Ronald Reagan statue unveiled at state Capitol

The Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation unveiled its statue of the former U.S. president and California governor in the Capitol’s basement rotunda Monday.

The event included former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of Energy John Herrington and other former state and federal Reagan staff members. Speakers had high praise for Reagan’s domestic and international legacy.

“To all of you here today that work in this city ... I urge you to come from time to time and look at a truly great leader,” Herrington said.

“Ronald Reagan is alive for all of us because his ideas last. Why do his ideas last? Because they work,” Shultz said.

Things stayed non-partisan, except for a brief mention of the dangers of “so-called progressives” by Herrington.

The foundation raised $350,000 in donations, among the biggest from former Univision Chairman Jerry Perenchio, media magnate Rupert Murdoch and former U.S. Ambassador to Britain Robert Tuttle.

The statue is a bronze likeness by sculptor Douglas Van Howd, a close friend of Reagan who served as White House artist during his administration. The foundation said the sculptor used tracings of Reagan’s shoes and “hundreds of pictures” to make the image.

Reagan will replace the young Christopher Columbus statue, which the Department of General Services says is now in storage but may soon move to the State Library at the discretion of State Librarian Greg Lucas.

The Reagan group commissioned two statues. The other will head to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article25187089.html#storylink=cpy

Via: Sacramento Bee

Continue Reading....

NPR Reporter: 'Pugilistic, Mean-Spirited' Fox News May Be Watered Down by Murdoch Sons

When it came to assessing Rupert Murdoch’s decision to cede more control of his empire to his sons James and Lachlan, PBS and NPR turned to David Folkenflik, who as NPR’s media reporter is a Murdoch obsessive and author of the book Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires.

On Thursday’s PBS NewsHour, Folkenflik surely pleased liberals by floating the idea that eventually Fox News would move to the center and be “a little more measured” in its point of view once Rupert and Roger Ailes fade from the scene. 

James Murdoch was said to be significantly involved in the decision by 21st Century Fox to invest a decent chunk of change in VICE, the multi-platform, multi-outlet entity that it’s own kind of pirate, renegade media outfit run by Shane Smith in Brooklyn here in New York. [Renegade? Or Obama-Kool-aid?] And that’s not something you would have thought of Fox News as investing in kind of outfit.

There has been a significant distrust and ill will between the Murdoch sons and Roger Ailes, of course, the chairman and CEO and guiding creative spirit at Fox News. I don’t think you are going to see Ailes sidelined immediately. But he is in his mid-70s. He’s not in particularly good health. And the actuarial tables favors the boys.

The question is, how can they shift it to be a little bit more measured, a little bit more like Sky News in the U.K., Australia, and elsewhere that is lively, peppy, sometimes strong voices on the air, but not itself taking a strong point of view, in the way that Fox seems to by its selection of stories and guests. So, those are some real significant indications of where things could go.

When PBS anchor Judy Woodruff asked for the legacy of Rupert, Folkenflik suggested he was creative – but he was also “destructive,” with his media properties projecting a “pugilistic, often mean-spirited character.” 

Via: Newsbusters

Continue Reading....

RUPERT MURDOCH PREDICTS ‘NIGHTMARE FOR ISRAEL IF OBAMA WINS,‘ ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF ’STILL LYING ABOUT BENGHAZI’

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch went on a bit of a Twitter tear Saturday morning, predicting a “nightmare for Israel if Obama wins” re-election and accusing the White House of “still lying about Benghazi.”

The media mogul — whose company owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and others — said Vice President Joe Biden “threw [the] CIA under the bus“ and ”now [White House] throws State [Department]!” He also came down on Mitt Romney, saying the Republican presidential nominee needs to ignore personal attacks at the next debate and focus on his jobs plan:

Image source: Twitter

Image source: Twitter

Image source: Twitter

Murdoch has been fairly free with his Twitter advice for Romney in the past: Last month he said he needed to “stop fearing [the] far right” and take more of a big tent approach to win the election. During the summer, he wondered, “when is Romney going to look like a challenger?” He subsequently defended himself from an apparent barrage of negative tweets from Romney supporters, saying, “of course I want him to win, save us from socialism, etc.”

As Mediaite noted, when a Murdoch-type figure in the media espouses such clear-cut political beliefs so publicly, “the question arises as to whether these opinions will eventually trickle down through their outlets.”

Via: The Blaze

Continue Reading...

Bloomberg On Illegal Immigration: “Nobody Has Come Across” U.S.-Mexico “Border In A Long Time”…

GOT TALKING POINTS FROM OBAMA

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week that "nobody" had illegal crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in a "long time."

 Bloomberg also advised that it would be easier for those wishing to illegally immigrate to the United States to simply buy a ticket to fly here and then overstay their visa.

He was speaking in Boston at an Aug. 14 forum on immigration sponsored by the New England Council. He shared the stage for the forum with News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal, who moderated the event, asked Bloomberg, “... My sister lives in Amarillo, Texas, and they’re very worried about waves coming up north over the border there. What are you going to tell them?”

“Number one nobody has come across the border in a long time,” responded the mayor. “I mean we spend a fortune on technology, and if you want to come to America illegally, don’t waste your time going across the border and through the desert. It’s dangerous. Just get on an airplane, fly here, and overstay your visa. We have absolutely no ability to track who you are and get you back.

“The total number of undocumented in this country has been going down for a long time. How do we solve the problem? We solved the problem by having our economy crater,” he continued. “People don’t come here to put their feet up and collect welfare. They come here to work, and if there’s no jobs, they don’t come here, and if they’re here and they can’t find a job, they go back home, because America is not a very good place to sit around and think the state is going to support you.”

Via: CNSNews

Continue Reading...