[VIDEO] Trump Responds to Lindsey Graham Insult by Giving Out His Cell Number

Donald Trump today fired back against Lindsey Graham calling him a “jackass” yesterday by just giving out his cell phone number.

Graham was so offended by Trump’s attacks on John McCain yesterday, he said that Trump needs to quit being a jackass and getting out of the race.

Trump responded by… well, doing what he does:

Politico actually got through to Graham by calling the number. This is what he said:

“I wonder what caused that,” Graham told a POLITICO reporter who dialed the number that Trump read.

“When it comes to the Donald, nothing surprises me anymore,” he said. “It’s just too bad, really,” he said, that Trump is taking away from a discussion on the Iran deal and more substantive policy issues.

Via: Mediaite

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FULL VIDEO: South Carolina’s Confederate Flag Removed from State Grounds

It comes down this morning at 10 a.m. ET.

After an astonishingly quick vote, South Carolina’s lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state house grounds. Republican Gov. Nikki Haley signed the removal into law on Thursday afternoon.

UPDATE — 10:15 a.m. ET: Oh, hey, it came down in less than five minutes. Here’s the full video of the ceremony, via Fox News:

Via: Mediaite

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Who’s Been Naughty and Who’s Been Nice? Mediaite’s 2013 Lists

»» 2013 LISTS

Mediaite Readers Pick the Very BEST in Media 2013

by Andrew Kirell | December 24th, 2013

READER POLL

Last week, we announced our picks for the very best and worst in media for 2013; and then we allowed you, the loyal Mediaite readership, to vote on those picks (or add your own suggestion). Let’s take a look at your votes for BEST of the year…

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Mediaite Readers Pick the Very WORST in Media 2013

by Andrew Kirell | December 23rd, 2013

READER POLL

Last week, we announced our picks for the very best and worst in media for 2013; and then we allowed you, the loyal Mediaite readership, to vote on those picks (or add your own suggestion). First we’ll review your picks for WORST of the year. View the results inside…

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Top 20 Filthy Liberals Not Wishing You a ‘Merry Christmas’

by Tommy Christopher | December 23rd, 2013

The War on Christmas™ rages on with no end in sight, but that’s all about to end. Republicans took a good first step this year by simplifying the battlefield, first selling t-shirts that said “‘Happy Holidays’ is What Liberals Say,” then switching them out for ones that said “I’m Not Afraid to Say ‘Merry Christmas.’”…

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2013: The Year in Bloopers, Gaffes, and Other Hot Messes

by Tommy Christopher | December 20th, 2013

Before you look back on the momentous happenings of 2013, come along with us on a tour of this year’s “Bloopers, Gaffes, and Other Hot Messes”…

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The 21 Most Cringe-Worthy TV News Moments of 2013

by Matt Wilstein | December 19th, 2013

VIDEO SLIDESHOW

We probably post something almost everyday on Mediaite that could make its way onto this list, but as a service to you, we’ve combed through the archives and found the absolute most uncomfortable things that happened on TV news this year.

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Mediaite Awards 2013: We Pick the Year’s Very WORST in Media

by Mediaite Staff | December 18th, 2013

MEDIAITE AWARDS!

Goodbye 2013, hello 2014. As we celebrate the end of another long year, sit back and weep for journalism’s future because of Mediaite’s picks for “The Very WORST in 2013 Media”…

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Mediaite Awards 2013: We Pick the Year’s Very BEST in Media

by Mediaite Staff | December 18th, 2013

MEDIAITE AWARDS!

Goodbye 2013, hello 2014. As we celebrate the end of another long year, sit back and bask in the glory that is Mediaite’s picks for “The Very Best in 2013 Media”…

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The Saddest, Goofiest, Facepalmiest Hoaxes of 2013

by Evan McMurry | December 17th, 2013

If there’s an Internet God, 2013 will go down as the year we learned to think before we retweeted.

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The 13 Biggest Media Feuds of 2013

by Matt Wilstein | December 16th, 2013

VIDEO SLIDESHOW

When they really couldn’t find anything substantive to talk about in the outside world this year, the media turned inward, fighting amongst themselves over some genuinely big issues like race, guns and the First Amendment. Here

Via: Mediaite.com

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NBC Anchor Who Blurted Out ‘Let’s Get the F*ck Outta Here’ Has Been Fired

No one likes working on Saturday nights, but one local news anchor’s public complaining about this very thing may have cost him his job. KSNW anchor Justin Kraemer audibly told his colleagues, as they ended the broadcast, “let’s get the f*ck out of here,” and it got him fired.

Mediaite and a few other sites took note of the incident over the weekend, and Kraemer told The Wichita Eagle Monday that he was let go after his on-air swearing, saying, “I did something extraordinarily unprofessional. It’s something that’s drilled into you from the minute you start in this business to always consider the microphones hot.”

He says he has his next move all lined up, so now that he’s gotten the f*ck outta there, one can only hope he’ll get the f*ck into somewhere else soon enough.

Here’s the original video in question, via KSNW:

Via: Mediaite.com

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Maria Bartiromo: Obamacare Making America a ‘Part-Time Employment Country’

CNBC host Maria Bartiromo accused the Affordable Care Act of turning the United States into a “part-time employment country” on Sunday’s Meet the Press. She said that there are incentives within the health care reform law which create an incentive for business to cut back their employees’ hours.

