January 20, 2016

Venezuela Congress plans to investigate PDVSA, China loans

Venezuela's new opposition-led Congress plans to investigate state-run oil company PDVSA's [PDVSA.UL] financial health and hefty Chinese loans, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The OPEC member country depends on oil for nearly all of its export revenue. With the political opposition in control of the National Assembly since this month, rivals of leftist President Nicolas Maduro want to use their new perch to push for greater transparency and accountability at PDVSA.

"We want to know the real state of PDVSA's books," Elias Matta, an opposition lawmaker and vice president of the energy and oil commission, told Reuters on the sidelines of the National Assembly.

"The country wants to know how the money from the Chinese funds were spent. We also want to investigate what the real cost of production is. And why haven't they done the output increases they talked about so much? We're going to have a lot of work in this commission," he added with a smile.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-congress-plans-investigate-pdvsa-china-loans-210609085--business.html

January 19, 2016

Heidi Nelson Cruz: A Political Spouse Making Sacrifices and Courting Donors

Heidi Nelson Cruz stepped to the lectern in a black gown, waiting for the applause to settle. She was beaming.

Speaking to college graduates in Tennessee, Mrs. Cruz — then 31, with an M.B.A. from Harvard and a dream job at the White House — peppered her commencement address with a cache of worldly wisdom: No job is beneath you. Don’t be afraid to fail. And, perhaps most important, choose the right partner.

“Marry someone who complements you, literally and figuratively,” she said. “Few, if any, decisions will have a greater impact on your happiness.”

Left unspoken: Mrs. Cruz and her husband, Senator Ted Cruz, were living 1,500 miles apart and trying to find a happy balance in their own lives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/us/politics/ted-cruz-wife-campaign.html

January 17, 2016

Fact Checker of Republican Debate Hospitalized for Exhaustion

CHARLESTON (The Borowitz Report)—A fact checker who has vetted all of the 2016 Republican Presidential debates was hospitalized for exhaustion during the sixth G.O.P. forum in Charleston on Thursday evening.

Martin Slessky, a former journalist who works for HonestyWatch, a Minnesota-based fact-checking organization, was resting comfortably after suffering what his doctors called a “total physical and mental collapse” during Thursday’s debate.

Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of HonestyWatch, said he first became concerned about Slessky’s health when the fact checker started having heart palpitations and shortness of breath every time Texas senator Ted Cruz spoke.

“I turned to Martin and said, ‘Are you all right? Are you going to be able to make it through this?’ ” Dorrinson said. “And he said, ‘I’ll be fine. Ben Carson is starting to talk now, that’ll be soothing.’ ”

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/fact-checker-of-republican-debate-hospitalized-for-exhaustion

January 16, 2016

Venezuela President Gets Rare Blast of Live TV Criticism

Source: ABC News

President Nicolas Maduro first declared an economic emergency due to "catastrophic" inflation and growth figures and then endured the indignity of a nationally televised scolding from the head of a newly empowered opposition Congress.

Congress leader Henry Ramos wagged his finger inches from the president's head in a state-of-the-nation rebuttal that was broadcast live across the South American country Friday — unprecedented media access for an opponent of the country's socialist revolution.

Neither Maduro nor his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez, had ever contended with a hostile audience for a speech to Congress, but foes of the administration took control of the institution last week for the first time in 17 years, carried to victory on a wave of economic turmoil.

The government's Central Bank, which had kept key economic indicators to itself for more than a year, dumped a batch of new bad news earlier in the day.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/venezuela-president-rare-blast-live-tv-criticism-36328614

January 15, 2016

Huckabee Decries Obamacare’s Failure To Help Slow, Cross-Eyed Cousin Who Got Kicked By Mule

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC—Lamenting that his kin “just weren’t the same since” while responding to a question at Thursday’s undercard debate, Republican candidate Mike Huckabee decried Obamacare’s failure to help his slow-witted, cross-eyed cousin Chester who got kicked by a mule in early 2013.

“He’s got a big ol’ crater in his forehead and warn’t able to ’member much, but dang nabbit, even Chester done know that Obamacare let him down,” said Huckabee, adding that the Affordable Care Act had been a whole peck a’ trouble for his cousin, who could purt near only recollect five or six words since his accident but was still “friendlier than a possum in a sack of cackle berries.”

“If that don’t beat all, they still saw fit to send us a dad-burned bill for who-knows-what gubmint gobbledygook, even though Chester ain’t a lick better off than afore. I’ll tell ya, when that Obamacare bill showed up, I was madder’n a wet hen.”

