Here's the background. You need this background to understand how absurd and biased this is.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times claimed he'd interviewed a former underaged prostitute. She said she'd been pimped when she was 16, often via ads her pimp placed in "Backpage.com." Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media -- yes, publishers of the venerable, lefty Village Voice. Backpage.com seems to have a lot of ads for escorts. It's franchised in a few cities.

Village Voice countercharged that Kristof had "concocted" the story, because the girl in question was not 16 when Backpage.com existed -- that is, it simply did not exist in 2003 when this girl was 16. It later existed, when she was older, but was only published in a few cities, none of which she lived in.

Kristof rebuts "I didn't know there would be any math" in this journalistic career, and also claims she was pimped up and down the east coast, and worked in a few places where Backpage.com was published. A little later than 16 years old, but who cares about such details? (Answer: I do. The fact that she was 16 is what makes this a child sex-trafficking story. Without that, it may be a sex trafficking story, but it's not a child sex trafficking story.)

So, shock: Leftist media is involved, hypocritically, in the exploitation of women; another member of the leftist media cooks a story and juices it up and then, when the facts come out, claims the facts don't really matter. It's a gestalt thing or something.

Now, here's where it gets biased (as opposed to merely dishonest and shoddy).

Goldman Sachs, until recently, owned a stake in Village Voice Media. They decided to sell this off recently. Whether this is about the Kristof cooked story, I don't know.

Ann Romney has a blind trust with Goldman Sachs.

A blind trust. Meaning she has no idea what they're investing in.

Further, of course, it's Goldman Sachs itself which owned the stake-- not their investors. The firm owns things on its own account.

So what are the headlines?

Well, it's the MSM. Take a guess.

Ann Romney has absolutely nothing to do with Village Voice Media, and scarcely anything to do with Goldman Sachs.

And yet Reuters connects them up in a headline. If you actually read the headline, you can see how thin and strained this connection is.

Ah, but they're right next to each other there, aren't they? They're not connected in real life, but they are connected in Reuters.

Also note the headline omits the words "Goldman Sachs" and "Village Voice." These are brand names, which people would recognize as above shoddy behavior, and hence would not hold it against Ann Romney if she trusted them and was burned. It would be like investing in Johnson and Johnson and then finding out they had some spin-off that stole organs from orphans. People really couldn't hold it against you that you'd trusted that J&J would not be stealing organs from orphans.

In addition, the Village Voice is hard counterculture left, and Goldman Sachs is a strongly Democrat-leaning firm.

That would complicate the picture they're trying to paint here -- if two arch-liberal organizations were involved, how can a passive conservative blind-trust investor be blamed for the actions of liberals? And why is she the focus here, rather than the actual active participants?

So the headline only features "Ann Romney" and "sex trafficking."

By the way-- this whole scandal? Began like two or three weeks ago.

If the geniuses at the New York Times only caught wind of this mid-March, how was poor, dumb, religious Ann Romney to know about it? She's not smart like liberals after all.

Alternate Universe Headline: Commenters wonder why Reuters didn't go with this version of the headline.

Obama's Top 2008 Donor Reaped Profits from Sex Trafficking

Well, "wonder" isn't the right word. Let's just say they've observed this.

Another possibility, given that a dozen Goldman Sachs people work in the Obama Administration:

Obama's White House Filled With Former Sex-Traffickers

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (186)
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Narratives.

You will recall the incident of the beating of the black homeless man Sherman Ware on December 4, 2010 by the son of a Sanford police officer. The beating sparked outrage in the community but there were very few that stepped up to do anything about it. I would presume the inaction was because of the fact that he was homeless not because he was black. Do you know the individual who stepped up when no one else in the black community would? Do you know who spent tireless hours putting flyers on the cars of persons parked in the churches of the black community? Do you know who waited for the church-goers to get out of church so that he could hand them flyers in an attempt to organize the black community against this horrible miscarriage of justice? Do you know who helped organize the City Hall meeting on January 8, 2011 at Sanford City Hall?? That person was GEORGE ZIMMERMAN.

That's from an unnamed (but verified) Zimmerman family member.

