**Written by Doug Powers So far there seem to be no real surprises in Nevada — especially since three of the four GOP candidates aren’t even currently in the state — but the caucus voting is still going on : With a huge lead in polls, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney appeared poised for an easy win in Nevada on Saturday that would put him in firm command of the party’s see-sawing presidential nominating race. A Nevada victory would be Romney’s second win in a row and his third in the first five contests in the state-by-state battle to find a Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November’s general election. Two polls taken this week in Nevada showed the former Massachusetts governor with a lead of 20 points or more over top rival Newt Gingrich after recapturing his front-runner status with a convincing win in Florida on Tuesday. The caucuses began at many of the 125 sites around Nevada on Saturday morning, although final results were not expected until after 7 p.m. PST (0300 Sunday GMT). A final gathering of voters to accommodate Jews observing the Sabbath on Saturday will begin in Las Vegas at that time. As for the actual voting, early on it appears to be falling in line with most of the polls. The day hasn’t been without its problems : Caucus-goers eager to take on their civic duty today were met with chaos and confusion at Green Valley High School in Henderson. Frustrated voters tell Action News that some in attendance were given “unofficial” ballots. Several people cast their votes on unauthorized pieces of paper and left before the official blue ballots were handed out. Witnesses were alarmed that their peers’ votes would go uncounted and blamed the caucus leaders for the disorganization. For a minute there I thought they were going to say the ballots somehow had Harry Reid’s name pre-checked . After today’s over, upcoming caucuses are Maine, Colorado and Minnesota. Super Tuesday is just over a month away . Who will be left standing? I’ll post an update later when there are some solid numbers in. Update: Fox5 has the latest . No surprises here: The Nevada Republican Party announced the first results of the state’s presidential caucus Saturday, showing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with the early lead. Romney scored victories in rural Eureka County, as well as Humboldt, Storey, Churchill and Pershing counties. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won Mineral County, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul easily won Nye County with 46 percent of the vote and scored a second victory by winning neighboring Esmeralda County. Also, Business Insider reports that tonight Newt Gingrich will “lay out a delegate-based strategy that will allow him to make good on his promise to stay in the race until the Republican National Convention this summer.” Update II: This was about as surprising as finding out Harry Reid doesn’t plan to propose a budget this year: ABC calls it for Romney . The chase for runner-up between Gingrich and Paul is still too close to call. Santorum will finish fourth. Update III: The latest numbers: **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

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Nevada Caucuses Open Thread; Update: Romney Wins

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“Global retail sales are expected to slow this year as China and the rest of the BRICs [Brazil, Russia, India, and China] face tightening monetary policy and weaker demand abroad,” Rob Wile of Business Insider writes. Well, that’s the takeaway from Deloitte’s annual ranking of the top 250 retail chains by sales at least. While figures in 2011 saw some decent gains — U.S. sales grew 7.7  percent — Deloitte sees the world economy decelerating in 2012, according to Wile. “Retailers targeting upscale consumers could see a more favorable environment,” Wile writes, “But the average consumer remains on uncertain financial footing and will seek out lower costs, the report states.” The most successful retailers are a mixture of superstores, grocers, drug stores and wholesale providers.  The leaders are U.S. firms, but Germany makes a fine showing. Here are the 15 top retailers as compiled by Business Insider : See the Top Three Retailers at Business Insider.

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These Are the 15 Most Prosperous Retailers in the World

AP – A confident Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of failing to do enough to create jobs as he campaigned Friday ahead of GOP presidential caucuses this weekend in a state with sky-high unemployment and foreclosure rates. Newt Gingrich, who is fighting for a respectable showing here, rolled out a fresh line of criticism by comparing the former Massachusetts governor to Obama.

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Romney focuses on Obama, Gingrich on Romney in NV
(AP)

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Reuters – The United States created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a near three-year low, giving a boost to President Barack Obama.

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Jobless rate at 3-year low as payrolls surge
(Reuters)

Reuters – Detroit automakers are urging President Barack Obama to reject Japan’s bid to join talks on a regional free trade agreement, the head of an automotive group representing GM, Ford and Chrysler said on Thursday.

