Of course, in the Senate’s defense, it is merely doing what the contemptible SC House and our contemptible governor did before them: COLUMBIA, SC — The state Senate killed Medicaid expansion on Tuesday, the last hope for supporters who wanted to extend health insurance benefits to South Carolina’s working poor. The vote was 23-19, with [...]
This just moved a few minutes ago: COLUMBIA, SC — Fort Jackson’s commanding officer has been suspended following allegations of misconduct, according to a spokesman with the US Army Training and Doctrine command. Brig. Gen. Bryan T. Roberts was suspended by Gen. Robert W. Cone after learning about the allegations, which included claims of adultery [...]
The thing that strikes me about this is the bipartisan nature of it: WASHINGTON—A key Senate committee overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday that calls for the U.S. to provide small arms to moderate Syrian opposition groups fighting strongman Bashar al-Assad, underscoring growing sentiment among lawmakers for a change in the U.S. approach to the conflict. The [...]
We had a busy weekend — the Twins had a cello recital and a soccer game, we celebrated my Mom’s birthday at our house, and my grandson had his first birthday. I thought the above picture was pretty cool. Our little guy (on the right) is really into pointing, and apparently that’s all the rage [...]
This just in from The Washington Post: Senior White House officials, including Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough, learned last month about a review by the Treasury Department’s inspector general into whether the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, but they did not inform President Obama, the White House said Monday. The acknowledgement [...]
Just got this dialogue box a few minutes ago: Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I have NO idea what the application (which I do not recognize, by the way) proposed to do with Runtime, but apparently Runtime was deeply shocked….
Here’s the second installment of Clare Morris’ report on her brief stint working on the Mark Sanford campaign for the 1st Congressional District: How I Spent the Final Days of Mark Sanford’s Congressional Campaign – Part Two By Clare Morris Monday Evening, May 6 That Monday evening, the campaign had a volunteer-appreciation cookout behind the [...]
The Richland County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, a useless entity created by the county’s legislative delegation for its own perverse, unknowable reasons, should definitely cease to exist. The State made that case fairly thoroughly today. An excerpt: The board has failed repeatedly to act in the public’s best interest. While former director Lillian [...]
Downton Diddy from Sean Combs In providing a sneak preview of his star turn on “Downton (or as he calls it, ‘Downtown’) Abbey,” Sean “P. Diddy” Combs breaks the color barrier, the time barrier, the genre barrier and of course the comedy barrier. PBS denies that Combs has joined the cast of the wildly popular [...]
This headline on thestate.com just cracked me up: Don’t be alarmed by the helicopters, National Guard says You really need to look at the picture with it. I couldn’t help thinking of all the people who would not be reassured by those words. Starting with all those folks who thought Rand Paul’s filibuster about drone [...]
Several weeks ago, my friend Clare Morris said she planned to go down to Charleston and volunteer in Mark Sanford’s campaign sometime before the 1st Congressional District special election was over. Knowing that she went to college with the guy, and worked for him in his congressional office and later in his Commerce Department, I [...]
Yes, the Daily Mail, as in the one in London — the one in “Paperback Writer,” for my fellow Boomers. Imagine my surprise. I just this morning loaded the Daily Mail app onto my iPod, and this was one of the first stories to pop up, right there on the main U.S. news page. And [...]
Kevin Fisher is a thoughtful columnist. He called to leave a message and warn me that I’d be mentioned in his column this week, as follows: I realize that sentiment cuts to the quick of Sanford bashers, including people I like and respect. For example, former editorial page editor of The State and local blogger [...]
It depends on what the definition of “news” is. Here’s mine, at this particular moment: FBI launches criminal probe of IRS conduct (WashPost) — One of two front-page stories out of a Holder presser today. The Post reveals an IG report on the mess as well. Russia to Expel American, Saying He Is a C.I.A. Officer (NYT) [...]
Just wanted to give y’all a heads-up on this event tonight, brought to my attention by my friend and fellow Capital City Club member Clare Morris: MEDIA ADVISORY: Boston Marathon Bombing Fundraiser at the Capital City Club Tonight The public is invited What: The Capital City Club is sponsoring cocktails and fun for charity, featuring Celebrity Bartender Dr. Frank Clark. [...]
The Steve Benjamin campaign sent out this video of his announcement yesterday. I haven’t had time to watch it all myself — quite busy today — but I thought I’d make it available to you. One thing that struck me in the minute or so that I did listen to — Benjamin wasn’t speaking as [...]
There’s a scene in “Bananas” in which Woody Allen’s character is discussing the economy of his new, adopted country, and when he’s told that bananas are its greatest export, he cries, “Bananas, bananas!” in a tone that conveys that he’s heard enough about that particular fruit. (I tried to find a video clip of that, [...]
Bart shares this with me, apparently one of those email things that goes around. As the “why, back in my day” genre goes, this one has a pretty good point: Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to me the other day, that I should bring my own grocery bagsbecause plastic bags weren’t good [...]
Here’s what we have at this hour: Justice Department secretly obtained AP phone records (The Guardian) — AP’s top exec calls it a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.” Technically, the intrusion did not actually have mass and therefore couldn’t be “massive” (I once had an editor for whom this was a pet peeve), but you know what [...]
This passage, in The State‘s advance story about Steve Benjamin’s expected announcement that he will seek re-election as mayor of Columbia, struck me: Benjamin will be a latecomer to the race. Already, city council member Moe Baddourah, a restaurateur, and Larry Sypolt, a former FBI analyst, have announced for mayor… Latecomer? Yeah, technically, others had [...]