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Inauguration 2013

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A 15-year-old girl was killed on the South Side of Chicago on Tuesday, just a week after she performed at President Barack Obama's inauguration.

Hadiya Pendleton was hanging out at Vivian Gordon Harsh Park near her high school at around 2:30 p.m., "when someone jumped a fence, ran up to them, and opened fire," according to WBBM-TV.

Pendleton was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where she died an hour later from a gunshot wound to her back. A 16-year-old boy was also wounded in the attack.

Chicago police said that many of those in the park were gang members, but Pendleton had no known gang affiliations.

The girl was majorette and a volleyball player, friends told The Chicago Tribune. She had performed at inaugural events in Washington, D.C. last week with the King College Prep band and drill team.

As of Tuesday evening, police had no suspects in the shooting. The 4400 or 4500 blocks of South Oakenwald Avenue, where the shooting occurred, was considered to be a low-crime area. No serious crimes had been reported there between Dec. 19 and Jan. 20.

"It’s a great neighborhood," Roxanne Hubbard resident Roxanne Hubbard explained to the Tribune. "Nothing like this has happened since I’ve been here."

Bonita O’Bannion told WBBM-TV that she was shaken after hearing at least six gun shots during the Tuesday shooting.

"There has to be an end to it," O’Bannion said. "It’s just too much. The children cannot go to school. They’re in fear."



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Jon Stewart had a field day with former vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan for his remarks claiming that President Obama used a "straw man" argument during his inaugural speech:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) reacted to President Barack Obama's inauguration speech in an interview on "The Laura Ingraham Show" Tuesday, complaining that Obama used a "straw man" argument to purposely misconstrue the Republican position on entitlements.

During his speech, Obama argued that America was "not a nation of takers." That rhetoric of makers and takers, frequently employed by the former Republican vice presidential nominee, came under scrutiny during the 2012 election. Many observers interpreted Obama's mention of "takers" as pointed criticism of Ryan and his political ideology.

When asked about Obama's comment, Ryan said the president used rhetoric to muddy the GOP's position on entitlements.

"No one is suggesting that what we call our earned entitlements -- entitlements you pay for, like payroll takes for Medicare and Social Security -- are putting you in a 'taker' category," he said.

"When the president does a switcheroo like that, what he's trying to say is that we are maligning these programs that people have earned throughout their working lives. It's kind of a convenient twist of terms to try and shadowbox a straw man in order to win an argument by default."

However, as Nick Baumann of Mother Jones points out, Ryan has repeatedly included government benefits such as Medicare and Social Security when using the phrase "makers and takers."

Stewart responded by showing a number of clips of Ryan using the makers vs. takers terminology to describe Social Security and Medicare, and then explained what the definition of a "straw man."

Stewart also pointed out that Ryan didn't share that same opinion about Social Security benefits turning you into a lazy moocher back when his family needed them -- something I wrote about here back in April of last year: Paul Ryan Touts His 'Self Reliance' During His Teenage Years, Ignoring His Family's Reliance on Social Security Benefits.

Stewart went on to show the part of Obama's inauguration speech where he said our social safety nets strengthened us, and finished up with this:

STEWART: So the rhetorical device Obama used wasn't a straw man. It wasn't even passive aggression. It was plagiarism.



Jon Stewart on Our 'Remarkable' Inauguration Coverage

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Jon Stewart took his viewers though some of the "highlights" of this week's Presidential inauguration, whether it was the media freaking out over whether or not Beyonce was lip syncing the national anthem, to Chuck Schumer overseeing the activities, to the media's reaction to President Obama's speech.

MSNBC was full of praise, Fox was doing their usual and broadcasting from some alternative universe where the likes of Peter Johnson, Sean Hannity, Stuart Varney and racist "Uncle Pat" Buchanan reside and then we had CNN, who had their anchors on fashion patrol.



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Although it wasn't as bad as the carping over at Fox, Stephen Colbert's character wasn't taking the inauguration of President Obama this Monday all that well to say the least. After complaining about why they needed to even have another ceremony and wondering what Romney was doing while the festivities were going on, Colbert decided to re-inaugurate himself as the Commander-in-Opposing-the-Chief on a mound of bibles.



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Rep. Steve King (R-IA) suggested that advocates of gun safety proposed measures to curb violence after the December massacre of 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Connecticut because they are "anti-Second Amendment people" and want to end the right to bear arms.

In an interview before President Barack Obama's second inaugural speech, CNN's John King asked the Iowa tea party-backed congressman if Republicans were "chastened" after losing seats in the House, Senate and the presidency.

"A few of them are, but I'm certainly not," King replied. "And those of us that won the election, we see our constituents as deserving the best representation we can give them. We won elections too. So, this is an interesting day today, this peaceful transfer in a constitutional way of the power envisioned by our founding fathers. And they understood the separation of powers. They knew there was going to be a clash and a confrontation and a struggle between the parties, but we also know we have to run this government."

"So, it's going to be interesting as this unfolds," he added. "This should be a healing day. And then tomorrow morning we can start that harder work."

On the subject of "that harder work," the CNN host wondered how King felt about Obama's proposals for universal background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines.

"Those people that want to confiscate guns -- the anti-Second Amendment people -- took an opportunity as soon as the Sandy Hook tragedy took place," the Iowa Republican explained.

King said that he also planned to oppose any efforts by his own party to reform immigration if it meant giving citizenship to immigrants who came to the United States illegally.

"The immigration [reform push] was launched the morning after the election before they actually analyzed the exit polls," he observed. "I think some Republicans overreacted."

"But to grant amnesty is to pardon immigration lawbreakers and reward them with the objective of their crime," he insisted. "Now, if that's what this bill does then it would fit the definition of amnesty."

King predicted that gun safety legislation and immigration reform would be "stretched out over time."

"The prudent things hopefully will come together, and that's the only thing that should get to the president's desk," he asserted.