Drudge Retort

Romney Wins Florida

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:01:15 -0500

Ending one of the most bitter primaries in years, polls closed in most of Florida at 7 p.m. Eastern Tuesday. Some counties in the panhandle are in the Central time zone and close an hour later. NBC News called the state for Mitt Romney at 8:03 p.m. Eastern. With more than 40 percent of the vote counted, Romney led Gingrich 48 percent to 31 percent.

Ad: Bad Kitty for President

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:31:46 -0500

The Drudge Retort has been sponsored this week by Bad Kitty for President, a children's picture book by Nick Bruel. The book, aimed at kids ages 7 through 10, covers the election of a new president for the Neighborhood Cat Coalition.

Afghan Woman Killed for Birthing Girl

reinheitsgebot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:31:07 -0500

A woman in Kunduz, Afghanistan, allegedly strangled her daughter-in-law two days ago for giving birth to a third daughter. The murdered woman's husband, a member of a local militia, also is suspected of involvement and has fled to avoid arrest. The baby girl, now two months old, was not hurt. "She lived in a hell not a house," a neighbor told BBC.

Toy Guns Don't Turn Boys into Criminals

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:58:27 -0500

Around 60 to 80 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls play with aggressive toys at home, including guns. But there's no link between a child playing with toy guns and engaging in violence later in life, said by child psychologist Michael Thompson. "Everyone has an informal causation theory that playing with guns leads to the use of guns in adulthood," he said. "There's no scientific evidence suggesting that playing war games in childhood leads to real-life aggression."

Bar Owners Fight to Keep Out School

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:25:33 -0500

A group of 30 bar owners in Dallas' Deep Ellum nightclub district are fighting to keep a school from moving into the neighborhood. "I don't see how it's a good environment for them. Why you would pick to do it where you have nine other bars within feet of school property?" asked Anvil Pub owner Josh Bridges. "It just doesn't make sense to me." Dallas law prohibits new bars from operating with 300 feet of a school.

Gingrich Backer Probed for Bribes

AMERICANUNITY — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:33:47 -0500

The casino company run by Sheldon Adelson, Newt Gingrich's principal financial backer, is being investigated by Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission for alleged bribery of foreign officials, ABC News reports. Adelson and his wife have given at least $10 million to the pro-Gingrich Super PAC Winning our Future. Adelson owns a 49 percent stake in the Sands casino chain, which operates a casino in Macau, a Chinese region where gambling involves "widespread corruption, organized crime and money laundering," according to a U.S. agency.

Kennedys Donate Compound to Charity

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:40:57 -0500

The Kennedy family has donated the main house at their famous waterfront compound in Cape Cod, Mass., to become an education center teaching leadership and inspiring public service -- keeping a promise that the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) made to his mother, Rose. "This house was my family's epicenter, where my grandparents, father, uncles and aunts would retreat to connect with one another through heated political debates in the dining room and rousing games on the front lawn," said his son Ted Kennedy Jr.

FDA Spied on Private Emails

Diablo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:33:19 -0500

The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal email of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress the agency was approving medical devices posing unacceptable risks to patients, the Washington Post reports. The surveillance was detailed in emails and memos unearthed by six of the scientists and doctors, who filed a lawsuit against the FDA in U.S. District Court in Washington last week. "Who would have thought that they would have the nerve to be monitoring my communications to Congress?" said plaintiff Robert C. Smith, a former radiology professor who reviewed devices at the FDA until his contract was not renewed in July 2010.

David Axelrod Dogs Romney

corky — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:06:02 -0500

President Barack Obama's senior campaign strategist took a veiled shot at Mitt Romney on his Twitter feed. David Axelrod tweeted a picture of Obama and his dog in a car together with the caption, "How loving owners transport their dogs." Romney once took a family road trip to Canada and strapped their dog in a carrier to the roof of the car, scaring the dog so much it vacated its bowels.

Vitter Doesn't Like Prostitution Question

reinheitsgebot — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:54:16 -0500

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) protested during a CNN interview when asked if there were similarities between his prostitution scandal and Newt Gingrich's marital infidelities. "Newt Gingrich has been suffering some heat over his cheating on his first wife, cheating on his second wife with his third wife," CNN's Ashleigh Banfield told Vitter. "And you have also suffered heat in your political career as well back in 2007, admitting to having made call some calls to an alleged prostitution operation." After Banfield pressed the issue, Vitter complained, "You're personally, in my opinion, outdoing [John] King, but go for it."

Texas Killer Confesses Before Execution

rcade — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:44:45 -0500

Minutes before he was executed Thursday by the state of Texas for the 1994 rape and murder of a single mother in San Antonio, Rodrigo Hernandez confessed to that crime and the 1991 slaying of a homeless woman in Grand Rapids, Mich. Hernandez, 38, was executed for killing Susan Verstegen, 38. In 2009, investigators found that his DNA matched evidence from the 1991 murder of Muriel Stoepker in Michigan.

Still No Voter Fraud in South Carolina

YAV — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:00:26 -0500

A top South Carolina election official disputes Republican claims that 950 people who voted in recent elections could actually be dead. Of the six names State Election Commission director Marci Andino was allowed to examine, all were eligible to vote. The Columbia Free Times reports, "One allegedly dead voter on the DMV's list cast an absentee ballot before dying; another was the result of a poll worker mistakenly marking the voter as his deceased father; two were clerical errors resulting from stray marks on voter registration lists detected by a scanner; two others resulted from poll managers incorrectly marking the name of the voter in question instead of the voter above or below on the list."

Partisan Gap Widens Under Obama

boaz — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:55:15 -0500

In 2001, President Barack Obama had an average 80 percent approval among Democrats and a 12 percent approval among Republicans. The 68 percent gap is the highest for any president's third year in office ever -- topping George W. Bush's 59 percent gap. The Washington Post reports, "While it's easy to look at the numbers cited above and conclude that Obama has failed at his mission of bringing the country together, a deeper dig into the numbers in the Gallup poll suggests that the idea of erasing the partisan gap is simply impossible."

Mayor Spends Week on Food Stamps

adammm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:32:44 -0500

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman (I) took up a local food bank's challenge to live on $4.06 per day -- the amount a single person on food stamps receives. "I didn't get to put any fruit on my meal plan this week," Goodman blogged. "And, there's not much variety in my vegetables. It's a good thing that I love tomato soup! ... I am relieved that I didn't have my family do the challenge with me. I can't imagine worrying if my children were struggling with hunger and so thankful that I had this choice."