Now for some American Geography

Which States Are in the Midwest?   "To get this broad-based view, we asked SurveyMonkey Audience to ask self-identified Midwesterners which states make the cut. We ran a national survey that targeted the Midwest from March 12 to March 17, with 2,778 respondents. Of those, 1,357 respondents  identified “a lot” or “some” as a Midwesterner. We then asked this group to identify the states they consider part of the Midwest."

 

Which States Are in the South?

 

Save for West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, these stated made up the Confederacy in the Civil War.

The ‘Blame Bush’ Era May Be at an End

FiveThirtyEight.

 

... "Moreover, the percentage who believe that Obama inherited the nation’s current economic conditions has dipped below 50 percent for the first time. According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, it’s just 46 percent of Americans. Although that’s only one poll, it’s far beyond the prior low of 56 percent recorded by the NBC survey. And nearly 50 percent is not that low considering that Obama has been in the Oval Office for more than five years. The percentage who believe Obama is responsible is also at an all-time high: 39 percent in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll."

17 Rules For Taking A Good Photo.

"Don’t stink up your own selfie."

Buzzfeed 
1. Posing with a friend is always more fun.

 

3. Don’t let your drunken friend photobomb you! Who do they think they are??

Play It Where It Lies, And Lies, And Lies

Hope n' Change

"Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the group Judicial Watch, the "most transparent administration in history" has grudgingly coughed up a copy of an email from White House aide Ben Rhodes in which he pushed Susan Rice to go on the Sunday news shows days after the terrorist attack in Benghazi...and blame everything on a ridiculous Internet video rather than any "failure of policy" on the part of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

"But according to White House spokesweasel Jay Carney, "the e-mail and the talking points were not about Benghazi. They were about the general situation in the Muslim world." ...  More.. 

Dude, did you see the pro-Obama Tommy Vietor on Fox News Special Report Thursday?

 

'Dude, this was like two years ago’: Tommy Vietor talks Benghazi with Bret Baier   "Tommy Vietor is the Obama administration’s former National Security Council spokesman, although many on Twitter referred to him only as “Who’s this kid?” He left that gig behind, and he can’t quite understand why no one else seems to have moved on from the terrorist attack that killed four Americans."

Here is how the left covered the Baier-Vietor confrontation.  

Jammie Wearing Fool says:  "What could well go down as one of the most embarrassing moments in Team Obama lore, and that encompasses a seemingly endless litany of disaster." 

 

 

 Mona Charen: Hillary’s Unconscionable Benghazi Lie    

"Remembering the injustice done to the grieving father of an American hero. "

"The Ben Rhodes memo revealing the duplicity of this administration on the subject of Benghazi reminds us about the character of those involved. That President Obama could lie so evenly and so passionately (remember the second presidential debate?) is perhaps not surprising at this stage. But let’s not forget what it took for Mrs. Clinton to lie to the grieving father of an American hero.

"First, a refresher on the facts (as they were certainly known to the principals):

...She told Mr. Woods that they would catch the guy who made the Internet film and make sure he was punished.

 

Stephen F. Hayes: Benghazi Lies   Emails to administration officials declared the purpose of the Obama spokespeople should "convey that the United States is doing everything that we can to protect our people and facilities abroad; To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy; To show that we will be resolute in bringing people who harm Americans to justice, and standing steadfast through these protests; To reinforce the President and Administration’s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges.' ” 

Krauthammer: Obama’s foreign policy of denial

Charles Krauthammer   "Barack Obama’s 949-word response Monday to a question about foreign policy weakness showed the president at his worst: defensive, irritable, contradictory and at times detached from reality. It began with a complaint about negative coverage on Fox News, when, in fact, it was the New York Times’ front page that featured Obama’s foreign policy failures, most recently the inability to conclude a trade agreement with Japan and the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East negotiations.

"Add to this the collapse of not one but two Geneva conferences on Syria, American helplessness in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Saudi king’s humiliating dismissal of Obama within two hours of talks — no dinner — after Obama made a special 2,300-mile diversion from Europe to see him, and you have an impressive litany of serial embarrassments." ...

Fresh ideas and a new vision for health reform (Videos)

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

Galen Institute   "The stage is being set right now for a pivotal debate over ObamaCare in the 2014 elections – whether it gets “fixed” or replaced by a credible free-market plan.  At our Feb. 27 conference, top political and policy leaders discussed the vision, policy, and politics of health reform impacting the coming elections at our conference on “Fresh ideas and a new vision for health reform.”

...

Policy:  On Panel II, 10 policy experts from the major market-oriented think tanks translate the vision into policy solutions for real insurance with real examples of portability and tax fairness, protections for those with pre-existing conditions, and a strong safety net.

• Jeffrey H. Anderson, Ph.D., 2017 Project
• Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., American Enterprise Institute
• James C. Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center
• John C. Goodman, Ph.D., National Center for Policy Analysis
• Hadley A. Heath, Independent Women’s Forum
• Paul Howard, Ph.D., Manhattan Institute
• Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., Institute for Policy Innovation
• Thomas P. Miller, J.D., American Enterprise Institute
• Nina Owcharenko, The Heritage Foundation
• Moderated by: Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute

The war on poverty has ended. We lost.

