The Texas fertilizer plant that blew up on April 17, killing at least 15 people, appears to have been claiming an arcane exemption that allowed it to avoid targeted workplace inspections and safety requirements and enter a “streamlined prevention program” with environmental regulators, a government spokesman confirmed. The owner of the facility near Waco, West Chemical and […]

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(Some Americans believe President Obama is trying to effect gun control by buying up all the ammunition. Ads like this can be found on U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe’s Facebook page.) On Feb. 26, as the sequester crisis loomed, Sarah Palin took to Facebook to administer Washington a sharp tongue-lashing. “DC: Cut the Drama. Do Your […]

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Editor’s Note: Federal and local authorities were called to the compound of a diplomatic mission from Soudi Arabia this week to “rescue two women,” according to Jackie Bensen, a TV reporter for an NBC affiliate in Washington, citing an unnamed source. “One woman had reportedly tried to flee by squeezing through a gap in the […]

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(Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, vacationed with Wall Street bankers in January, raising concerns of conflicts of interest: Fox.) In January, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, ascended to the powerful chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee. Six weeks later, campaign finance filings and interviews show, Hensarling was joined by […]

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(In a video skit, President Barack Obama played Daniel Day-Lewis playing Obama, reversing the conventions and expectations of the minstrel tradition of “blackface.”) Minstrelsy was America’s most popular entertainment for almost two centuries. It involved white men painting their faces “black” with burnt cork or shoe polish. “Blackface” validated white fantasies of blackness. By mocking […]

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