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Saturday, January 24, 2015
'American Sniper' earns $154M at box-office in first 8 days
From Ray Subers at BoxOfficeMojo.com
Sonny Bunch: An Alternate Explanation for 'American Sniper's' Box Office Success
"American Sniper's" $18.3 million haul is, by a large margin, the biggest second Friday ever for an R-rated movie. In comparison, "The Passion of the Christ" added $13.7 million, while "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Hangover Part II" earned $10.3 million and $10.6 million, respectively. Sniper's second Friday was also significantly higher than all of 2014's superhero movies, which were in the $9 to $12 million range.And check out this interesting analysis on why "Sniper" is such a hit with audiences:
After eight days in nationwide release, American Sniper has already earned $154.1 million. On Friday, it passed "Gran Torino" to become director Clint Eastwood's highest-grossing movie ever. It also eclipsed Bradley Cooper's "American Hustle."
Sonny Bunch: An Alternate Explanation for 'American Sniper's' Box Office Success
Turkish War Against Christianity
Interesting report on Turkey's continued oppression of the shrinking Christian community within its borders.
Halki Seminary
Halki Seminary
Friday, January 23, 2015
Rep. Joe Pitts to Barack Obama: Bipartisanship Requires More Than Words
Guest Columnist
At
the end of the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy taps her feet three times while
saying, “There’s no place like home.” She wakes up back in Kansas in her
own bed. In dreams, mere words may be able to
make something happen. Here in the real world and especially in
politics, words aren’t enough to get things done.
The President’s State of the Union speech is always an
important part of the political
debate. The TV ratings may not be what they were a few decades ago, but
the address is still carried on every broadcast channel, all the cable
news channels and gets front page coverage in all the national
papers.
President
Obama’s party may no longer control Congress, but he still has the
power of the veto pen, executive authority and the ability to set the
agenda through his speeches. Coming into his
seventh year in office, the President faces a new political reality:
Republicans control both chambers of Congress.
During
the speech, the President recalled the Democratic National Convention
speech that first vaulted him to national prominence in 2004. This is
the speech where he said there wasn’t “a liberal
America and a conservative America; there's the United States of
America.”
It’s
one thing to say that once a year in the biggest speech of the year,
and another thing to actually do it on a day-to-day basis. Behind the
high-minded sentiments
of the address, there were concrete policy proposals. Only a small
handful of those proposals have any real hope of finding bipartisan
support.
The
President did call for more authority from Congress to negotiate trade
deals with Pacific nations and Europe. The President also announced an
initiative
to improve research into diseases. This sounded somewhat similar to the
21st Century Cures initiative that House Energy and Commerce members in both parties started last year.
There
really isn’t common ground to be found on many of the biggest proposals
in the speech. For instance, the President wants to reduce the price of
community
college to nothing for students who maintain a C average.
Right
now, the federal government has very little reach into community
colleges, which are controlled principally by states and counties. By
paying for the bulk
of tuition for these schools, they would effectively be nationalized.
The President noted that Tennessee, a state run by Republicans,
currently pays for community college tuition.
That
the President would use Tennessee as an example shows just how
disconnected he is from Republicans. That a state already has the
ability to act on their
own and tailor a program to their own needs is a strong argument
against an expansive new federal program.
One
of the other major proposals was a series of new tax credits paid for
with a series of new tax hikes. The President already raised taxes with
his health
care law and in the fiscal cliff negotiations. I don’t know of a single
Republican elected to federal office who ran on a platform of raising
taxes. In fact, almost every member would be at risk of losing their
primary if they even voiced support for the President’s
plan.
The
President then threatened to veto a wide variety of bills that could be
on their way to his desk. The fact is that almost anything that will
get to the President’s desk this year will have
real bipartisan backing. Senate Republicans will need at least six
Democrats to pass most bills.
I
know how hard bipartisanship is to make happen. When I served on the
Budget Committee, I negotiated with the Clinton administration to pass
balanced budgets four years in a row. As the Chairman
of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, I’ve negotiated major
bills to govern the Food and Drug Administration and reform the way we
pay doctors working in Medicare.
