Shorter Question Everything
• As if you needed more proof that Breitbart doesn’t really do the news: Breitbart gleefully falls for satire site’s story that Paul Krugman filed for bankruptcy. Rather than issue a retraction, or a correction, Breitbart just disappeared the story. [screencap]
• Krugman took to his New York Times blog on Monday to explain that he had been “Breaitbarted” and reminded readers that Breitbart.com had also recently published a false story linking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to the non-existent group “Friends of Hamas.” “I wanted to wait and see which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax,” Krugman wrote. “And Breitbart.com came through!” “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a lavishly paid speech to Friends of Hamas,” he added.
Lyin’ Ryan
• As House Republicans prepare to unveil the third iteration of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget on Tuesday, some rank-and-file members are visibly uncomfortable defending the measure’s reliance on President Obama’s policies to achieve balance in 10 years. RYAN LIZZA (NEW YORKER): Speaking to America’s frustration, Republicans voted overwhelmingly against a deal that raised $600 billion in revenue, and now it sounds like they’re going to put out a budget that pockets that $600 billion and put that up for a vote. So I think that paradox is — is a little difficult to understand.
• Ryan, unveiling new budget plan, STILL wants to repeal Obamacare: Interestingly, Ryan is keeping part of Obama’s plan—the cuts to Medicare providers that he vehemently railed against when he ran on Mitt Romney’s ticket. Those are the same cuts he had in his budget last year, however. Ryan’s plan seeks to balance the budget over the next 10 years, in large part by implementing a voucher system in which seniors don’t receive a guaranteed Medicare benefit. Instead, they’d enter the private marketplace with a government subsidy, and be forced to purchase their own plan.
• Ryan’s vanity budget is far-right plan with magic asterisks, is breathtakingly hypocritical: Instead of paying any attention to the results of the 2012 elections, Ryan is right back where he was before — pitching a far-right plan predicated on scrapping Medicare, slashing public investments, and giving the wealthy massive tax cuts. That’s not what the American mainstream wants? Ryan doesn’t give a damn. As has been the case, he pays for the tax cuts with smoke and mirrors, promising new revenue from “reforms” that only he can see. For all the GOP rhetoric about how President Obama isn’t “serious” about fiscal responsibility, Ryan relies heavily on the same Obama policies Republicans claim to hate. Specifically, the new House Republican budget takes full advantage of Obama’s tax hikes on the wealthy and savings from the Affordable Care Act — the same policies Ryan and his cohorts claim to hate.
Women
• Sir Patrick Stewart: The truth is that domestic violence and violence against women touch many of us. This violence is not a private matter. Behind closed doors it is shielded and hidden and it only intensifies. It is protected by silence – everyone’s silence. Violence against women is learned. Each of us must examine – and change – the ways in which our own behavior might contribute to, enable, ignore or excuse all such forms of violence. I promise to do so, and to invite other men and allies to do the same.
• GOP political operative and former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt: I think in any organization where women are not at the table, where it is skewed male in today’s day and age, that’s an organization that’s deficient. That’s an organization that’s going to have problems. It’s one of the problems we have structurally in the Republican Party. We don’t have enough women at the table. But any company, any organization in today’s day and age that doesn’t give equal opportunity to women, that doesn’t advance women to the table, is going to be an organization that has difficulty competing.
• Hagel to Open Review of Sexual Assault Case. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s decision to review an overturned sexual assault conviction comes amid mounting criticism of the Pentagon’s handling of such cases.
In other news
• Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s proposal to build a $2.8 billion subway along the Broadway Corridor is drawing strong responses for and against the idea. Robertson told a packed town hall at the St. James Community Square Sunday that building a subway is the best way to solve Broadway’s congestion problems because it would have greater capacity than a streetcar and would disrupt businesses less, The Province reported. Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs told the radio station that all of the Broadway subway construction would take place underground.
• Workers in China are continuing to collect dead pigs from a river near Shanghai, with more than 2,000 carcasses reportedly recovered so far. Officials say they have to act quickly to remove the pigs, as the Huangpu River is a major source of drinking water for the city. They are investigating the cause of the deaths and suspect the pigs were dumped by farms upriver.
• Residents in Byron, Maine, overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to make gun ownership mandatory.
