” CBS reporter Allen Pizzey claimed it “challenges the very foundation of Christian thinking.” When the Smithsonian pulled a planned documentary and experts said they thought the papyrus was bogus, journalists were reluctant to report that news. “
“ Washington - The Senate has voted to reauthorize a controversial amendment that allows US intelligence agencies to wiretap communications without warrants.The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was passed to allow the wiretapping of many US phone conversations and electronic communications and to grant retroactive immunity to Bush administration officials and telecom corporations for illegal wiretapping of domestic communications. FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows the NSA and other US intelligence agencies to wiretap conversations in which at least one of the parties is a foreign citizen without first obtaining a warrant. “
