HotAir Daily Express 12/17/2015

Chevron: surviving in the new world of low oil prices and nuisance law suits 12/17/2015 8:41:43 AM  Jazz Shaw 8 Comments The Brent crude oil index hit $37.19 per barrel last night, with the WTI index going to $35.52. That continues to be good news for consumers at the pump and for some portions of the home heating market, but it puts a lot of pressure on the oil companies. More... Inevitable: Most recent World's Greediest Villain arrested for fraud 12/17/2015 8:01:17 AM  Ed Morrissey 32 Comments Remember Martin Shkreli? The Wall Street wunderkind rose to notoriety when he began buying up the rights to pharmaceuticals and hiking their prices into the stratosphere, including one needed to save the lives of infants suffering from toxoplasmosis and More... Quotes of the day 12/16/2015 10:01:59 PM  Allahpundit 521 Comments Senator Marco Rubio of Florida also faced his toughest moments of the race during the latest Republican debate as a top rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, repeatedly questioned his conservative credentials and his judgment on national security and More... Barone's buzzkill: Forget about a brokered convention … ever 12/16/2015 9:21:18 PM  Ed Morrissey 37 Comments Come on, man. It’s the holidays before the primaries. Aren’t we supposed to play out the worst possible scenarios as if they have any significant chance of coming to fruition? The estimable and seasoned analyst Michael Barone instead drops More... No confidence: Disapproval of Obama's handling of terrorism soars to 57%, the worst mark of his presidency 12/16/2015 8:41:40 PM  Allahpundit 57 Comments Man alive. You don’t see trend lines like this every day. I guess the spin for O fans is obvious. The sudden spike isn’t a “real” downturn in his counterterror approval, it’s just a reflex after the jihadi massacre in San More... Hold the phone on those drone regulations 12/16/2015 8:01:02 PM  Jazz Shaw 36 Comments It was only yesterday that we discussed the new drone regulations coming out of the FAA. At the time I asked about the rapid nature of the roll out of these new registration requirements. This just came onto the radar (pardon the pun) in August and they More... Gravis poll: 35% say Trump won the debate, 25% say Cruz, 14% say Rubio 12/16/2015 7:21:24 PM  Allahpundit 106 Comments Last night during the debate I tweeted, “If you can’t decide who won, that means Trump probably did.” That was a half-joke aimed at media people who are constantly declaring Rubio or Cruz the winner at these things only to see More... Dear Mandy Patinkin: stick to your day job 12/16/2015 6:41:14 PM  Jazz Shaw 96 Comments One of the biggest reasons that I tend to hate it when athletes, actors, singers and other entertainers stick their beaks into politics isn’t just that I almost always tend to disagree with them, but their activism well outside their professional More... Slate suggests limiting free speech due to ISIS threat 12/16/2015 6:01:31 PM  Taylor Millard 49 Comments The Left is now justifying their war on free speech by claiming it’s for national security reasons. Eric Posner at Slate suggests the threat from ISIS means Congress must pass a law to protect stupid people from themselves (emphasis mine). Consider More... Senate intel committee heads: No, we're not investigating anyone for revealing classified info at last night's debate 12/16/2015 5:21:04 PM  Allahpundit 69 Comments Help me figure this out. Last night, in a punch-up over national security, Cruz defended his support for the USA Freedom Act by claiming that the old protocols under the Rubio-favored Patriot Act covered only 20-30 percent of phone numbers whereas the More... New plan: let's extend diplomatic recognition to… ISIS? 12/16/2015 4:41:56 PM  Jazz Shaw 55 Comments We’ve recently had a robust debate on both sides of the aisle seeking to find the best method of dealing with ISIS. We’ve heard suggestions ranging from an Arab force using allied air support to tens of thousands of boots on the ground to More... VA execs who retaliated against whistleblowers still drawing paychecks 12/16/2015 4:01:25 PM  Ed Morrissey 10 Comments Nineteen months after whistleblowers expose massive and systemic corruption in the Veterans Administration that