They left a Russian ship (leased by Australians) which was stuck in the ice, via helicopter, and were ferried to a Chinese ship (leased by more Australians) for evacuation.
Now they all sit on the Chinese Ship “The Snow Dragon” which is,….
…. wait for it,….. 

…… also stuck in the ice. 

(Via Telegraph) A ship which was used to rescue by helicopter 52 people from a trapped Antarctic   ship has now found itself in need of rescue – after it got stuck in   heavy ice.

D’oh… this is funny.   Apparently Mr. Rachel Maddow anticipated someone within the Washington Post giving him ten million dollars (or more) to fund another left-wing news blog.   Oh the stupid – it hurts.
(Via New York Times)  Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator who runs The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the newspaper after failing to win support for a new website he wanted to create within the company, according to four people with knowledge of the negotiations.
Mr. Klein, who quickly ascended into the ranks of the Washington media establishment with a multiplatform blend of policy nuance and number-crunching on Wonkblog, approached Katherine Weymouth, the Post’s publisher, in recent weeks, the people said.
After consultation with the newspaper’s editor, Marty Baron, according to one of the people, he put forward a proposal with detailed revenue projections to build a new website dedicated to explanatory journalism on a wide range of topics beyond political policy.
It would have been affiliated with The Post, the person said, but would have been a separate enterprise. The investment he sought, the person said, was in eight figures.  (continue reading)

RUSH LIMBAUGH […]  Now, last year, before HealthCare.gov opened for business, the Regime said they needed seven million before the end of the year, before this day. They needed seven million, and over the weekend they were doing hoops and making dances and having parties because they claimed that the corner had been turned and 2.1 million people had signed up.
So somebody said, “Well, wait, you said you needed seven million,” and they’re saying, “No, we didn’t,” but they did.  It’s on tape, it’s in print, but they’re just denying it.  “We didn’t say seven million! Nobody ever said seven million,” and in a political sense, the Republicans don’t know what to do with this.  Do you know how to deal with a liar?  It is a challenging thing to deal with a liar. But these people, this is a political party that just lies as a matter of course.
The problem with it is that the impressionable low-information people who vote for them believe all these lies, and then they create lives, circumstances, based on a series of lies.  And then standards begin to crumble, and then promises mean nothing, and then honor and integrity come to mean nothing, and then standards don’t exist.  And then there’s nothing accountable and nothing anybody can depend on.  So there aren’t any guardrails — and that’s where we are, in many ways, in our culture.  (more…)

BENGHAZI, Libya: Two Americans were being held by the Libyan army at its headquarters in the city of Benghazi, a local security source and army sources told Reuters.
The identity of the two Americans was not immediately clear nor why they were detained.
The U.S embassy in Libya could not be reached for comment.
Last week, four American military personnel were detained by the Libyan government on Friday and held in custody for several hours before being released, U.S. officials said. (link)

It is remarkable how laser focused people tend to be around Libya and Hillary Clinton.   The focus is almost exclusively on the Benghazi attack which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
The Benghazi attack which occurred on Sept 11, 2012, was a symptom of foreign policy failure; the actual cause of the policy failure happened a full year-and-a-half earlier in February 2011.

PART ONE – The Origin Of The Libyan Crisis

President Obama lit the fuse on the Egyptian collapse, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, when he turned his visible back on Egypt’s former President Mubarak.
With Mubarak out of the way the law banning the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed.   The Brotherhood members held in Egyptian jails were freed.  This included Muhamed al-Zawahiri, the brother of al-Qaeda’s #1 man Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Initially there was great hope for a politically democratic approach toward Egypt.  However, by the time the FaceBook crowd was dispatched, CBS’s Lara Logan raped in Tahir Square and the visible rise of the hardline Islamists taking control – Egypt became a political risk of policy failure for the Obama administration.
 
Egypt and Libya share a very long and very porous border.  There is little to no actual impediment to the border itself so travelers can easily go from Western Egypt into Eastern Libya with as much ease as one travelling from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.   (more…)

Readers will know by now how often we have spotlighted a historical similarity between the former polish Solidarity Movement, and the ruse behind the current U.S. body politic as narrated by the media.    So it’s a little ironic to see Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa speak openly about how diminished the U.S. influence is.
(via WeaselZippers) The Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, says President Obama has failed to reclaim America’s role as a world leader.

“When he was elected… there was great hope,” Walesa said. “…. we were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America,” adding: “That failed.”
“…. in terms of politics and morality, America no longer leads the world,” he said. “…America did not regain its leadership status. We were just lucky there were no big conflicts in the world,” saying the world has relied on a strong America to maintain the balance of power around the globe.
“… It’s a dangerous situation so we are awaiting a president who will understand that,” he said. (link)

Frohes Neues Jahr Citizen – wir Ihre volle Kooperation zu schätzen wissen

(Via TheBlaze ) A now-viral photo showing a long line of Connecticut residents waiting to register their guns and ammo is circulating across the Internet — and it’s sending chills down the backs of some gun owners.

Continue reading

NEW YORK – Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to act quickly to abolish horse-drawn carriages in the city.

“We are going to get rid of the horse carriages. Period,” de Blasio said in response to a question at his press conference announcing his schools chancellor pick Monday.
“It’s over,” he said.
De Blasio said he would work with existing drivers to set them up with alternative vehicles to ferry tourists around Central Park. (more…)

From the Archdiocese of Washington tonight:

The Archdiocese of Washington is pleased that today the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an injunction that prevents the Archdiocese and its affiliates from having to choose between paying crippling fines or facilitating the provision of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives to their employees. The order prohibits the government from enforcing the HHS mandate’s objectionable requirements against the Archdiocese and its co-appellants pending further order from the court.   (link)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Catholic organizations made a last-minute effort Tuesday to get the Supreme Court to block portions of President Obama’s health care law that will force them to provide health insurance for students and employees that includes birth control.
Several organizations, including the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Catholic University and the Michigan Catholic Conference, asked justices to block the law until their arguments are heard. Parts of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, go into effect on Wednesday. (more…)

According to CNN’s Mark Lamont Hill, Mitt Romney was “exploiting” his family members by having a family picture taken for Christmas – Therefore it is appropriate for MSNBC to mock the black baby, merely “exploiting” the race of the family being “exploited”…. or something.

I am sorry. Without reservation or qualification. I apologize to the Romney family. #MHPapology

— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) December 31, 2013