George Zimmerman Says He Regrets Nothing:
‘It Was God’s Plan’ For Me To Kill Trayvon Martin

Tonight, George Zimmerman — who is currently facing second degree murder charges for killing Trayvon Martin — participated in a highly unusual interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity.

Hannity asked Zimmerman if he regretted getting out of his car to follow Trayvon, carrying a gun, or anything at all about the night he killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman said he regretted nothing because he believed “it was all God’s plan.” He also said there isn’t anything he would do differently in retrospect.

Watch it:

Earlier, Zimmerman did reiterate his apology to Martin’s family, which he first made during his first bail hearing. He added he would like an apology from Spike Lee and other critics, stating “if I did something wrong I would apologize.”

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Corn Crop Estimates Shrinking 'By The Hour'

Now remember, a lot of other foods are dependent on corn. The bulk of corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by livestock, poultry, and fish production. Approximately 12% of the U.S. corn crop ends up in foods that are either consumed directly or indirectly, and has many industrial uses including ethanol. So this is not good news at all - and will most likely translate into much higher food costs. (Like milk and cheese.)

Good thing the administration has taken such bold moves to prevent further global warming, huh?

CHICAGO, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. corn production has shrunk 7 percent versus the government's downgraded estimate a week ago, a Reuters poll found on Tuesday, with a worsening drought likely to cause more damage before the month is out.

As the worst drought since 1956 begins to expand to the northern and western Midwest, areas that had previously been spared, analysts are slashing corn yield estimates by the hour. Some analysts are also starting to cut their forecasts on the number of acres that will be harvested as farmers opt to plough under their fields to claim insurance.

What began the season as a potentially record corn crop as farmers planted the biggest area since 1937, may now be the smallest in at least five years. Soybeans, which enter their key pod-setting phase later then corn, are increasingly at risk. The poll of 13 analysts pegged the average estimated corn yield at 137.2 bushels per acre, down 6 percent from USDA's current forecast of 146 bushels.

The USDA dropped its yield estimate by an unprecedented 20 bushels per acre in its report on July 11. Corn production was pegged at 12.077 billion bushels, the smallest in 5 years, down 6.9 percent from USDA's outlook. "We're losing more yield with the additional stress now in the northern areas which up until now had been pretty good," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Jefferies Bache.

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Obama Campaign Struggles to Find Voters Hit by
Foreclosures

Many of the traditional Democratic voters in hard hit areas, who came out in large numbers in 2008, have scattered, victims of the foreclosure crisis. Even if they could be found, they may no longer be in the district, and they certainly aren't focused[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/DU0FW2-Svxw/

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Free Syrian Army ‘Goes for the
Jugular,’ Kills Key Assad Security Officials

**Updated Below**

Syria’s defence minister and Interior minister are among those who were killed after an explosion struck the National Security building in Damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials, state media reported. Defence minister General Rajha and his deputy Assef Shawkat – the brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad – were killed on Wednesday in the deadliest assault on government officials since the violence began 16 months ago. Also killed were Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and General Hassan Turkmani, a former defence minister and currently Syria’s deputy vice president, who later died of his injuries. The head of the national security office Hisham Bekhtyar were among those seriously wounded in the bombing, state television said. – Al Jazeera

THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY took aim at Pres. Bashar al-Assad’s leadership and made a direct hit.

“This is the volcano we talked about, we have just started,” spokesman Qassim Saadedine said.

According to Al Jazeera, the attack had the added impact of landing near where Pres. al-Assad lives.

Robert Fisk, in the interview below, made me chuckle when he gave a picture of Bashar al-Assad looking over his shoulder thinking about what would happen next, while wondering about the departure times to Russia.

UPDATE: On PBS, Judy Woodruff interviewed Frederic Wehrey, Carnegie Institute of Peace, and Steven Heydeman, U.S. Institute of Peace, who both said the statement by Pres. Obama of his conversation with Russia’s Putin signal a “convergence” on Syria. From the White House earlier today:

Readout of the President?s Call with President Putin

President Obama called Russian President Putin today to discuss the developing situation in Syria. The two Presidents noted the growing violence in Syria and agreed on the need to support a political transition as soon as possible that achieves our shared goal of ending the violence and avoiding a further deterioration of the situation. They noted the differences our governments have had on Syria, but agreed to have their teams continue to work toward a solution. President Obama also took the opportunity to express condolences on the tragic loss of life resulting from flooding in southern Russia earlier this month and reiterated the U.S. readiness to provide assistance if needed.

