Cummings: Baltimore Schools Are Awful; Others Have to Pay to Fix Them

With Camden Yards set to hold its first fan-attended Baltimore Orioles game in over two weeks tonight, it's a good time to go back to a May 2 item by Meredith Shiner at Yahoo Politics. Readers may remember the Duke-"educated" Shiner as the person who was flabbergasted that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz cited "God-given rights" when he announced his candidacy on March 23, tweeting in part…
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Chuck Todd, Maria Shriver Push U.S. to Mandate Paid Maternity Leave

On Mother’s Day, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd and NBC contributor Maria Shriver, former First Lady of California, bemoaned that the United States ranked far behind Norway in government mandated services, such as paid maternity leave, for all women. Todd: "Among 193 member states of the United Nations, the United States and seven other countries have no paid maternity leave. Five of those…

Joan Walsh: On Race and Poverty, GOP Favors ‘Zombie Reaganism’

Some pundits have speculated that the Baltimore riots may benefit Republicans in next year’s elections. On the other hand, Walsh, of Salon and MSNBC, thinks that the unrest has yielded an opportunity for liberalism. In a two-part series, Walsh argued that one lesson of Baltimore is that Democrats' Bill Clintonesque center-left “approach to race, crime and inequality” has proved inadequate, and…

New Republic Writer: Left Caved, Baltimore Paid Price

All week, liberals and conservatives have accused each other of causing the longstanding socioeconomic woes of Baltimore. TNR's Rebecca Leber had a subtler take in a Friday piece: she put part of the blame on liberals, but only because they went along with conservative ideas. “Democrats exacerbated these problems [in Baltimore] not by embracing the policies of the left. Rather, they dug the hole…
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Dyson: Baltimore Pro Sports 'Forces of Oppression'

Matt Philbin
Professional race explainer Michael Eric Dyson said a lot of stupid things on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes Monday. (Yes, it’s still on the air.) And really, that’s understandable, given that his job was to find excuses for the inexcusable violence and looting in Baltimore. But mixed in with his litany of exculpatory urban dysfunction (“… the slow terror of expulsions from schools, rising…
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Rachel Maddow: Baltimore Police ‘A Little Out of Control’ During Riots

During the 9:00 hour of MSNBC’s live coverage of the ongoing Baltimore riots on Monday night, Rachel Maddow accused the city’s police of being “a little out of control” for returning items being thrown at them by protestors: "But if they're picking up things that are being thrown at them and throwing things back, that implies to me just as a lay observer that the police feel -- that the police…

E! Hypes, Airbrushes Paltrow's 'Failed' 'Food Stamp Challenge'

Readers who have seen my previous posts on actress Gwyneth Paltrow's recent "failed" attempt to complete the deceptively designed "Food Stamp Challenge" know far more than people who rely on Eonline.com ever will. Although it's far from encouraging when contemplating our nation's future, what we have here is an object lesson in how the entertainment press airbrushes the truth to polish the image…

NYT Reporter-Now-Columnist Cheers Traffic-Blocking Lefty NYC Protest

Chris Christie who? Rachel Swarns, who for years fawned over Barack and Michelle Obama for the New York Times, wrote an "open letter" column to actor Adam Baldwin in defense of a left-wing group which tied up traffic in mid-town Manhattan in the name of a $15-an-hour "living wage."

'Newscaster' Soledad O'Brien Shushed Crowd at Lefty Earth Day Concert

Washington Post music critic Chris Richards wrote up Saturday’s Earth Day festivities on the national Mall on the front of Monday’s Style section. The headline was “At Earth Day rally, it was the message that needed saving.” Richards liked the music, but didn’t like the talking. For example: “The event’s hosts, newscaster Soledad O’Brien and Black Eyed Peas bandleader Will.I.Am, appeared to have…

'Failed' Paltrow Was on Track to Succeed in 'Food Stamp Challenge'

As yours truly noted on April 12, actress Gwyneth Paltrow made a bit of a splash earlier this month when she announced that she would add her name to the list of ignorant politicians, advocates and celebrities taking on the deceptively designed "Food Stamp Challenge." The idea is to "try to survive" eating for a week on the average benefit a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)…
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WashPost Reporter Criticizes ‘Mean Spirited’ Kansas Welfare Law

On Saturday, MSNBC’s Alex Witt hosted Washington Post reporter Elahe Izadi to blast a new Kansas law that would limit what items welfare recipients could purchase using their taxpayer benefits. Izadi asserted many call the law “mean spirited” and then touted how “some advocates feel like lawmakers are basically saying the poor can't be trusted to manage their own money."

CNN, Showing a 'Vintage' Car: 'See Cuba Before Investors Ruin It'

Journalists' and leftists' (but I repeat myself) misguided love for Cuba goes back decades. Y'know, free healthcare (cough), yada-yada. Now that President Obama is unilaterally changing the relationship between the two nations, and as usual getting nothing in return, you'd think that they'd be happy. Heck no. It started several months ago when Fox News's Shepard Smith fretted about how a thaw in…
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Bill Daley: 'Uneven' Recovery Has Only Benefited 'A Small Slice'

Well, this is awkward. Undermining most of what the business press has done to try to portray the post-recession U.S. economy as performing adequately under President Barack Obama, Bill Daley, Obama’s former chief of staff, told CNBC today that Hillary Clinton "can’t run as the third term of Barack Obama economically," because the recovery has been "uneven" and has only benefited "a small slice…

CNN Bogusly Hypes Paltrow's 'Food Stamp Challenge' Participation

On Saturday, CNN hyped actress and self-appointed "lifestyle guru" Gwyneth Paltrow's participation in the "Food Stamp Challenge." This is the fundamentally dishonest campaign which has been working for at least eight years to convince Americans that benefits provided under the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are inadequate. As usual, Paltrow has taken up the…