“Beyond the glitches, there are other issues and that has had implications with the goal we’re supposed to have, and that is job creation,” Bartiromo said. “Businesses have changed their plans as a result of Obamacare.”

RELATED: Poll: 41% Of Small Businesses Froze Hiring Due To Obamacare, 19% Have Laid Off Employees

“We are becoming something of a part-time employment country,” she continued. “We’re seeing some groups moved off of health care from business because business is complaining that it’s too expensive.”

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne said that it was “not clear” that there was any evidence to support Bartiromo’s charge. He noted that America had been moving towards being a “part-time employment country” before the ACA was passed.

Watch the clip below via NBC:

Via: Mediaite.com

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White House: Shutdown Has Furloughed 4 Nobel Scientists, CDC Flu Surveillance

The Nobel Prize and the government shutdown were both in the news this week, for different reasons, but they’re also linked by the shutdown briefing that President Obama received Sunday morning. While the mainstream media has established that the shutdown has had no effect on the output of three-minute Youtube videos, it has resulted in the furloughing of four Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and the suspension of the Centers for Disease Control’s flu surveillance program. From a White House official, via email:

Today, the President was briefed by Denis McDonough on the impacts of the lapse in appropriations on important research programs.

The federal government’s research agencies have been largely shuttered, with scientists sent home and projects shelved.  There are five Nobel Prize-winning researchers currently working for the federal government, all of whom are world-renowned scientists and leaders in their field.  Four of them are currently furloughed and unable to conduct their federal research on behalf of the American public due to the government shutdown.

Additional details below:

•          Center for Disease Control: Two-thirds of CDC personnel have been sent home. CDC’s activities in influenza surveillance and monitoring have been cut back, just as we are moving into peak flu season.  While many flu vaccines are produced by private companies, CDC’s annual flu vaccination campaigns have been cut back and the weekly “Flu View” report that is relied upon by public-health authorities has been suspended.  CDC will continue to address any imminent threats to public health.

•          National Science Foundation: 98 percent of the National Science Foundation has been furloughed, and new scientific research grants are not being issued.

•          National Institute for Health: Currently, nearly three-quarters of NIH staff have been furloughed.  Although the NIH Clinical Center remains open for patients already enrolled in studies, most new patients have been turned away during the shutdown.  NIH will continue to monitor its admissions policy and adjust as necessary based on life and safety considerations, depending on the duration of the shutdown.

Via: Mediaite.com

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NBC’s Pete Williams Identifies Navy Yard Gunman As Aaron Alexis, 34, of Ft. Worth, TX

NBC News reporter Pete Williams identified one of the gunman who attacked the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning as Aaron Alexis, 34, of Ft. Worth, Texas. Alexis was killed at the scene, but police have asked for Washington D.C. residents to remain on the lookout for two additional suspects. 

RELATED: CNN’s Barbara Starr: ‘We’re Talking About a Conspiracy to Attack the U.S. Military’

“There’s only one confirmed gunman and authorities say he’s 34-year-old Aaron Alexis of Fort Worth, Texas,” Williams reported. “That he had just recently begun working as a civilian contractor for the Navy.

Williams noted that reports indicate Aaron infiltrated the highly secure facility by using the identification of a current employee of the facility who has not yet been identified.

“What his motive was is a long way from determined,” Williams continued.

Watch the clip below via NBC:

Via: Mediaite.com

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When Did Obama Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now ‘Phony?’

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama set the tone for the debate surrounding the many controversies that have plagued his administration since the spring. The president called those scandals “phony” and denigrated those who find any worth in their investigation. But, as one prominent conservative opinion writer noted yesterday, it was not long ago that the White House was acknowledging the seriousness of the scandals he now derides as contrived. 

“With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball,” Obama said during a marathon speech in Illinois.

During a panel segment on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, The Weekly Standard editorStephen F. Hayes asked a pointed question about these so-called “phony scandals”: “Which of the scandals is phony?”

“The president has already acknowledged the seriousness of two of them – three of them, in one way or another,” Hayes added.

“This is part of the plan to set up an argument for the fall,” he said, identifying how Democrats will counter Republican charges of malfeasance by administration officials ahead of the 2014 midterms. In essence, Hayes implied, Obama and his supporters will accuse the opponents of his administration of a pathological desire to cling to already discredited conspiracy theories.

Via: Mediaite

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Murdoch Warns Gov. Christie ‘Must Re-Declare For Romney Or Take Blame For Next Four Dire Years’

RELATED: Rupert Murdoch Slams Obama Admin: ‘Nightmare’ If Obama, Biden, Ambassador Rice Remain In Power

Murdoch opened his tweet giving credit to New York mayor Michael Bloomberg for doing what many New Yorkers were practically screaming about for the entire day and canceling the marathonscheduled to take place on Sunday.

But Murdoch also had some harsh words for Christie, who toured the damage with Obama earlier this week and had nothing but kind words for the president.

Meanwhile, Christie has ordered gas rationing in twelve New Jersey counties owing to a shortage. Vehicles with license plates that end in odd numbers will get to refuel on odd-numbered days (like tomorrow, November 3rd), and the same for even-numbered license plates.

Via: Mediaite

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