Chris Christie Attacks N.Y. Times, David Wildstein

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Photo Credit: APNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, after a low-key initial response to Friday’s explosive allegations about his involvement in a bridge-closing scandal, mounted an aggressive defense late Saturday afternoon, attacking The New York Times and a former political ally in an email to friends and allies obtained by POLITICO.

“Bottom line — David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein,” the email from the governor’s office says, referring to the former appointee who reignited the controversy.

A letter from Wildstein’s lawyer, Alan L. Zegas of Chatham, N.J., asserted Friday that “evidence exists … tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference.”

The subject line of the 700-word email from the governor’s office is: “5 Things You Should Know About The Bombshell That’s Not A Bombshell.” It offers a harshly negative portrayal of Wildstein’s character and judgment.

The Christie camp begins by criticizing The Times for its initial characterization of the Wildstein letter: “A media firestorm was set off by sloppy reporting from the New York Times and their suggestion that there was actually ‘evidence’ when it was a letter alleging that ‘evidence exists.’”

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Video: Yukon Quest’s Dog Sled Race of a Thousand Miles Begins with the First, “Mush!”

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The 31st annual Yukon Quest dog sled race started Saturday morning in Fairbanks, Alaska, and thousands from around the world came out to witness it. Eighteen teams, primarily from the United States and Canada, are competing in the race that takes mushers on about a thousand mile journey between Fairbanks and Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

According to the official Yukon Quest website, where you can track the sled teams’ progress in real time, the trail follows historic Gold Rush and mail delivery dog sled routes from the turn of the 20th Century.

The teams are made up of 6 to 14 dogs.

Every year the start and finish locations alternate, so each community gets the opportunity to experience both. This year, due to the unseasonable warm weather (a mystery, I’m sure, to those in the Lower 48), both the start in Fairbanks and the finish in the Yukon Territory had to be modified. In Fairbanks, rather than starting on the normally frozen solid Chena River, earth-movers brought in tons of snow Friday night for the teams to launch down 2nd Avenue Saturday. In Canada, the race will not end with the sled drivers mushing up the frozen Yukon River into Whitehorse, but rather in Takhini Hot Springs, located about 18 miles north of town.

Because of the change to the finish and others along the course, the usual thousand mile journey will be closer to 900 miles, and the winner will likely be pulling into Takhini Hot Springs by next Sunday, or so. The record time set last year, also on a shortened course, was 8 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes.

D’Souza Responds to Allegations, Tells Hannity He Got ‘Under Obama’s Skin’ With Film (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News Conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza was recently indicted for alleged campaign finance violations. But is he being unfairly targeted by the Obama administration due to the content of his successful film “2016: Obama’s America?”

D’Souza discussed the allegations with Sean Hannity tonight, but made it clear that he was “undeterred,” and said that he is determined to continue his work. “I’m marching full-speed ahead,” said D’Souza.

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Keystone Opponents Vow Civil Disobedience, Vigils Starting Monday

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Photo Credit: REUTERSEnvironmentalists and other opponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline are ramping up their opposition to the project following the release Friday of a largely favorable State Department report — vowing to hold vigils, jump into the November elections and even perform acts of civil disobedience.

The report raising no major environmental concerns bolster the hopes of the oil industry, some union groups, congressional Republicans and others that President Obama will soon approve the $7 billion project, after a roughly five year wait.

They say the Canada-to-Texas pipeline will create tens of thousands of jobs and make the United States less dependent on foreign oil.

However, within hours of the release of the report, opponents were pressing forward with a lawsuit to challenge the project, public protests and an effort to inject the issue into this fall’s elections.

Among the critics is a coalition of landowners and environmentalists that says there is still cause for denying a federal permit.

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Alaska Soldiers Train With Unmanned Aircraft

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Photo Credit: Dan Joling, Associated PressThe Army is flying a new bird over south central Alaska — and the pilots sit in the back of a Humvee.

Paratroopers with the 425 Brigade Special Troops Battalion on Thursday trained with a RQ7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system. The remotely operated aircraft are designed to provide reconnaissance for troops without putting observers in danger.

The unmanned aircraft provide near real-time video and information from infrared sensors. Operators can’t distinguish individual faces, said Sgt. Brandon Byers, but they can detect heat signatures and vehicle tracks.