Watch The Day After: Supporting the Democratic Transition in Syria on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

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How the Onion scooped George Bush

George W. Bush the other day: ?Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful,? Bush told the Hoover Institute?s Peter Robinson.The Onion's fake story about George W. Bush in 2009:"I was president," murmured Bush, his mind returning again and again to the thought of "eight years" as he emitted a series of short, guttural laughs that reportedly grew in volume the longer he...

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Andy B's promise: In its new home at The New
Yorker, "The Borowitz Report will be as inaccurate as ever"

Says New Yorker editor David Remnick "has assured me that I can write whatever I want as long as I don?t make fun of Malcolm Gladwell"

The shocking import of this picture newly released by the Romney campaign is explained in the first Borowitz Report in its new home (see below).

by Ken

So, the dreaded onrush of media consolation has struck The Borowitz Report, whose proprietor announced today that his merry carnival of lies has been sucked up by the expansionist juggernaut that is The New Yorker.

THE BOROWITZ REPORT

July 18, 2012

SHOCKER: The New Yorker Acquires The Borowitz Report
Posted by Andy Borowitz

After eleven years of writing nothing but fake news at the Borowitz Report, I have to tell you something that actually happened.

I?m excited to announce that The New Yorker has acquired the Borowitz Report. Starting today, the column will be moving to its new home at newyorker.com.

Longtime Borowitz Report readers might ask: how will moving to The New Yorker, known for its excruciating fact-checking, change the Borowitz Report, which is composed entirely of lies?

The answer: not at all. The Borowitz Report will be as inaccurate as always, and if I ever write something that turns out to be true you have my deepest apology and my promise that it won?t happen again.

Another question: what will happen to the Borowitz Report?s editorial independence? No worries on that score, either. David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, has assured me that I can write whatever I want as long as I don?t make fun of Malcolm Gladwell.

And now, if you?ll forgive me, I?d like to say one last thing that?s true.

My mom, Helen Borowitz, who died this month at the age of eighty-three, loved The New Yorker all her life and introduced me to it when I was a little boy. Seeing the Borowitz Report at The New Yorker would have made her so happy. I dedicate all my columns to her memory.

ROMNEY CAMPAIGN RELEASES FIRST PICTURE OF V.P. PICK
Posted by Andy Borowitz

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) -- Republican Presidential choice Mitt Romney shocked the political world today by releasing a picture of his choice for Vice-President -- a man who, political insiders admit, was on nobody's short or long list.

The photo shows Mr. Romney's Veep pick, whose face was immediately recognizable to millions of Americans, wearing his trademark top hat and carrying what appears to be a moneybag, with currency of various denominations trailing behind him.

The Romney campaign issued scant information about the source of his running mate?s wealth, saying only that he had made his money "in real estate" and would not be releasing his tax returns.

Davis Logsdon, a political scientist who studies the history of Vice-Presidential selection at the University of Minnesota, called the choice of running mate who might be even wealthier than Mr. Romney "baffling beyond words."

"Is Mitt Romney really going to share the stage at the Republican convention in Tampa with a man clutching a bulging sack with a big dollar sign on it?" Mr. Logsdon asked. "Those are terrible optics."

Moreover, he added, Mr. Romney's Vice-Presidential choice has political baggage that could prove problematic going forward: "We're talking about someone who has gotten out of jail multiple times."

The Romney campaign may have released the picture to distract attention from yesterday's controversial comment by 2008 G.O.P. nominee John McCain, who said that he passed on Mr. Romney as his V.P. pick because Alaska governor Sarah Palin was a "better candidate."

Today, Senator McCain attempted to explain his remark: "Romney had all his money hidden in Switzerland. Sarah Palin was better because she had never heard of Switzerland."

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Charles Pierce Calls Out S.E. Cupp For Her
Colossal Idiocy

Click here to view this media

I've already expressed my disdain for this woman and the fact that MSNBC gave her a spot co-hosting a show here -- S.E. Cupp Defends Disenfranchising Millions of Voters as Solution to 86 Cases of Voter Fraud. Apparently Esquire's Charles Pierce isn't any more fond of her than I am.

