Adelson’s Company Admits to Bribery, Krugman Labels Sequester ‘Stupid,’ and More

Sands Storm:

The company owned by billionaire and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson has acknowledged that it likely violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal law that prohibits bribing foreign officials. That discovery was made public in the recently released Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s annual regulatory report. According to the report, “there were likely violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions” of the act. The admission comes at a time when the company is already being investigated by the SEC, the FBI and the Department of Justice over its business practices in China. (Read more)

Dumb and Dumber: When it comes to the recently enacted sequester, it appears President Obama and Paul Krugman are on the same page about at least one aspect: The whole thing is pretty idiotic. Before putting the sequester into effect, Obama used the words “dumb” and “arbitrary” in describing the $85 billion in automatic budget guts. “Dumb” was also the word used by Krugman when he discussed the cuts during an appearance Friday on MSNBC. The Nobel Prize-winning economist also noted that the sequester “was designed to be stupid. The whole point was, this was supposed to be a doomsday device that would force the [Democratic and Republican] parties to reach an agreement. Of course, they didn’t, and here it goes.” Krugman also told host Ed Schultz that the cuts would really be felt later in the year. (Read more)

In Cahoots: Want more evidence that Fox News is acting as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party? The latest example of the cable news network colluding with the National Republican Congressional Committee to ensure the GOP’s talking points reach a nationwide audience happened over the weekend. During a “Fox & Friends Saturday” segment, host Tucker Carlson went through a list of supposedly wasteful programs that were being affected by recent sequestration cuts. As it so happened, the items on the list also appeared in a recent committee press release. Coincidence? Probably not, given that the images from the segment also mimicked those in the Republican release. Just another day on–to quote Jon Stewart–“bullshit mountain.” (Read more)

Bench Pressed: The commonwealth of Massachusetts is calling out Chief Justice John Roberts for misconstruing census data to make a point during oral arguments in last week’s Voting Rights Act case. While questioning Solicitor General Don Verrilli, Roberts claimed that the Bay State had the “worst ratio of white voter turnout to African-American voter turnout.” As it turns out, Roberts was wrong, and Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin wants the entire country to know just how mistaken the chief justice was. Said Galvin: “I guess the point [Roberts] is trying to make is Mississippi is doing so much better they don’t need the Voting Rights Act. He can still relay that conclusion, but he shouldn’t be using phony statistics. It’s deceptive, and it’s truly disturbing.” (Read more)

On the Offensive: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fired back at a liberal group Sunday for attacking his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, over her Asian heritage. The liberal super PAC Progress Kentucky had previously tweeted: “This woman has the ear of @McConnellPress–she’s his #wife. May explain why your job has moved to #China!” The senator responded by ripping the group for its “racial slurs” and calling it “the ultimate outrage.” McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, told a group of supporters, “They will not get away with attacking my wife in this campaign.” Progress Kentucky has since apologized for the “inappropriate tweets.” (Read more)

Video of the Day: Former NBA player Dennis Rodman recently made a trip to North Korea, where he visited with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Rodman spoke about the experience during an appearance on Sunday morning’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Rodman said his trip wasn’t “basketball diplomacy,” as some have called it, and instead insisted that he was there only to talk sports. When Stephanopoulos confronted him on North Korea’s atrocious human rights record and went after him for not bringing up the country’s death camps, Rodman simply responded, “We do the same things here.” When pressed further, Rodman added, “I’m not apologizing for him. He was a great guy to me. He was my friend. I don’t condone what he does. But as a person to person, he’s my friend. What I did was history. He’s a friend to me. That’s about it.”