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Detroit automakers say ‘no’ to Japan joining trade talks
(Reuters)

Jim Moran, racist pig

On February 3, 2012, in barack obama, Uncategorized, by TammyWatts

Jim Moran, racist pig by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2012 Congressman Jim Moran is an old white Democrat from Virginia who thinks he can judge whether we minority conservatives are acting sufficiently non-white enough. Moran’s an inveterate bully, a brawler, a crook and a bigot. And not one of his civility-preaching liberal colleagues has the courage to call him out. Responding on cable news to GOP Rep. Allen West’s blunt criticisms of President Obama this week, Moran derided the retired U.S. Army colonel, who is black, as “not representative of the African-American community.” Moran then launched into the kind of tired race-traitor tirade I’ve heard from progressives of pallor for more than 20 years. How dare we “people of color” stray from the left’s ideological plantation? If we choose personal responsibility over entitlement, capitalism over statism or self-determination over identity politics, presumptuous white liberals appoint themselves spokespeople for our forefathers and deciders of our true destinies. To wit: Lt. Col. West “just seems clueless now that he has climbed aboard ship,” Moran fumed. “He’s climbed this ladder of opportunity that was constructed by so many of his ancestors’ sweat, sacrifice, blood, you know, they did everything they could for his generation to be successful. But now that he’s climbed on board ship, instead of reaching down and steadying the ladder, he wants to push it off.” West, his father, his mother and his brother all dedicated their lives to military service; four consecutive generations of his family served in the U.S. armed forces. As a freshman congressman, West’s message has been a compelling agenda of self-empowerment. For this, he is savaged by a House colleague as a racial saboteur? But Moran was just warming up. Next, he contrasted conservative West with big-government savior Barack Obama, who he said acted in proper accordance with his ancestors “by reducing college tuition and training our workers, trying to get a decent job for everybody” and leaving a “constructive legacy.” Er, how’s the savior’s near double-digit unemployment, record food stamp enrollment, re-inflation of the housing and higher-education bubbles, and massive redistribution of wealth from the working class to the Wall Street bundler class working out for you? Moran hailed Obama as “our Lion King” and compared his Republican detractors to the “hyenas in the background trying to cause trouble” for the White House. This bumbling chief of political correctness apparently is unaware that those hyenas in the Disney movie have been criticized for perpetuating negative stereotypes about blacks and Hispanics. Dog-whistle politics, anyone? Do Moran’s constituents in Virginia’s 8th district support his incessant race-baiting? Last year, he accused Tea Party activists of racism for sweeping out entrenched Democrats in the November 2010 midterm elections. It “happened for the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States. It happened because the Southern states, the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery,” he ranted to Arabic-language television network Alhurra. “(A) lot of people in the United States don’t want to be governed by an African-American , particularly one who is liberal, who wants to spend money and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society.” Yet, only two short years before, this hopelessly racist nation put Obama in the Oval Office with a landslide victory. Logic never was the demagogue’s strong suit. The aptly named Moran, an 11-term incumbent , continues to be rewarded by voters for his extravagant spending habits, self-dealing and diarrhea of the mouth. As I’ve reported previously: – While on the Alexandria (Va.) City Council, he was charged with casting a vote that helped a developer friend win a bid for a lucrative plot of public land. A special prosecutor concluded that Moran had violated the state’s conflict-of-interest law. He sobbed as he pleaded no contest to a felony charge of vote-peddling. He received a year’s probation for a reduced conflict-of-interest misdemeanor charge and was forced to resign. – In 1995, he had to be subdued by Capitol Hill police when he threw a punch at California Republican Rep. Randy Cunningham on the House floor. After the incident, Moran blamed “talk radio” for creating a hostile environment in Washington. That same year, he screamed “I’ll break your nose” at Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton during a hearing. – In 2002, Moran revealed in financial disclosure statements that he accepted a $50,000 loan in January 2001 from an “old friend,” billionaire America Online co-founder James Kimsey. The congressman claims to have paid the business mogul back at 15 percent interest over three months, and his spokesman emphasized the loan came with no accompanying quid pro quo. – Kimsey’s gift came on the heels of Moran’s disclosure that he had received another Big Business-tied loan: $25,000 from “old friend” Terry Lierman, a drug industry lobbyist representing Schering-Plough. After getting that unsecured loan at a lower-than-market interest rate, Moran co-sponsored a bill that would extend the patent on Schering-Plough’s allergy medicine Claritin — and prevent generic drug manufacturers from offering inexpensive alternatives. Liberal busybodies are an annoyance. Liberal race-card abusers who lambaste patriotic minority conservatives to cover their own dirty deeds make my brown skin crawl.