Toyota's Tax Exodus Sends Shockwaves Through Job-Impoverished California .

Toyota’s move from its Torrance facility, above, will occur over  the

next three years as the new headquarters is built in Plano, Texas.

 (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

 

The state must choose; you can keep electing governments run by Jerry Brown and Nancy Pelosi or you can have prosperity.

 

Forbes   "Toyota’s decision this week to leave Torrance, California, for the pro-business environs of Plano, Texas, sent shockwaves through the Southern California community where Toyota employs more than five percent of the workforce. According to MSN Money, the move brings to mind Nissan’s decision eight years ago to move 1,300 jobs to the no-income tax state of Tennessee. A former Nissan executive recalled how the move equated to the company’s employees “getting a 20-percent raise.”

"According to the 2013 City of Torrance’s Comprehensive Annual Report, the city stands to lose more than $473 million in property taxes. Plus, just over a year ago, Moody’s downgraded Torrance’s credit rating, citing a weakened general fund and increasing public expenditures."
...
"And it is not as if California’s anti-business tactics are a well-kept secret.

• CEO Magazine’s 2013 Best and Worst State’s for Business ranks California in last place
• The 2014 ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitive Index ranks the state 43^rd in economic performance, 47^th in economic outlook, 50^th in top marginal personal income tax, 50^th in personal income tax progressivity, and, to make matters worse, 49^th in recent legislative tax changes.
• The 2014 Tax Foundation State Business Climate Index ranks California 48^th, just above New York and New Jersey."

Ron Fournier teaches Journalism 101 to White House press corps.

Five Ways to Shift Leverage From the Government to the Press and Public 


"Don't worry about rough coverage hurting relationships and access (actually, it helps). You want to be a fair reporter, somebody who takes the beat seriously and respects (even likes) the people you cover. You also want to be a tough reporter, somebody who government officials fret about. You can be both fair and tough.

"Something I learned covering the Clinton and Bush White Houses: A new reporter spends months, if not years, calling government officials and begging them for information. "What are you working on?" Once that reporter starts unearthing confidential information and writing incisive analyses that knocks the government off script, the leverage shifts: Government officials call the reporter proactively to ask, "What are you working on?" That's when the reporter realizes she owns the beat." ...  Full article.

Former AP Bureau Chief Ron Fournier Says Blow Off White House Briefings, They're 'A Waste of Time'
" So Fournier advised in National Journal that it’s time to be “both fair and tough,” to shift the leverage of the conversation from the government to the people, and even consider blowing off the White House briefing as “a waste of time.”

 

"Don't go to White House briefings. They're a waste of time. The press secretary rarely makes news and, when he does, the information is a stale commodity; everybody gets it. While your competitors rot away in the briefing room, slip outside the gates and grab a meal or cup of coffee with a potential source, ideally one who doesn't work in the White House. Blowing off briefings is a competitive advantage.

Cover the White House from the "outside in." That's the phrase used by Caren Bohan of Reuters to describe her mastery of agencies and legislative offices disconnected from the White House vault. When Politico asked for tips on how to cover the White House, Jonathan Karl of ABC News said, "By going outside the White House – to Congress, the Pentagon, the State Department or the political world."

  More here.

Issa: WH Withholding Benghazi Docs ‘Disturbing and Perhaps Criminal’ (Video)

Nice Deb  ... “In pushing the false narrative that a YouTube video was responsible for the deaths of four brave Americans, it is disturbing and perhaps criminal that these documents — that documents like these — were hidden by the Obama administration from Congress and the public alike, particularly after Secretary Kerry pledged cooperation and the president himself told the American people in November of 2012 that, quote, ‘every bit of information we have on Benghazi has been provided,’” Issa said." ...

"No wonder Obama is lawyering up.

"Issa later questioned General Lovell.:

 

Jay Carney gets testy over questions about new Benghazi emails

Legal Insurrection   "As controversy over newly released documents pertaining to the 2012 Benghazi attack continues, there was a tense exchange between White House press spokesman Jay Carney and FOX News reporter Ed Henry in Thursday’s press briefing." 

 

... "On Thursday, Ed Henry asked Carney, “If the email was not about Benghazi, as you said yesterday and you say again today, why did the White House turn it over to a conservative group seeking information about Benghazi?”
"That question prompted the tense back and forth exchange between Henry and Carney below. Additional video footage available at Mediaite."

Townhall has more: Besieged Carney Claims Newly-Released WH Emails...Weren't About Benghazi
"Beyond the conservative blogosphere and Fox News, the mainstream media's reaction to yesterday's release of crucial new Benghazi emails was...muted, to say the least. That all changed at this afternoon's White House press briefing, at which ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl pummeled Jay Carney with questions about the White House's political response to the deadly terrorist attacks. Watch the whole thing, then scroll down for extensive analysis:" ...