Hot Town, Summit in the City

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump made a stunning concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday about halting military exercises, pulling a surprise at a summit that baffled allies, military officials and lawmakers from his own Republican Party.

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I Think Graham is Crackers

From MEDIAITE:

It has been more than a week since Japan was hit with a devastating earthquake and tsunami, and yet only now are religious celebrities beginning to come out of the woodwork to give a spiritual explanation for what occurred. Talking to Newsmax TV, Rev. Franklin Graham confirmed that, indeed, these recent natural disasters could signal the Second Coming of Jesus, but Bill O’Reilly was right in calling out the media for exaggerating the severity of the disaster in Japan. Opening with a quick recap of this century’s disasters– Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, the tsunami in Indonesia– the host asked Graham just how worried the world should be that these are the end times. Graham replied that the signs are clearly there, that wars and famine and earthquakes are precisely what would indicate the end of the world.

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How Kudlow Can You Get?

From VANITY FAIR:

In these tough economic times, isn’t it nice to know that calamitous natural disasters needn’t have an adverse affect on your investment portfolio? After the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan failed to induce a market nosedive, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow expressed his relief in terms that seemed to appall even his fellow cheerleaders for capitalism: “The human toll here,” he declared, “looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that.”

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Holier-Than-Thou Land

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

As president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Richard Land is an influential opponent of the Cordoba House project in New York. But when he’s not speaking on behalf of one of the most powerful religious bodies in the country, Land has a second — some would say ironic — ecumenical role: member of the federally created United States Commission on International Religious Freedom [appointed by George W. Bush].

In his role as a commissioner, Land’s job is to press for a U.S. foreign policy that advances religious freedoms around the world. Reached by phone today, Land maintained that there is no contradiction between his service on the Commission and his efforts to see the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center project moved farther north in Manhattan.

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Does This Mean Japanese Beetles are Now Called Freedom Beetles?

From Hot Dish Politics at the Star Tribune:

Speaking to a crowd in Rochester yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann warned that Democratic health reform proposals could eventually prompt the government to use health care as a tool to limit people’s free speech.

The Post-Bulletin has a video and story of Bachmann’s address to about 200 people.

She explained that a man recently approached her to say that in Japan, which “had the government takeover of health care,” the government puts people who criticize the health system on “a list” and denies them treatment.

Is that what the man really said? Maybe what he really said was just…

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Did you lose your Japanese to Batshit Babble Dictionary, Michele?

Electile Dysfunction

From CITYPAGES:

Speaking before the Minnesota Republican State Central Committee this weekend, Norm Coleman assured those gathered that his unwillingness to recognize the recount tally and a District Court election ruling has nothing to do with him, his political career, or even the Republican Party.

Rather, his refusal to acknowledge reality is due to his love of America.

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Bye Bye Bybee

Jay Bybee has been a federal judge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in  Las Vegas for 6 years.  He was little noticed until the release of a memo written by Bybee when he was head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.  The memo gave protection to what the Bush administration called harsh interrogation and what others call torture.  Liberal groups have called for Bybee’s impeachment.

The techniques excused by Bybee included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, beatings, and confinement in small boxes. In 2002, Bybee advised the Central Intelligence Agendy that they could use the tactics against Abu Zubaydah, a leader of al-Qaida.  Bybee said that the techniques were not torture, because there was “no intent to cause severe pain or suffering.”

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