The Hollywood Liberal

U.S. delivers ‘stern message’ to Libya

NEW DELHI — A high-ranking U.S. delegation held direct talks last weekend with representatives of Moammar Gaddafi’s government, according to U.S. officials, who said the meeting was intended to deliver a “stern message” to the Libyan leader to step down.

The talks, held Saturday in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, were thought to be the highest-level exchange between the two countries since NATO began its bombing campaign against Libyan government targets in March. But two U.S. officials familiar with the session insisted that no negotiations took place.

Read full article >>

Vincent Gray campaign accepted cash donations above legal limit, review shows

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s campaign accepted cash contributions above the city’s legal limit and in some cases recorded donations from people who say they didn’t contribute to his mayoral bid, according to a Washington Post review of District records and interviews.

The Post found several instances of cash donations that exceeded the city’s $25 limit. Gray campaign workers then improperly exchanged that cash for money orders, which carry a higher donation limit. The campaign officially reported the money-order donations and not the cash, The Post found.

Read full article >>

Failing roof forces HUD staff evacuation

Home repairs are always inconvenient. They are somewhat embarrassing when you are the lead federal housing agency.

The 10th floor of the 43-year-old Department of Housing and Urban Development headquarters has been evacuated. That is the top floor, the one where Secretary Shaun L. Donovan Secretary, Deputy Secretary Ronald C. Sims and the other executive staff are located.

Apparently the roof is in danger of caving in. The structural supports are beginning to fail. Donovan recently moved down to the 9th floor, we were told, and some 300 other staffers moved out of their offices Sunday.

Read full article >>

Haridopolos drops Florida Senate bid

Florida state Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R) has ended his run for the U.S. Senate, bring to a close a campaign that began with him as the GOP front-runner but gradually fell into disarray.

Haridopolos said in a statement that he was dropping out of the race for Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D) seat because he could not manage both a U.S. Senate campaign and leading the state Senate.

Read full article >>

Virginia Republicans enjoy advantage in cash

RICHMOND — Virginia Republicans enjoy a nearly 2-1 advantage over Democrats in the all-important race for cash as they look to take control of the state Senate and add to their majority in the House of Delegates in November’s elections.

Republicans have $13.7 million in the bank, compared with $7.4 million for the Democrats, taking into account committees controlled by candidates, parties and leaders as of June 30, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), a nonpartisan tracker of money in politics.

Read full article >>

The Builder of the World’s Richest Hedge Fund
John Cassidy, New Yorker
Ray Dalio, the sixty-one-year-old founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is tall and somewhat gaunt, with an expressive, lined face, gray-blue eyes, and longish gray hair that he parts on the left side. When I met him earlier this year at his office, on the outskirts of Westport, Connecticut, he was wearing an open-necked blue shirt, gray corduroy pants, and black leather boots. He looked a bit like an aging member of a British progressive-rock group. After a few pleasantries, he grabbed a thick briefing book and shepherded me into a large conference…

Jake Tapper Exposes the Obama Spinners
Hugh Hewitt, DC Examiner
Bravo, Jake Tapper.Finally from a member of the increasingly supine White House press corps came a question that demanded of the president specificity as to his alleged willingness to “upset his base.”

Blinded by “Good Things”
Thomas Sowell, Investor’s Business Daily
Life has many good things. The problem is that most of these good things can be gotten only by sacrificing other good things. We all recognize this in our daily lives. It is only in politics that this simple, common sense fact is routinely ignored. In politics, there are not simply good things but some special Good Things — with a capital G and capital T — which are considered always better to have more of.Many of the things advocated by environmental extremists, for example, are things that most of us might think of as good things. But, in politics, they become Good Things whose…

Dim Bulbs: Opposing Energy Efficiency Is Foolish