Drudge Retort: Tonyroma's blog

CBO: Budget Deficit Down $231 Billion

tonyroma — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:31:24 -0400

The Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that the federal budget deficit is declining this year compared to fiscal 2012. For the first seven months of 2013, the deficit was $489 billion. That is $231 billion less than the budget shortfall for the comparable period last year. The decrease is almost entirely due to revenue increases. Revenues rose $200 billion and spending decreased only $11 billion. Individual income tax and social insurance payroll taxes are up 16 percent this year compared to last year.

Vince Lombardi: Champion of Gay Rights

tonyroma — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:20:43 -0400

ESPN: Long before it was fashionable, Vince Lombardi was a champion of gay athletes, if only because he was a champion of all athletes, at least those who helped him score more touchdowns than the other guy. It didn't matter if they were white or black, or if they dated men or women or both, or if they dated interracially or not. In 1969, the year before his death, the only year he coached Washington, Lombardi worked with at least five gay men -- three players and two front-office executives, including David Slattery, who would come out in 1993. In his defining biography, When Pride Still Mattered, author David Maraniss described the scene of Lombardi charging an assistant to work with one of the gay players, a struggling back named Ray McDonald. "And if I hear one of you people make reference to his manhood," Lombardi is quoted as saying, "you'll be out of here before your ass hits the ground."

Pierce: MoDo's a Dodo -- Musings on Leadership and Morons

tonyroma — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:58:40 -0400

Charles Pierce---Noted sprawler-across-staircases Maureen Dowd has fashioned herself another Chronic Ward of a newspaper column on her now-regular theme of what a wimpety-wimp-wimp Barry Obama is, and why she never should have let him take her to prom instead of the hunky Andrew Shepherd from The American President who, while admittedly fictional, never would take this guff from actual human beings like John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Louie Gohmert, to which latter we give the benefit of a considerable doubt on this score. Look, I make the same criticism of the president from time to time, but mine is based on what I believe is the obvious empirical fact that the Republican party has gone insane and that the president has been painfully slow in coming to realize that he is dealing with lunatics. I don't find this "professorial" or "high-minded." I just find it wrong. But, then again, I don't measure politics by the inseam, either.

Bombing Suspects Fired 200 Rounds

tonyroma — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:37:27 -0400

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was on the run Friday evening as officials said he and his brother exchanged 200 rounds with police during a stunning firefight early in the morning and left seven homemade explosives behind. There was a long exchange of gunfire, according to Andrew Kitzenberg of Watertown, who took photos of the clash from his window and shared them via social media."They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight," he told NBC News in an interview. "They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb. I saw them light this bomb. They threw it towards the officers," he said. "There was smoke that covered our entire street."

Drum: Conservatives Aren't Serious

tonyroma — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:32:46 -0400

Kevin Drum: I like snark. I'm perfectly happy to trade elbows with the opposition. But really, my preference is to spend most of my time talking seriously (or semi-seriously) about policy, and that means engaging with conservatives. The problem is that it's just flatly hard to see the point of doing that these days. When I read even supposedly serious conservative policy proposals, I find them so egregiously empty that I feel like I'd be demonstrating terminal naivete by even taking them in good faith. So I don't.