Just a slightly-reworded lift, with the precise structure and organization of the paragraph stolen without attribution.

And structure and organization is the tough part, in case anyone didn't know that; anyone can just re-word anything. Hell, second-graders just re-word stuff from the encyclopedia all the time. We let them do that, because 1, they're second graders, and 2, usually they're honest enough to say "Encyclopedia Britannica says..."

But Fareed is not in second grade, and he did not give credit to the writer he stole from.

And as Newsbusters points out, he's been accused before by Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg of stealing quotes from interviews Goldberg conducted and writing them up to sound like Zakaria conducted them.

Prediction: We're going to find out this is worse. There is no reason at all to be grudging about giving credit, unless you are bringing so little to the table you have to deny credit, in order to retain any for yourself.

Easiest thing in the world to throw credit to the deserving party. I just cannot think of any sound reason to refuse to do so.

Zakaria now says he apologizes "unreservedly" to the writer he swiped from, but I assume he's going to follow that up with a round of excuses. "Inadvertent editing error" and such. I think we're going to find out there are more reservations to that "unreserved" apology than word choice would currently imply.

Update: One Month Suspension, Pending Further Review. Zakaria calls it "serious lapse" and a "terrible mistake."

From where I sit those are two different things. A "mistake" could still be an "inadvertent editing error," whereas a "lapse" suggests to me culpability.

So is he confessing culpability, or is he playing the Inadvertent Editing Error card?

Posted by: Ace at 12:35 PM | Comments (183)
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This is like the oldest story on the Internet. I've been linking this same basic claim since I started the blog.

But I guess I just need the word to finally get out.

Pregnant women have used natural remedies such as a teaspoon of ginger or a mint to help battle morning sickness. But now, one medical professional believes you can add oral sex to that list.

According to Gordon Gallup, a psychologist at SUNY-Albany, the best way to cure morning sickness during pregnancy is sperm.

Now that's about pregnant women, but I heard from an investor at Bain that it applies to all women in all circumstances.

Posted by: Ace at 12:24 PM | Comments (192)
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"Not perfect," he grudgingly admits. Then says it's all the fault of Republicans, who blocked... um, who blocked nothing at all for his first two years, the years when the bulk of his agenda was actually passed.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:53 AM | Comments (177)
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I was listening to Adam Carolla talk about this on a podcast. He said movie was apparently made years ago, but a Chinese company bought the production company so they could... change the villains from the Chinese (semi-plausible) to the North Koreans (implausible).

Actually, that's not true; MGM went through serious financial problems, which caused the delay of this film, as it also caused the long delay of the new Bond film. (The Bond movie wasn't shot-and-shelved; the production just remained idle through this up-in-the-air period.)

MGM had already decided to use CGI to change all the Chinese invaders to North Korean ones, because China has a market and North Korea doesn't.

Now here's something: This is another Zombie Chris Hemsworth movie, by which I mean a movie he shot years ago when he was younger and not quite as Thor. He recently had another such movie come out, the Cabin in the Woods, which also sat on the shelves for years due to MGM's bankruptcy or whatever it was.

So here's another movie with Chris Hemsworth as a teenager or early-20-something even though he's older now. So if any 'ettes are feeling guilty, well, you don't have to. He's all grown up now.

Supposedly it will finally be coming out November 21st.

How does it look? Well, it looks like... Wolverines!

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:17 AM | Comments (317)
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First article:

A veteran US law-enforcement official has filed a blockbuster discrimination lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, charging she pushed him aside to make way for a less-qualified woman who’s “enjoyed a long-standing relationship” with the anti-terror chief.

The lawsuit, which was first reported yesterday by blogger Debbie Schlussel, identifies the woman as Dora Schriro, who was later appointed by Mayor Bloomberg as commissioner of the city Department of Correction, a post she still holds.

The court papers also allege that Suzanne Barr, Napolitano’s chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has engaged in “numerous” acts of “sexually offensive behavior” intended to “humiliate and intimidate male employees.

Barr’s alleged acts include calling one man “in his hotel room and screaming at him that she wanted his ‘c--k in the back of [her] throat.’ ”

This repudiates George Carlin's old observation that "No one has ever said the words, 'I will call the police unless you stop s***ing my c***.'

Second article:

Soon after Schriro and Barr were hired in January 2009, male staffers were treated like lapdogs, Hayes claims.

Barr “moved the entire contents of the offices of three employees, including name plates, computers and telephones, to the men’s bathroom at ICE headquarters,” the suit says.

Barr also stole a male staffer’s BlackBerry and fired off a message to his female supervisor indicating that he “had a crush on [her] and fantasized about her,” Hayes claims.

