Fidel Castro, pushing 90, five plus years after relinquishing at least de jure power, voting to approve delegates to national and provincial assemblies. February 3rd, 2013.
Tell me again how successful that embargo has been?
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Ed Kilgore: “Immediately after the retreat ended, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor went on Face the Nation, and pressed mildly by Major Garrett on these obvious subjects, collapsed into incoherence.”
Bridget Kelly, the fired former Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. Christie (R-NJ) (who sent the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email) is telling the New Jersey legislative panel she’ll be pleading the 5th and won’t be turning over any of the subpoenaed documents because of it violates her “privacy.”
With the help of friends on Twitter, I’ve found the title for the top new job in a politicians’ office for the social media age: ScapeTern. That’s an intern who’s kept around solely for the purpose of being fired when the boss does something really stupid or offensive on Twitter. Like here.
Usage: “It’s a mystery why Scott Brown still hasn’t hired a scapetern.”
Actually, I can think of so many cases of these people. But I’m sort of at loss at the moment. What are your favorite scapetern stories?
Following up on the weekend tirade, Team Christie ‘leaks’ a new ‘memo’. This time to the Daily Caller slamming The New York Times. The Times gave Christie some real grist for criticism. And this one isn’t as crazy as the other one. But leaked memos are not changing the fact that Christie is knee deep in quick and sinking.
News broke last yesterday evening that another Christie aide currently under subpoena has resigned.
So today was the deadline for more subpoenaed documents to be handed over to the New Jersey lawmakers investigating the Chris Christie bridge scandal. Many of the people and organizations that got subpoenas were granted delays, but those that weren’t apparently turned over at least some documents by this afternoon. None are expected to be released today, but hopefully we’ll be seeing some soon.
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) apparently doesn’t think much of the possibility of former American Idol star Clay Aiken running against her: “As we know he doesn’t always fare all that well. He was runner up.”
Thanks also to Ian Millhiser’s take on the two contests below:
Sahil Kapur reports that they’re afraid — very afraid — of immigration reform for one reason: “I think 2014 is a slam dunk to us otherwise and this would really piss off the base.”
The always-spot-on Bernard Avishai on Scarlett Johansson’s apologism form SodaStream: “How many of them had the ‘equal right’ to walk into a Jerusalem bank and open an account, let alone borrow the money to open a business to deliver SodaStream products to Israeli stores?”
A member of Chris Christie’s State Trooper security detail tried to drop Christie’s name to get out of a shoplifting arrest last month in Pennsylvania. It didn’t work. “We don’t do that,” said Tilden, PA. Chief of Police William McEllroy.