Full letter here. The writer calls the NAACP "racist."

Well, it is.

First Cop on the Scene's Report Supports Zimmerman's Claim of a Beating. He notes the bleeding from Zimmerman's head and nose, and also notes that Zimmerman said he kept calling for help, but no one came.

He realized that people had heard him calling out, and began lying about who was yelling, from moments after the shooting?

Scream 2: Are there any media people in NYC who could afford the $699 registration fee for a conference on voice biometrics going on April 3-4? Tom Maguire suggests that maybe they ought to give it a whirl.

Posted by: Ace at 08:26 AM | Comments (257)
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Below are the results of the AoSHQ March Madness Brackets. I'm only listing the top three in each group.

Group 1:
Kevin's Bracket 144
Kramer 143
UK all the way babee! 142

Group 2:
Tuck's Bracket 143
I Can See Russia From My House 133
kn45247 123

Group 3:
Tigerdave 156
Chiapas Mexico 145
scoamf 142

Overall winner: Tigerdave. Congrats Tigerdave. You win a year's subscription to AoSHQ.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:33 AM | Comments (199)
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Happy Tuesday.

Yesterday, the 9th Circuit upheld California Prop 209, the anti-affirmative action amendment, from an equal protection challenge brought by minority students. Lawgeeks, the decision is here (PDF).

The latest Q-poll out of Pennsylvania still has Sen. Santorum in the lead in his home state. Santorum polls at 41%; Romney has 35%; Ron Paul crazies along at 10%; and Gingrich trails at 7%. Key number: 37% of likely primary voters say they might change their minds. Pennsylvania votes April 24.

Here's a fun little story (with video) on a morning news anchor in the UK who did an Irish jig during the newscast.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:54 AM | Comments (327)
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Conservative Cars vs. Liberal Cars?

Well according to this survey done by Strategic Vision Democrats and Republicans have quite different tastes in cars.

Republicans really seem to like convertibles (69% preferred versus just 18% for Democrats) while Democrats love themselves some 5-door hatchbacks (42% versus 24% for the GOP).

Here are the Top 5 cars by political party:

Democrats                       Republicans

1. Honda Civic Hybrid         1. Ford Mustang Convertible

2. Volvo C30                  2. Audi A8

3. Nissan Leaf                3. Mercedes GL

4. Acura TSX Wagon            4. Ford Expedition

5. Ford Fiesta Sedan          5. Ford F-150

Surprisingly the Chevy Volt doesn't appear but I guess even bien-pensant liberals have their limits.

more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:16 PM | Comments (793)
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Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (229)
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Snarlen Arlen -- voted several times as among the nastiest people in Congress, by the staffers and those who work with Congress.

He's mad he had to sit through commercial breaks to do the radio interview.

Has he ever heard radio?

Posted by: Ace at 04:01 PM | Comments (236)
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And is that, then, why he took a shot at them, should they continue along with current plans?

Kaus wondered a few days ago if/when we'd get a leak from the result of the conference vote -- the first, non-binding vote by the judges.

This is the hottest question in the nation-- could any wife or husband not help but beg to be told? And what about all those clerks? Secrets are fun to keep, but even more fun to tell!

Could a secret this size not leak?

Not sure if Drudge is hinting he's heard something (and if he did-- it couldn't be a great source, verified, or he'd report it) or just indulging in blogger-ish speculation.

Posted by: Ace at 03:19 PM | Comments (222)
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Pass a law out of the House, now.

Yes, this sonofabitch will veto it. At least make him explain why he's determined to rake in illegal foreign money.

So they're down on fundraising and they've decided to open the election open to the World's Voters, eh?

He doesn't seem to check into the upstandingness of his "bundlers," either (who can just be a conduit for illegal contributions, of course).

You Had Your Chance, America, And You Blew It

Now I'm taking this to the tribunal that matters -- the Global Community.

Posted by: Ace at 02:36 PM | Comments (213)
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A Hall and Oates cover, of pretty much their best song.

You should probably listen until the instrumental solo. more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:11 PM | Comments (167)
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