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Jim Moran, racist pig

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Donald Trump officially endorsed Mitt Romney for president, quelling conflicting media reports about which candidate the business mogul would back: Romney or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Standing beside the former Massachusetts governor at his luxury Las Vegas hotel Thursday, Trump called it his “honor and privilege to endorse Mitt Romney.” “Mitt is tough, he’s smart, he’s sharp. He’s not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we love,” Trump said. Earlier in the day, Trump had said it was Romney’s performance during the GOP debates and his tough stance on China that won him over, the Associated Press reported. “Governor Romney? Go out and get ‘em. You can do it,” Trump said. Taking the podium following Trump’s announcement, Romney said, “There are some things that you just can’t imagine happening in your life. This is one of them.” “Being in Donald Trump’s magnificent hotel and having his endorsement is a delight,” he said. “And of course I’m looking forward to the endorsement of the people of Nevada.” In an interview on Fox News Channel immediately following the announcement, Trump told host Neil Cavuto Romney has “really stepped up” on the issues during the campaign. Asked whether his endorsement means there is officially no chance of Trump seeking his own presidential bid, Trump said it depends on whether Romney gets the GOP presidential nomination. Trump has repeatedly toyed with the idea of seeking the presidency himself as a third-party candidate. “If for some reason something happens [and Romney doesn't get the nomination] then it’s open season,” he said. “[But] I don’t see that happening.” This post has been updated since it was first published.

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Donald Trump Officially Endorses Mitt Romney for President

On the front page, Editor-in-Chief of THE BLAZE Scott Baker has a post about a new book : “A Nation of Moochers.” The book takes a look at mooching in America in the  macro sense. But I took a look at mooching in the micro sense, meaning a few of our writers here. FireWire editor Mike Opelka told me that he’s a “recovering moocher” but added, “I give, too.” (P.S- Opelka had a lot more to say on this, which I’ll be writing in a follow-up post). “Moocher: no. Smoocher: yes,” BLAZE magazine editor Chris Field said. “I come from a small farming community where everybody works from the time they’re kids.” The Newt Gingrich American dream. I asked our business editor Becket Adams for an example of how he mooches. He said he catches the draft of semi trucks to “save on gas.” I asked if that was the only thing he did. “That’s not strictly illegal, that I’ll admit in public? Yes,” he said. Chris Santarelli , an assistant editor, is one of those people who refuses to buy their own french fries and instead nibbles on the ones his friends order. “I never buy fries, say I don’t like them, but always ask for one from a friend,” he told me. The worst. Buck Sexton , who writes on the front page, dismissed the idea of him mooching altogether. “I’m a WASP. We hate mooching,” he said. As for me, I work in media living in D.C. Events around the city are typically free for journalists, often with open-bars and free dinners. Hors d’oeuvrs, at the least. Mooching is almost forced on me.

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Santarelli mooches on friend fries

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AP – Seeking cooperation in a polarized climate, President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to act quickly on bipartisan measures that would extend tax breaks for small businesses and help startup companies raise money. He said he would sign the legislation “right away.”

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Obama wants small-business bill this year
(AP)

Reuters – Midwestern lawmakers and union groups on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to restrict imports of auto parts from China that they said benefited from massive illegal subsidies and threatened hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

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Lawmakers press Obama on China auto parts
(Reuters)