That last allegation, I don't know. It's a well-known game to take someone's phone when they leave it unguarded to go to the bathroom or whatnot, and use it to send silly, transparently fake messages.

I'm usually skeptical of sexual-harassment claims, and I make no exception here. I'm interested to see how suit shakes out, but I imagine there'll be some minor settlement and then we won't hear anything more.

Posted by: Ace at 10:33 AM | Comments (304)
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Yeah, Obama's got this in the bag. A mere majority of the public is dissatisfied with his job performance, so.

43% approve. This 43% was discovered by the Curiosity probe, on Mars.

Posted by: Ace at 10:10 AM | Comments (186)
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One thing about this ad-- it includes a parade of media quotes noting the ad is "unfair" and "low" and such.

It doesn't include one saying the ad is untrue.

I think that's important.

The campaign says this is a "real ad," not just a web wonder, and will run on TV in swing states.

Still time to edit "untrue and misleading" into it, guys.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:41 AM | Comments (175)
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The Romney ad showing Obama gutted the historic welfare reform of the 90s has liberals freaking out.

PolitiFact, the despicable "fact checking" organization rated the ad "Pants on Fire" (which roughly translates to, True but hurts our guy Obama".

Want proof Obama is ready to let people skip trying to find work and just get a check? Look no further than the New York Times (safe link to Mikey Kaus).

[Nevada] asked to discuss flexibility in imposing those requirements. Perhaps, the state asked, those families hardest to employ could be exempted from the work requirements for six months while officials worked with them to stabilize their households.

"Exempted from the work requirements". Hmmm, I no fact checker but that sounds like weakening the work requirements and just sending checks to me.

Beyond that, whether or not Obama was doing the right thing in issuing waivers of the work requirement, the fact is they have no legal right to do it.

Newt Gingrich was on an RNC conference call and he was clear when they were writing the law the specifically made the work requirement unwaivable because, “we didn’t trust liberals” not to get rid of them as soon as they could.

Meanwhile, impeached former President Bill Clinton spins shamelessly (shocking, right?) in defense of Obama.

Clinton’s statement declared that, as president, he “granted waivers from the old law to 44 states to implement welfare to work strategies before the welfare reform passed.”

So Clinton seeks to use waivers he granted in the early 1990s to justify ObamaÂ’s effort to use waivers to overturn the 1996 law.

Clinton does not actually lie. He rightly says that the waivers he granted applied to the old law and program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), not to the new law and program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Although AFDC had permitted HHS to waive provisions relating to work, the TANF reform did not permit such waivers.

Clinton was in the White House for four and a half years after the passage of welfare reform, but he never once suggested he had authority to waive the work standards in the new TANF program — although he had vetoed an earlier version of the bill. It was obvious that no such waiver authority existed.

As Gabe noted in the headlines, Team Obama is running an ad countering the Romney ad. You don't do that unless the attack landed. Let's hope Mitt keeps it up.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:24 AM | Comments (840)
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Happy Friday.

The Obama campaign yesterday acknowleged that it actually did know about Joe Soptic, the guy in the "Romney killed my wife" ad. This is a reversal from the campaign's prior protestations that it knew nothing. The campaign still refuses to denounce the ad.

Team Obama is apparently worried that Romney's attack on the President's plan to gut welfare reform work regs is gaining traction; the Obama camp is airing a TV response ad.

CNN had to issue a retraction yesterday after falsely labeling 'Hatebreed' a white power band.

The list of America's worst companies to work for includes Gamestop, Dillards, Hewlett-Packard, and Dish Network.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (243)
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Congratulations - You Bought a New 2012 BMW M3 Coupe

Only you didn't get the car - just the debt.

The national debt has now increased by more than $64,000 per federal taxpayer since Barack Obama was inaugurated president.

By the close of business on July 10, 2012, that debt had climbed to $15,885,854,755,351.47-an increase of $5,258,977,706,438.39.

In "Statistics of Income-2009 Individual Income Tax Returns," which was published this year and is the Internal Revenue Service's most recent statistical report on individual income tax data, the IRS reported that there were 81,890,189 tax returns filed in 2009 that reported taxable income.

If each of these 81,890,189 federal taxpayers were given responsibility for paying off an equal share of the new federal debt added since Obama was inaugurated, they would each need to pay about $64,219.88.

So here's picture of what you could've had. But no doubt the $64K the federal government spent on your behalf in 'investment' and 'green shoots' will give you just as much of a warm feeling. Chicks dig actual taxpayers, right?

Posted by: Maetenloch at 04:58 PM | Comments (925)
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