Rep. Joe Pitts is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
PA Think Tank: 'Math' will challenge Gov. Wolf's unaffordable campaign promises
Democrat Tom Wolf promised the stars and moon to Pennsylvania residents on his first day in office. Sounded a lot like Barack Obama and we all know how well that turned out.
On Inauguration Day, Campaign Rhetoric Meets Governing Reality
On Inauguration Day, Campaign Rhetoric Meets Governing Reality
Monday, January 19, 2015
Pennsylvania teacher salary info posted online
Pennsylvania has posted all teacher salaries online, but makes it nearly impossible to find the information. Did the state hire the same people who designed the Obamacare website?
The new Pennsylvania teacher salary data | PublicSource
The new Pennsylvania teacher salary data | PublicSource
Gender equality elusive in Congress as fewer women run for office
Women make up 51 percent of the nation's population, but just 19 percent
of its chief deliberative body, according to reporter Melissa Daniels,
who examines the dearth of women in Congress for the Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review. In Pennsylvania, none of the 20 elected members of Congress who represent the state are female.
Gender equality elusive in Congress as fewer women run for office
Gender equality elusive in Congress as fewer women run for office
Wolf bringing back Rendell-era retreads to run Pennsylvania
It's back to the future as Democrat Tom Wolf prepares to be sworn in as Pennsylvania's next governor. Wolf, who has never held elected office, is bringing back many of the top officials who ran state government under former Gov. Ed Rendell. You remember the Rendell days, don't you? High taxes, high unemployment and massive deficits. Get ready to Rendell II.
Lots of familiar faces in Wolf administration
Lots of familiar faces in Wolf administration
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper' Posts Huge Box Office Opening
After three excellent weeks in limited release, "American Sniper" expanded nationwide on Friday and earned a stunning $30.5 million.That means "American Sniper" will earn back double its production costs on its opening weekend. It's also on track to become director Clinton Eastwood's biggest all-time box office hit, surpassing 2008's "Gran Torino," which earned $148 million. No mean feat for the 83-year-old actor/director whose career in films spans nearly 50 years.
This the largest single day ever in January; the previous record belonged to Avatar, which took in $25.8 million on January 2nd, 2010.
With great word-of-mouth ("A+" CinemaScore), Sniper should play well through the rest of the weekend. Even if it takes a big drop against tough competition from the NFL conference championship games on Sunday, it should still wind up over $80 million for the three-day weekend.
If it plays like past Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend releases Contraband and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, it will reach $100 million on Monday.
American Sniper Posts Huge Box Office
Friday, January 16, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Public Policy Survey: Few Consider Global Warming A Priority
While Barack Obama and his liberal sycophants in the media keep harping on it, global warming finished 24 in a list of 25 public policy priorities in a recent survey conducted by Pew Research.
Terrorism is the No. 1 priority among the American public, followed closely by the economy.
Public's Policy Priorities Reflect Changing Conditions at Home and Abroad
Terrorism is the No. 1 priority among the American public, followed closely by the economy.
Public's Policy Priorities Reflect Changing Conditions at Home and Abroad
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Longtime Obama doormat Bob Casey Jr. wants Obamacare tax repealed
It appears longtime Obama ally Bob Casey Jr., senior senator from Pennsylvania, is looking out for his own political future and has cut ties with Barack Obama.
Casey is now calling for repeal of the medical device tax that is an integral part of Obamacare.
A release issued today by Casey's office:
Casey is now calling for repeal of the medical device tax that is an integral part of Obamacare.
A release issued today by Casey's office:
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) along with a bipartisan group of ten Senators, today introduced the Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection Act, S. 149, a bill to repeal the medical device tax that was implemented as a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Under PPACA, manufacturers of medical devices are required to pay a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices.
“I’m hopeful that this new Congress can come together in a bipartisan way to repeal the medical device tax,” Senator Casey said. “The current tax on medical devices presents significant challenges for businesses in Pennsylvania who innovate and create jobs.”
Joining Senator Casey in introducing the Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection Act today were Sens. Hatch (R-UT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
Monday, January 12, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
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