At press time, Huckabee was criticizing the Obama administration’s disaster relief efforts for failing to save his Aunt Magda’s shack from being swallowed up by a mud hole.

http://www.theonion.com/article/huckabee-decries-obamacares-failure-help-slow-cros-52174

January 9, 2016

Tesla Model S’ new ‘Summon’ feature lets drivers park and retrieve their cars with no one inside

Tesla earlier today began pushing out version 7.1 of its software to Model S and Model X owners and, suffice it to say, it’s a doozy of a software update.

While we’ll get to the full changelog shortly, we first wanted to highlight a feature called Summon which enables users to park their cars without having to be inside it. Conversely, it also lets Tesla owners summon their cars that already happen to be parked.

The release notes for Summon, which is in Beta, indicates that the feature works up to a distance of 39 feet, meaning that a “Model S will move up to 39 feet or until the sensors detect an obstacle, at which point parking is considered complete and Autopark will shift the car to Park.”

Naturally, Tesla advises that the Summon feature should only be used on flat surfaces and on private property.

http://news.yahoo.com/tesla-model-summon-feature-lets-drivers-park-retrieve-200057534.html

Tesla continues to push the envelope.

January 9, 2016

Poll: Republicans Would Rather Actually Be Shot by Gun Than Agree with Obama

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A day after President Obama held a nationally televised town hall about guns in America, a new poll shows that a majority of Republicans would rather actually be shot by a firearm than agree with him.

In an indication of the challenges facing the President in persuading Republicans, those surveyed named a wide variety of specific guns that they would choose to be personally shot by rather than seeing eye to eye with Obama.

When asked to state their preference, forty-three per cent stated “handgun,” twenty-seven per cent replied “shotgun,” twenty-one per cent responded “assault rifle,” while only two per cent named “agreeing with Obama.”

The poll results are reminiscent of a poll taken last month about climate change, in which a majority of Republicans said they would rather see their habitat destroyed by rising sea levels than agree with President Obama.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/poll-republicans-would-rather-actually-be-shot-by-gun-than-agree-with-obama

January 8, 2016

Military vows Maduro support in deepening Venezuela crisis

Source: AFP

Venezuela's military pledged loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, ramping up a high-stakes standoff between his socialist government and a center-right opposition that has vowed to use its new legislative powers to oust him.

The opposition laid claim to a big majority in the National Assembly, which could empower it to force out Maduro. He has rejected the assembly as illegal and formed a new hardline leftist cabinet to fight it, in a deepening political crisis.

Venezuela's defense minister and armed forces chief, General Vladimir Padrino, weighed in, saying the military was unwavering in its backing for Maduro -- who has vowed to resist "with an iron hand."

"The president is the highest authority of the state and we reiterate our absolute loyalty and unconditional support for him," said Padrino, after the under-pressure government sued to stop the emboldened opposition using its newfound powers to kick out Maduro.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/military-vows-maduro-support-deepening-venezuela-crisis-020045191.html

January 7, 2016

GM unveils Bolt electric car in Vegas

Source: AFP

General Motors unveiled the production version of its Chevrolet Bolt electric car, on which the US auto giant is pinning its hopes for the emerging segment.

The Bolt aims to appeal to consumers looking at a more affordable price tag than the luxury, market-leading Tesla.

"It's more than a car, it's a platform that can be upgraded," said GM chairman and chief executive Mary Barra, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"Who are our customers? Anyone who wants to save time, money and the environment in a car that is truly fun to drive."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/gm-unveils-bolt-electric-car-vegas-035051745.html

January 6, 2016

Sen. Rubio: Can't 'fix America' from GOP-held House, Senate

Source: AP

After five years in the Senate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is dismissing Congress' ability to change much about America.

"We're not going to fix America with senators and congressmen," Rubio charged during a Tuesday town hall-style meeting with voters in Cedar Rapids. Only presidents, he said, can set the nation's policy agenda.

Rubio, who is running for president, was responding to a question about missing Senate votes in recent years. Rubio said his voting record "is close to 90 percent" during this, his first and only term in the Senate. He could have run for Senate re-election and the White House at the same time, but decided to forgo a second term and focus on his White House campaign.

"I have missed votes this year," Rubio conceded at the Cedar Rapids event. "You know why? Because while as a senator I can help shape the agenda, only a president can set the agenda. We're not going to fix America with senators and congressmen."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/sen-rubio-cant-fix-america-gop-held-house-201212424--election.html

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"We're not going to fix America with Republican senators and congressmen" would be dead accurate.