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1.)From Benghazi-gate to Beyonce-gate — Move over Benghazi-gate, there’s a new scandal in town. Jan. 21, 2013 is a date which will live in infamy, reports TheDC’s Taylor Bigler:
“When President Obama (or at least his inaugural committee) asked his BFF Beyoncé to sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ on Inauguration Day, one would assume that they asked her to do it live. But was she actually the first person to lip-sync the national anthem during the inauguration? Some members of the press seated near the performance certainly think so. … The London Times confirms that Beyoncé was lip-syncing during her performance. They write, ‘A spokeswoman for the Marine Corp Band said it was standard procedure to record a backing track and Beyoncé decided shortly before her performance to rely on the studio version rather than risk singing it live at the Capitol.’”
Oh Beyonce, we hardly knew thee.
2.) What’s so great about free speech? — As a young lad in grad school, President Obama’s nominee to head the CIA didn’t think free speech was such a sacrosanct value. Charles Johnson reports for TheDC:
“In his 1980 graduate thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, John Brennan denied the existence of ‘absolute human rights’ and argued in favor of censorship on the part of the Egyptian dictatorship. ‘Since the press can play such an influential role in determining the perceptions of the masses, I am in favor of some degree of government censorship,’ Brennan wrote. ‘Inflamatory [sic] articles can provoke mass opposition and possible violence, especially in developing political systems.’ Brennan serves as President Barack Obama’s national security advisor. Obama has nominated him to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.”
That John Brennan is just so open-minded.
3.) Are conservatives really so pathetically weak? — Conservative commentator and Piers Morgan destroyer Ben Shapiro is out with a new book on how conservatives are constantly bullied by the left. But are conservatives really as weak and pathetic as that narrative suggests? Ben Shapiro responds to TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein:
“Not all conservatives are enfeebled. But they are on the defensive. Instead of responding to accusations of racism by calling out their accusers as cheap smear artists who forward racism by watering down the term, conservatives try to explain why they aren’t racist. That’s a losing tactic. There’s nothing worse in this country than being called a racist. Or a sexist. Or a bigot. The left has made it easier for conservatives to be quiet than to face the brutality of the slurs they cast around with alacrity.”
Read the full interview on the book and to see who Shapiro considers some of the left’s biggest bullies.
4.) Naughty in New Jersey — New Jersey, uh, it’s a strange state. TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:
“New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg told a reporter that Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has announced that he plans to run for Lautenberg’s U.S. Senate seat in 2014, needs a ‘spanking,’ because he is ‘disrespectful.’ Lautenberg aides previously told Politico that Booker, a rising star in the Democratic Party, is ‘disrespectful’ for openly seeking Lautenberg’s seat prior to the 88-year-old senator officially announcing his retirement — which still has not occurred.”
Well, things just got weird.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Josh Greenman: I’ve done my part not to blow this Beyonce lip-syncing thing out of proportion by only tweeting about it 6 or 7 times.
6.) Today in North Korean News –BREAKING: “Kim Jong Un Praised at Seminar in Germany”