F.D.Brightly
Breitbart gleefully falls for satire site’s story
Shorter Question Everything
• As if you needed more proof that Breitbart doesn’t really do the news: Breitbart gleefully falls for satire site’s story that Paul Krugman filed for bankruptcy. Rather than issue a retraction, or a correction, Breitbart just disappeared the story. [screencap]
• Krugman took to his New York Times blog on Monday to explain that he had been “Breaitbarted” and reminded readers that Breitbart.com had also recently published a false story linking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to the non-existent group “Friends of Hamas.” “I wanted to wait and see which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax,” Krugman wrote. “And Breitbart.com came through!” “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a lavishly paid speech to Friends of Hamas,” he added.
Lyin’ Ryan
• As House Republicans prepare to unveil the third iteration of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget on Tuesday, some rank-and-file members are visibly uncomfortable defending the measure’s reliance on President Obama’s policies to achieve balance in 10 years. RYAN LIZZA (NEW YORKER): Speaking to America’s frustration, Republicans voted overwhelmingly against a deal that raised $600 billion in revenue, and now it sounds like they’re going to put out a budget that pockets that $600 billion and put that up for a vote. So I think that paradox is — is a little difficult to understand.
• Ryan, unveiling new budget plan, STILL wants to repeal Obamacare: Interestingly, Ryan is keeping part of Obama’s plan—the cuts to Medicare providers that he vehemently railed against when he ran on Mitt Romney’s ticket. Those are the same cuts he had in his budget last year, however. Ryan’s plan seeks to balance the budget over the next 10 years, in large part by implementing a voucher system in which seniors don’t receive a guaranteed Medicare benefit. Instead, they’d enter the private marketplace with a government subsidy, and be forced to purchase their own plan.
• Ryan’s vanity budget is far-right plan with magic asterisks, is breathtakingly hypocritical: Instead of paying any attention to the results of the 2012 elections, Ryan is right back where he was before — pitching a far-right plan predicated on scrapping Medicare, slashing public investments, and giving the wealthy massive tax cuts. That’s not what the American mainstream wants? Ryan doesn’t give a damn. As has been the case, he pays for the tax cuts with smoke and mirrors, promising new revenue from “reforms” that only he can see. For all the GOP rhetoric about how President Obama isn’t “serious” about fiscal responsibility, Ryan relies heavily on the same Obama policies Republicans claim to hate. Specifically, the new House Republican budget takes full advantage of Obama’s tax hikes on the wealthy and savings from the Affordable Care Act — the same policies Ryan and his cohorts claim to hate.
Women
• Sir Patrick Stewart: The truth is that domestic violence and violence against women touch many of us. This violence is not a private matter. Behind closed doors it is shielded and hidden and it only intensifies. It is protected by silence – everyone’s silence. Violence against women is learned. Each of us must examine – and change – the ways in which our own behavior might contribute to, enable, ignore or excuse all such forms of violence. I promise to do so, and to invite other men and allies to do the same.
• GOP political operative and former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt: I think in any organization where women are not at the table, where it is skewed male in today’s day and age, that’s an organization that’s deficient. That’s an organization that’s going to have problems. It’s one of the problems we have structurally in the Republican Party. We don’t have enough women at the table. But any company, any organization in today’s day and age that doesn’t give equal opportunity to women, that doesn’t advance women to the table, is going to be an organization that has difficulty competing.
• Hagel to Open Review of Sexual Assault Case. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s decision to review an overturned sexual assault conviction comes amid mounting criticism of the Pentagon’s handling of such cases.
In other news
• Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s proposal to build a $2.8 billion subway along the Broadway Corridor is drawing strong responses for and against the idea. Robertson told a packed town hall at the St. James Community Square Sunday that building a subway is the best way to solve Broadway’s congestion problems because it would have greater capacity than a streetcar and would disrupt businesses less, The Province reported. Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs told the radio station that all of the Broadway subway construction would take place underground.
• Workers in China are continuing to collect dead pigs from a river near Shanghai, with more than 2,000 carcasses reportedly recovered so far. Officials say they have to act quickly to remove the pigs, as the Huangpu River is a major source of drinking water for the city. They are investigating the cause of the deaths and suspect the pigs were dumped by farms upriver.
• Residents in Byron, Maine, overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to make gun ownership mandatory.