denied thousands of veterans care — while hundreds died waiting for it — heads have rolled. The only problem is that it’s More... Report: Jeb Bush may declare that he won't vote for Trump as Republican nominee; Update: Trump responds 12/16/2015 3:21:14 PM  Allahpundit 205 Comments The man’s backed up to his own five-yard line with about a minute left to play. Gotta go long. Prior to the debate, senior Bush aides began looking into the possibility of making a clear break with Trump – potentially with the candidate stating More... When it comes to Ben Carson, 'race baiters gonna bait' 12/16/2015 2:41:45 PM  Jazz Shaw 45 Comments This is one of those columns which I almost rushed into writing last night in the midst of the debate madness, but thought better of it. That’s partly because everyone’s focus was rightly on Las Vegas, but mostly because if I hadn’t More... The science is (nearly) settled: a higher minimum wage costs jobs 12/16/2015 2:01:43 PM  Jazz Shaw 74 Comments A friend of mine who operates a small chain of franchised eateries once told me that saying a higher minimum wage creates more jobs is akin to throwing an anchor to a drowning man because it would really incentivize him to dog paddle faster. While that More... Kumbaya: Trump backs off criticism of Cruz, says he has a "wonderful temperament" 12/16/2015 1:21:29 PM  Allahpundit 228 Comments At a loss to explain Trump veering from frenemy to enemy to friend of Cruz again at the debate in the span of about five days, Joe Scarborough wondered this morning whether some “inside deal” has now been struck between the two. I doubt it. More... Arrests in Austria in connection with Paris attacks 12/16/2015 12:41:13 PM  Taylor Millard 32 Comments Two people are under arrest in Austria in connection with the deadly Paris attacks. Details are sketchy but here’s what The Wall Street Journal has (emphasis mine). According to the prosecutors' office, two people were arrested over the past few More... Déjà vu: Majority oppose "assault weapons" ban in WaPo/ABC poll, too 12/16/2015 12:01:17 PM  Ed Morrissey 65 Comments The backfire from Barack Obama’s attempt to push gun control in the wake of a terrorist attack is now undeniable. Last week, the New York Times/CBS poll found a majority opposed to renewing an “assault weapons” ban for the first time in More... Ted Cruz to Rubio: "I do not intend to support legalization" of illegals as president 12/16/2015 11:21:04 AM  Allahpundit 223 Comments Via the Free Beacon, here’s the big Cruz/Rubio dust-up from last night. Cruz has been waiting a long time for Rubio to be pinned down by a question on immigration at a debate and Rubio’s been waiting a long time for the chance to pin Cruz More... Jeb: No, really, Trump's not a serious candidate 12/16/2015 10:41:34 AM  Ed Morrissey 117 Comments Last night during the debate, I expected more people to go after the national-polling frontrunner, Donald Trump. We are only two months out from the Iowa caucuses, and Trump’s recent comments on Muslims made him a bigger target. The first question More... Victory! New York stops sale of toy guns, levies massive fines 12/16/2015 10:01:38 AM  Jazz Shaw 116 Comments The people of New York can sleep soundly in their beds tonight, knowing that their diligent Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has scored a major victory in the war on guns. I’m not talking about the illegal handguns favored by the majority of More... After the debate: Another view from Las Vegas 12/16/2015 9:21:15 AM  Ed Morrissey 197 Comments LAS VEGAS – The final debate of 2015 concluded last night, but that may be the only conclusion that the CNN/Salem Media Group produced. The night produced a few memorable moments, but few that suggest a significant shift in standing among the More... Cruz-Rubio battle makes GOP immigration muddle worse, not better Putin endorses Trump, sort of Huckabee: It's "disappointing" evangelical leaders are backing Cruz Teenagers are smoking and drinking less than ever before Six ways you've probably read Russian propaganda today Study: Dog has been man's best friend for 33,000 years Executions at lowest level since 1991 Republicans need to treat race like faith The Christian case for libertarianism Let's play "Trump, Carson, or Cruz"