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David Lochridge, a submersible pilot and engineer who had served in Great Britain’s Royal Navy and worked all over the world, had expressed reservations about the design and build of OceanGate’s submersible, but his concerns were reportedly dismissed. He found numerous problems with the vessel, including the carbon-fiber hull having “very visible signs of delamination and porosity,” the glue for ballast bags coming off, sealing faces with errant plunge holes, and O-ring grooves whose design was not standard, among many others, The New Yorker reported. When Lochridge brought up his concerns at a company meeting, he was fired.

Gets POW! Right in the Kisser!

While awarding the medal of freedom to director Steven Spielberg and other celebrities, President Obama jokingly suggested that the director of movies like “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” and “Lincoln” should make one about his presidency. “Despite redefining the word ‘prolific,’ a Spielberg movie is still a Spielberg movie,” Obama said as someone’s cell phone in the room began ringing. “Somebody is calling to see if they can book him for a deal right now,” Obama joked. “They want to make pitch … ‘so there’s this really good-looking President and…'” he hinted. Obama grinned as the crowd laughed and he went on...

But enough about me. Let's talk about how you feel about me . . . Maybe Barack Obama should modify his famous New Age-y line, uttered after the 2008 Super Tuesday results, to read "I am the one I have been waiting for." In recent times, it's become an entertaining parlor game to count the number of self references in President Obama's public statements. The latest opportunity to play the game comes via a fund-raising email the prez sent out this morning. Defiantly entitled "I Won't Apologize," the short message contains by my count no fewer than 11 self-references [12...

President Obama says he’s feeling pretty upbeat about his reelection chances despite the worst economy since the 1930s and polls showing that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how he’s handled his job. “On the surface things look bad,” Obama admitted. “But if voters dig deeper they’ll realize that I’ve really done a remarkable job. They’ll see that all the choices I’ve made have been the right ones.” One of the right choices the President chose to mention was Obamacare, which he called “absolutely the right thing to do. Look, left to their own devices, too many people are neglecting to...

A politician who emailed a woman nude photos of himself that were posted on a GOP activist's website has resigned and said he will consider all legal options to have the pictures taken down. New Jersey democrat Louis Magazzu, 53, admitted sending the photos to the woman he said he had been corresponding with online for several years. In an email statement, the Cumberland County freeholder apologised to family, friends and constituents but indicated that he thought he was being set up.

The Democratic National Committee wanted to honor Nancy Pelosi Thursday -- but its praise wasn't good enough for the House minority leader. When the DNC's Resolutions Committee brought up a resolution commemorating Pelosi's years as speaker of the House, Pelosi's daughter sought to alter the proposal at her mother's behest, adding some of the accomplishments that the elder Pelosi felt the committee had overlooked. "I have some friendly amendments," said Christine Pelosi, a political strategist, at the committee's session during the DNC Winter Meeting Thursday. She is a member of the committee. "You think I'm kidding," Christine Pelosi added, to...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will support a ballot measure to restore the law banning elected officials from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms. The limit was removed in 2008 in order to allow Bloomberg to run for a third consecutive term in 2009. Bloomberg said removing the limit was necessary then because “the City had need of the one person with the extraordinary talent to cope with an emerging crisis. Since that extraordinary person will not be running again under any circumstances it’s safe to restore the previous term limitation. When only average people are...

No matter the reluctance of neo-conservatives to engage in this type of egotism, the fact remains that there does exist a movement of intellectuals who share similar commitments to a strong national defense and a recoupling of politics with traditional morality. And, for better or for worse, the world knows this movement as neo-conservatism. But what the world generally fails to recognize is that this philosophy has made the neo-conservatives, the only real moderates in American politics and political philosophy, the eternal purveyors of centrist common sense.

A Noxious 2,400-year old lie, originated by Plato, still cripples us today. And, once more, Karl R. Popper comes to the rescue. Popper has examined, in great detail the writings of Plato. He concludes that Plato, and later thinkers and writers that followed Plato have wreaked havoc in science politics and philosophy down through the centuries. Popper presents the following small table of word definitions. The two columns have opposite definitions .i.e., individualism is the opposite of collectivism. Egotism is the opposite of altruism. Individualism Collectivism egotism altruism To see the whole post:Click here

Though he admitted that others might disagree with his assessment, President Barrack Obama gave his Administration a “solid B+” for its first year in office. “Some of my critics are saying I’ve failed to deliver on the promises I made during the election,” Obama declared. “And yes, unemployment has gone higher than we expected. And yes, bankruptcies and foreclosures continue to plague the economy. And yes, the war in Afghanistan hasn’t gone well. And yes, terrorists seem to have been rejuvenated. And yes, a lot of people are marching in the streets to oppose my policies. But let’s not let...

An Iowa congressman says an Army general was not out of line when he addressed Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) as "ma'am" during a recent Senate hearing. Brigadier General Michael Walsh, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying last week before Boxer's Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about the progress of the Louisiana restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Boxer: "Well, why has it been delayed? Walsh: "Ma'am, at the L-A-C-P-R is..." Boxer: "You know, do me a favor. Could say 'Senator' instead of 'ma'am?'" Walsh: "Yes." Boxer: "It's just a thing; I worked so...

Bubbling with self confidence, President Barack Obama gave himself a laudatory assessment of his first 100 days in office. “I would have to say that, in my view, this has got to be the most outstanding performance ever for a new administration,” Obama boasted. “I’ve assembled a top notch team that has helped me make strides in every important sector. I’ve calmed the troubled waters of foreign policy. I’ve set in motion initiatives that will restore the economy to health. I’ve begun the steps necessary to achieve social justice.” The president acknowledged that it is possible that “the depths of...

First on TVNewser: We may not see Kiran Chetry on Fox News Channel anymore. The news update and weekend anchor was in the middle of contract negotiations with the net, but they are no longer interested in matching any other offer she receives, according to a letter sent to her agent this afternoon. In the letter, legal VP Dianne Brandi says "Chetry is free to leave Fox News prior to March 6 (the natural expiration of the agreement) with no further compensation."

It is inevitable. Some prominent American will want to be the first on his block to pronounce the shahada and become an official worshipper of mohammed. The publicity will be too delicious, and the ego-augmentation unmatched. The desire to associate such a successful assassin, murderer, rapist, misogynist, slave-holder and all-around in-your-facer with The One True God, is nothing compared to the lure of a celebro-american associating himself with the mosque of what's happening now. Cynthia McKinney and John Conyers do not count. Neither does Noam Chomsky. The CNN-worthy frisson of "reversion" has to be present for this prediction to be...

To much fanfare, and a fair amount of predictable gushing from its liberal admirers in the US, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the state-owned bureaucracy that bestrides the UK cultural and political landscape like a colossus, launched a 24 hour news channel in America last week. Billboards in Manhattan bellowed the BBC's message to passers- by, promising that the corporation would be bringing "news beyond your borders" into Americans' parochial little lives. The Beeb, as it is known back home, evidently senses an opportunity. It is steadily expanding its deals with public radio stations across the country to carry its World...

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Woody Allen (news) is afraid of elevators, tunnels and even certain kinds of shower drains. Some people might call that neurotic -- he certainly does. "I am a neurotic in a more benign way. I mean I have a lot of neurotic habits," the quirky American director and actor told Reuters Television. "I don't like to go into elevators, I don't go through tunnels, I like the drain in the shower to be in the corner and not in the middle," Allen said in an interview after showing his new comedy "Anything Else" at the 60th...