S.E. Cupp Is a Colossal Idiot:

In case you've missed it, MSNBC has compensated for the loss of Dylan Ratigan in the afternoon by moving Martin Bashir to 4 p.m. Eastern, and filling Bashir's old 3 p.m. slot with something called The Cycle, which is kind of Around The Horn for young pundits. The regular cast includes the younger generation among MSNBC's apparently inexhaustible reservoir of Political Analysts. These include Krystal Ball, Steve Kornacki, Touré, and S.E. Cupp and, this afternoon, as the program was winding down, Ms. Cupp spent a good four minutes being, weight for age, the dumbest person in the history of cable television:

To review: Talking about the president's tax proposal, Ms. Cupp rather loosely termed the president's tax policy "collectivist." (And, yes, both Mao and Stalin laughed uproariously as their spits turned over the flames of hell.) Kornacki gently reminded her that an increase in the marginal income tax tax rate is a lot of things ? including, to my mind, a pretty good idea, but no matter ? but it is in no way "collectivist," if English words have any meaning in, you know, English. Read on...

MSNBC really needs to rethink why they want to have this woman on the air... ever... at all... as a host or a guest. She lowers the IQ in the room when she enters it and sucks most of the oxygen out as well. I'm not sure how anyone ever possibly comes out better or smarter for the experience of being forced to maintain a dialog with her.

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My Little Town 20120718: Mathematics Made Hard
and Easy

Those of you that read this regular series know that I am from Hackett, Arkansas, just a mile or so from the Oklahoma border, and just about 10 miles south of the Arkansas River.  It was a rural sort of place that did not particularly appreciate[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/30387/my-little-town-20120718-mathematics-made-ha
rd-and-easy

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The Chronicles of Mitt: July 18, 2012

 Hello, human diary. It is once again I, Mitt Romney, your better.

Recent events have made the choosing of a vice presidential unit a top campaign priority. It seems clear that the only reason the press is so focused on questioning the origins of my wealth is because they are bored and have nothing better to talk about; giving them a vice presidential unit will, we hope, appease their summertime ennui.

The review process for each candidate is, however, utterly depressing, as I am once again reminded that all of my primary rivals were morons. That was helpful during the early primaries, but is not at all helpful when it comes to our own campaign attempting to prop one of them up as vice presidential material. We have decided to not choose anyone from that lot.

That leaves the usual bevy of current Republican statesmen, in which statesmanship is proven primarily during any given year by having the good sense not to run for president even though other people are suggesting it to you. Of this lot, there are perhaps a half-dozen. All of them are irritating people to be around, and I cannot say that any of them bring anything to the team that I have not already brought. (They are also depressingly poor: I could probably buy the lot of them if I felt like it, but that would require another change to the Constitution.)

My staff has been hounding me on a daily basis on the subject, arguing that the need to relieve the boredom of the press outweighs whatever misgivings I may have about this or that potential candidate. Still, I keep putting it off. The longer I can delay naming one of them as my running mate, the less time I will have to spend on the campaign trail interacting with them.

I miss my bus.

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Free Syrian Army ‘Goes for the
Jugular,’ Kills Key Assad Officials

Syria’s defence minister and Interior minister are among those who were killed after an explosion struck the National Security building in Damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials, state media reported. Defence minister General Rajha and his deputy Assef Shawkat – the brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad – were killed on Wednesday in the deadliest assault on government officials since the violence began 16 months ago. Also killed were Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and General Hassan Turkmani, a former defence minister and currently Syria’s deputy vice president, who later died of his injuries. The head of the national security office Hisham Bekhtyar were among those seriously wounded in the bombing, state television said. – Al Jazeera

THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY took aim at Pres. Bashar al-Assad’s leadership and made a direct hit.

“This is the volcano we talked about, we have just started,” spokesman Qassim Saadedine said.

According to Al Jazeera, the attack had the added impact of landing near where Pres. al-Assad lives.

Robert Fisk, in the interview below, made me chuckle when he gave a picture of Bashar al-Assad looking over his shoulder thinking about what would happen next, while wondering about the departure times to Russia.

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