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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred to herself as a "historic figure" in an interview last week about her first year on the job. Speaking with The Grio, Jean-Pierre, introduced as a "history maker" owing to her being the first Black person, gay person and immigrant to hold the role, was asked to reflect on her tenure to date. "I don't know if I've ever had an image or a view of what it would be like as a historic figure in this role because you never know, but one thing that I can say is being the first,...

“The tapes are the real man — mean, vindictive, panicky, striking first in anticipation of being struck, trying to lift his own friable self-esteem by shoving others down,” Gary Wills wrote of Richard Nixon in the 2017 preface to his book, “Nixon Agonistes.” Wills added, perhaps unfairly, that “Nixon’s real tragedy is that he never had the stature to be a tragic hero. He is the stuff of sad (almost heartbreaking) comedy.” The passage comes to mind as we close out Donald Trump’s annus horribilis, during which he supplanted Nixon as the saddest figure in post-presidential politics. The Jan. 6...

Congressional members Madison Cawthorn(R-NC11), Bill Posey(R-FL8), Diana Harshbarger(R-TN1), Lisa McClain(R-MI10), Randy Weber(R-TX14), and Matt Gaetz(R-FL1) send scathing letter to the CDC Director and Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services demanding answers on COVID-19 origin and ‘Top Secret’ DARPA report revealed by Project Veritas reporting CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS SEND LETTERS TO: CDC, Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services demanding answers on COVID-19 origin and DARPA documents revealed by Project Veritas reporting [WASHINGTON DC- January 13, 2022] Members of both chambers of Congress have sent scathing letters to government officials seeking answers in the aftermath of military documents uncovered...

The opening ceremonies haven't been held, but figure skating started today! Mr. RooRoo is semi-suicidal, he HATES figure skating. All snarky color commentators, please weigh in!!!! I'll throw out the first pitch: The second male skater (from Germany I believe) chose a HORRIBLE costume, he had big yucky armpit sweat stains, it was hard to focus on anything else.

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For more than a year, Assembly Speaker John Pérez dated a Hollywood funeral director who faces fraud allegations in one of the biggest financial scandals to rock the U.S. funeral industry. During their relationship, Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat, mixed political business with his personal life in ways that showed poor judgment, ethics experts say. A Pérez spokesman said the lawmaker conducted himself appropriately during a casual dating relationship. Tyler Cassity, proprietor of a boutique cemetery called Hollywood Forever as well as a Mill Valley cemetery, and defendant in a $600 million fraud lawsuit in his native Missouri, accompanied Pérez...

Link to Bernanke's announcement today So... For the 150 million people in the workforce, that's $567 dollars per person per month. For the 75 million people who pay income taxes to the Federal Government, that's $1,133 per person per month. For the 23 million people looking for full-time employment, that's $3,696 dollars per person month. For the 4 million people the administration says are looking for work, that's. $21,250 dollars per person per month. The bureau of labor statistics says there are currently 3.7 million job openings. Obama's economic team had projected that 4 million more people would be working...

Cairo's envoy to US: Treaty is a main element of Egypt’s foreign policy; Supreme Council dissolves parliament, suspends constitution. An influential Egyptian opposition figure and likely presidential candidate called Sunday for Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel to be reassessed, the first sign since former president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster Friday that the 32-year-old agreement may be in jeopardy. Ayman Nour, a former lawmaker and chairman of the Ghad (Tomorrow) party, told an Egyptian radio station that the 1978 Camp David Accords were no longer relevant, and said the country’s leadership should at least rethink the terms of the framework agreements that...

POLITICO's Maggie Haberman emails that she's solved a lingering mystery from the now-nearly-forgotten summer storm around a planned Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. Robert Mercer, the co-CEO of the giant hedge fund manager Renaissance Technologies, appears to have financed the ad campaign entirely himself, through a $1 million contribution on July 26 to the New York State Conservative Party, according to a filing today by the party's housekeeping account. Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long confirmed to Haberman that Mercer was the source of the ad money. Mercer had maxed out to the account of Rick Lazio, but the Conservative Party's...

An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says. While pop culture seems to worship the hourglass figure for females, with a tiny waist, big boobs and curvy hips à la Marilyn Monroe, this may not be optimal, says Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah. That's because the hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist. So in societies and situations where women are under pressure to procure...

