Category Archives: News

American Politics: Check Your Knife At The Door

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Here’s the shadow side of cable TV news:

“Where was Obama tonight? He should watch — well, not just ‘Hardball,’ Rachel [Maddow], he should watch you, he should watch the Reverend Al [Sharpton], he should watch Lawrence [O’Donnell], he would learn something about this debate. There’s a hot debate going on in this country. Do you know where it’s being held? Here on this network is where we’re having the debate. We have our knives out. We go after the people and the facts. What was he doing tonight? He went in there disarmed.”

That was Chris Matthews on the MSNBC post-game party after the Obama-Romney debate Wednesday night.    Continue reading →

After the First Debate

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AFTER THE FIRST DEBATE:   “Never mind.” The election goes down to the wire. Probably it will be close. The pundits on MSNBC were bitterly disappointed in President Obama’s performance. Mitt Romney took two weeks off to rest and prepare, and it paid off. He denied repeatedly that he’d cut taxes for the wealthy. He pounded the president  on investments in green energy. He accused the president of cutting Medicare funding. All Romney had to do was stand on the same stage and look like a plausible candidate. Mission accomplished.  — John

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Before the First Debate

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BEFORE THE FIRST DEBATE:  After tonight’s domestic-policy debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the outcome of the November election will be settled. That’s what I’m thinking. Romney’s ace has always been the economy,  but a growing consensus says things are improving. If Mr. Romney can’t find a way to break that mildly optimistic economic consensus tonight, he’s done.  — John

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J.K. Rowling’s “The Casual Vacancy” — Prices Slashed

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Got it! A first-edition hardback of “The Casual Vacancy,”  by J.K. Rowling, published in the U.S. and Great Britain this week. The 503-page tome comes with a cover price of $35 ($36.99 in Canada), but Walmart has it on deep discount at $24.50.

The Casual Vacancy may signal a turnaround for quality in popular fiction. Where can it go but up, after “Hunger Games“ and “Fifty Shades of Grey?”  Talk about your lowest common denominator!

I plan to do one of my serialized book reviews for Casual Vacancy, with updates posted every few days, as I read.

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Ocean City, MD, Fire Destroys Top Floor of Condo Building

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Firefighters battled an intense fire that engulfed the top floor of a condominium building at 38th St., just south of the Convention Center, in midtown Ocean City, Maryland. The fire started at about 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. No injuries were reported. The summer season is over, and parking lots on both sides of the building appeared to be nearly empty, allowing fire apparatus to get close to the building on both sides. Firefighters had to brave clouds of intense, acrid-smelling smoke. 

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