Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

07 Dec 2011 11:22

tags

World: The View from Syria: Bashar al-Assad denies crackdown to Barbara Walters

  • This is a frustrating interview, friends. In it, Bashar al-Assad essentially denies the obvious — that there’s a bloody crackdown happening against anti-government protesters, led by the Syrian government. Example: Walters references a series of pictures showing pictures of violence — including against children. “People went from house to house,” she said. “Children were arrested. I saw those pictures.” Assad’s response: “To be frank with you, Barbara, I don’t believe you.” Like we said, supremely frustrating. Assad says that “terrorists” are behind the months-long violent crackdown, rather than Syrian troops. source

21 Jul 2011 13:57

tags

Politics: Obama and Boehner near deal? Not if you ask their press folks about it

  • claim The New York Times has an article up saying that Obama and Boehner are nearing a deal on the whole debt ceiling mess that’s gripped DC for the past few weeks. Oh God, let’s hope so guys.
  • denial However, Boehner’s folks denied this. “While we are keeping the lines of communication open,” said spokesperson Kevin Smith, “there is no ‘deal’ and no progress to report.” O RLY?
  • denial Likewise, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (who recently called Mitch McConnell “Mitch Mitchell,” then dropped a Guided by Voices reference) flatly denied the claim. source

30 Jun 2011 19:00

tags

Politics: Timothy Geithner: Don’t believe the hype, I’m not leavin’ guys!

  • I live for this work. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done. I believe in it. I’m going to be doing it for the forseeable future.
  • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner • Denying the speculation about his possible departure from his post. By the way, has anyone figured out a way to see into next week? We’re not sure if we believe him. That said, he did claim that personal issues were weighing on his mind right now: “I have a family, and my son’s going back to New York to finish high school,” he said. “I’m going to be commuting for a while.” Hope he learns to love Amtrak. source

22 Mar 2011 10:58

tags

World: Robert Gates: Gaddafi’s civilian death toll claims “outright lies”

  • We have been careful about this. It’s almost as though some people here are taking at face value Gaddafi’s claims about the number of civilian casualties, which, as far as I’m concerned, are just outright lies.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates • Complaining loudly about reports of civilian casualties caused by Operation Odyssey Dawn. Gates denies the claims. “It’s perfectly evident that the vast majority — if not nearly all civilian casualties —have been inflicted by Gaddafi,” he says. Now, this isn’t to say that he’s wrong … but we have to imagine it’s kind of hard to be careful with anything like a Tomahawk missile. It’s a rough road. source

12 Dec 2010 10:54

tags

Politics: Will Michael Bloomberg run for president in 2012, guys?

  • NO but we all know that he’s really thinking about doing it source

29 Oct 2010 16:36

tags

Biz, U.S.: Here comes the denial: Halliburton sez they didn’t cause oil spill

  • Halliburton does not believe that the foam cement design used on the Macondo well was the cause of the incident.
  • A statement from Halliburton • Responding to the Senate committee report that suggested that their handiwork was a cause of the Gulf Oil Spill. Their take? While Halliburton admits that they didn’t do a key stability test, BP was to blame for a poor design process (an angle they’ve held onto since the spill first happened). And, worse, BP didn’t perform a critical cement bond log test. Also, both BP and Transocean misinterpreted the results of a negative pressure test – a misinterpretation that proved deadly for the workers on the rig. There are a lot of complicated details here, but the point you should take from this is that everyone is blaming everyone else. Which is understandable. Have you seen the rage caused by this oil spill? source

28 Oct 2010 22:14

tags

Politics: … and here comes the denial from the Kendrick Meek camp

  • report Politico sets the Florida Senate race on its head with a claim that BILL FREAKING CLINTON tried to convince also-ran Democrat Kendrick Meek to quit the race so Charlie Crist would win.
  • denial Meek’s campaign manager Abe Dyk denied it: “The article is not true. Kendrick Meek was never dropping out of this race, is never dropping out of this race and will never drop out of this race.” source
 

07 Oct 2010 01:42

tags

Politics: White House, Hillary Clinton deny job-swapping rumors

  • denial Robert Gibbs had this to say about Bob Woodward’s vice president rumors: “It’s just not true, It is not anything that is being discussed here.” He added that Obama is very happy with Joe Biden as his vice president.
  • denial Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton added this rebuttal to the record (while noting they were all very busy people): “I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on.” source