Stone Age axe holds hidden human figure Published: 10 Jun 08 17:37 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.se/12344/ An artifact from the Stone Age has been hiding in the plain sight of museum visitors and researches in western Sweden. But no one noticed until archaeologist Bengt Nordqvist suddenly discovered the form of a human body on a stone axe. “The axe has been in the museum’s collection for more than 100 years. Anyone could have found the image,” said Nordqvist, who had a hard time containing his excitement. The stone axe was found in connection with the building of a road near Stala...

DENVER - Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday said rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is too polarizing to win the presidency and she has taken positions shared by President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain for political expediency. Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested divisive figure who will only inspire greater partisan divisions as she sides with Republicans on issues like trade, the role of lobbyists in politics and national security. At the same time, he elevated McCain, fresh off victory in Florida's crucial primary, as the likely Republican nominee. "Democrats will win in November and build a...

Mexican archeologists find largest Aztec figure By Gunther Hamm Fri Oct 13, 7:39 PM ET MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican archeologists unveiled the largest Aztec idol ever discovered on Friday and said it could be a door to a hidden chamber at a ruined temple under the heart of Mexico City. The Aztecs, a warlike and deeply religious people who built numerous monumental works, ruled an empire stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and encompassing much of modern-day central Mexico. The 12.4 tonne stone slab, 46 feet in surface area, was partially uncovered this month at...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2006 – When insurgents attacked Army Sgt. Tommy Rieman's reconnaissance squad near the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq Dec. 3, 2003, Rieman acted on his instincts as a leader. A plastic mold of the action figure that will depict Army Sgt. Tommy Rieman on the day he earned his Silver Star in Iraq. Rieman is among the first participants in the "America's Army: Real Heroes" program, which aims to honor soldiers who have shown heroism in the war on terror by making them into characters in "America's Army," the Army's video game, and action figures. Courtesy...

Rumsfeld: We're trying to figure out what to do if Iraq falls into civil war By James Langton in Washington (Filed: 19/03/2006) America has begun making plans to deal with a civil war in Iraq, three years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. As sectarian violence continues to claim lives every day, Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, has disclosed that United States military intelligence is holding war games to predict what might happen in such a situation. Donald Rumsfeld: War games Mr Rumsfeld's admission that "the intelligence community are thinking about this and analysing it" comes despite the...

WASHINGTON - Just pick a number, lawmakers were told Wednesday by both sides looking to Congress to resolve a lawsuit over billions of dollars in federal royalties that American Indians claim they are owed. Estimates of the money owed for unpaid royalties on oil, gas, timber and other resources from Indian lands range from half a billion dollars to $27.5 billion, a panel of negotiators and tribal leaders told Senate and House members. Many people with a stake in the bitter class-action lawsuit against the Interior Department are now convinced that only Congress can settle it equitably. And many now...

Nasa tries to figure out real-life Rain Man's brain Robin McKie, science editor Sunday December 11, 2005 The Observer (UK) It took Kim Peek just over an hour to read Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Four months later, when asked to give the name of the book's Russian radio operator, Peek quoted the entire relevant passage. It was a prodigious feat. Yet for Peek - the real-life 'savant' on whom Dustin Hoffman's character in the film Rain Man is based - such recall only gives a glimpse of his powers. He knows 9,000 books off by heart; he...

<p>SACRAMENTO — A businessman tied to the bribery scandal involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham donated more than $70,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign committees and received two gubernatorial appointments.</p> <p>At Schwarzenegger's behest, Brent Wilkes, founder of the government contractor ADCS Inc., resigned Nov. 29 from the Del Mar Fair Board and from another panel that oversees the leasing of state land for racetracks, said Margita Thompson, the governor's press secretary.</p>

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An Israeli airstrike on a car killed two Palestinians, including a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Tuesday in the Jebaliya refugee camp, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said. One of those killed was identified as Hassan Madhoun, a senior member of Al Aqsa, an offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Three people were wounded in the strike. Dozens of angry Al Aqsa members rushed to the local hospital where the bodies were taken. The gunmen fired into the air and chanted "revenge, revenge."

The article follows... Hi everybody. Have been following the Commercial art=Bad art thread for a couple of days and wanted to throw in my two cents. On the topic of 'commercial illustration=bad art' and Rockwell, Parrish, and N. C. Wyeth, et al. be damned: I can't say I agree. If one has to say that the damning detail of the art was the fact that Rockwell had to accept guidelines as to what he was to paint (i.e. paint Santa having milk and cookies for our December issue of The Saturday Evening Post) so then his art isn't art, but...