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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Your Morning News 1.27.09

Posted by Josh in , , , , , , , ,

AP-Yahoo Poll-FootbalSo, it has been a few days huh? Well last week I was in DC celebrating a historic event and a great day for our country. It was  day that a lot of people thought wouldn’t come, but a few faithful who worked hard and truly believed were rewarded when [LAME ASS ARIZONA CARDINALS JOKE].

Tough crowd. Anyway yes, we have been on a bit of a sabbatical for inauguration and then post-vacation work craziness.

What kind of world has Obama inherited? Yesterday about a dozen companies announced layoffs totally around 75,000 jobs. What is most significant about these job cuts are that they aren’t affecting the usual banking and real estate industry, the ax is falling across large swaths of manufacturing, retailing and information technology, taking out workers from New York to Seattle. Expect to see more cuts as companies take stock of 2008 and begin implementing 2009 plans.

Thankfully, the Senate has saved us! They have confirmed Timothy Geithner as President Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary by a 60-34 vote. Though there were threats about derailing his nomination because of some tax issues in his past, not even the US Senate is stupid enough to force a protracted battle over a Treasury Secretary nomination with a staggeringly popular President during a financial crisis.

Since he not only has to save the US economy but also the entire world, President Obama did an interview with Al-Arabiya, an Arabic-language satellite TV network in which he stressed that the US ‘not your enemy.’ Woo! Public Diplomacy totally rocks! Anyone know why he didn’t do Al Jazeera?

Good news? You say you want good news? How about the fact that Bill Kristol is no longer a columnist at the New York Times? That’s right, his last day was yesterday – you won’t have old Bill Kristol to kick around anymore. Who are we kidding? He friggen loved it and is moving over to the Washington Post to continue his liberal-enraging, correction-requiring brand of commentary. Thank god, I, like every other blogger ever, was terrified about not having Bill Kristol columns to make fun of every week. That might force me to think, or possible to do some actual research!

As a bonus, head after the jump to see a hilarious Kristol image from our archives.

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Your Morning News 2.28.08

Posted by Josh in , , , , , ,

El Tron

Today is one of those days where there is no major story driving the news, so we have about four or five stories fronting all the different papers. This means there will be nothing you need to know about, but a bunch of things it couldn’t hurt to just be aware of.

Ben Bernanke, Chairmen of the Federal Reserve, said yesterday that he would be ready to cut interest rates again if need be. His argument is that he is more focused on fighting a recession then he is on fighting inflation. It seems to me that the Federal Reserve is taking short term steps that benefit Wall Street investors even if milk ends up costing $36/gallon, but I am not an economist. Oh wait, this guy is and he thinks so too.

The President’s plan for a virtual fence across the Mexican-American border has been scaled back and delayed because of technical problems. The virtual fence was a series of cameras and towers that would help notify border patrol agents when people were attempting to cross the border. The project will now take years longer and cost billions more to complete. Thank God, missile defense is so 1980s, finally we have a new boondoggle for a new millennium.

Senators, Bloomberg, and Turkey after the jump.

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