“They’re able to distinguish the features and different marks on the ground,” he said.

Byers oversees the maintenance section. Besides the usual repairs, the unit launches the unmanned aircraft from pneumatic catapult launchers mounted on trailers.

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Cruel, Heartless Obama Mocks his Most Loyal, Unquestioning Supporters

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Photo Credit: YahooIn a speech in Wisconsin on Thursday, President Barack Obama insulted perhaps the most fervent members of his political base: art history majors.

The politically clumsy moment occurred during the president’s remarks at General Electric’s Waukesha Gas Engines facility.

After extolling his own economic policies at some length, Obama observed that “manufacturing jobs typically pay well” in the United States. “We want to encourage more of them,” he said.

Then, he began to speak — apparently extemporaneously — about the benefits of working in America’s ever-diminishing manufacturing sector.

“A lot of parents, unfortunately, maybe when they saw a lot of manufacturing being offshored, told their kids you don’t want to go into the trades, you don’t want to go into manufacturing because you’ll lose your job,” the president opined. “Well, the problem is that what happened — a lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career.”

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Obama Will Take ‘Executive Action’ to Reduce Prison Population

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Photo Credit: APCongress can pass legislation giving judges more discretion in the sentencing of prisoners, but President Obama “also has the ability to take executive action” to commute the sentences of “low-level” drug offenders — and that’s just what he plans to do, Deputy Attorney General James Cole told the New York State Bar Association annual meeting on Thursday.

“A little over a month ago, the President commuted the sentences of eight men and women who were sentenced under severe — and out of date — mandatory minimum sentencing laws,” Cole said.

“But the President’s grant of commutations for these eight individuals is only a first step. There is more to be done, because there are others like the eight who were granted clemency. There are more low-level, non-violent drug offenders who remain in prison, and who would likely have received a substantially lower sentence if convicted of precisely the same offenses today. This is not fair, and it harms our criminal justice system.

“To help correct this, we need to identify these individuals and get well-prepared petitions into the Department of Justice. It is the Department’s goal to find additional candidates, who are similarly situated to the eight granted clemency last year, and recommend them to the President for clemency consideration.”

Although commutation of sentence is an “extraordinary remedy that is rarely used,” that’s about to change.

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Donald Trump Confirmed to Speak at CPAC 2014

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Photo Credit: APReal estate magnate, television star, and conservative provocateur Donald Trump is a confirmed speaker for the upcoming 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Breitbart News has learned.

Trump has been a hit at several recent CPACs, with the crowd loving his populist no-nonsense politics.

“Donald Trump is a successful entrepreneur who cares deeply about his country,” American Conservative Union (ACU) Chairman Al Cardenas said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “He pulls no punches and always calls it like he sees it. Clearly a crowd favorite in the past, we welcome him to our 50th anniversary, CPAC 2014.”

CPAC is an annual gathering of thousands of conservatives in Washington, D.C. aimed at unifying the movement and connecting leaders with grassroots activists. The ACU hosts the event. It takes place from March 6 through March 8 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, right outside Washington, D.C.

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TSA Adds Bomb-Sniffing Dogs in NJ for Super Bowl

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Photo Credit: bill85704/flickrNewark Liberty International Airport is going to the dogs — the bomb-sniffing kind.

The Transportation Security Administration said it has added about two dozen dogs to monitor passengers coming in and out of the airport around the Super Bowl. Tens of thousands of extra travelers are expected to visit the region for the game.

Neighboring LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports aren’t adding any additional K-9s for the big game.

On Saturday morning, TSA agents demonstrated how the dogs can sniff out many different types of explosives. Once they do, they’re trained to sit rather than attack, so as not to raise suspicion or create a panic.

The dogs are mainly Labradors or Lab mixes, which are considered a good hunting breed and people-friendly. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the dogs undergo 12 weeks of training, which costs about $200,000, factoring in food, vehicles and salaries for trainers.

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What is Boehner’s Secret Immigration Plan?

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteWhat did House Speaker John Boehner really mean on Thursday when he announced that the GOP will back a multi-stage amnesty for 12 million illegals, and increase the flow of foreign workers into the country?

The various GOP legislators and advocates can’t tell if Boehner is faking solidarity with the GOP’s immigration-boosting business donors, or is moving slowly to muffle voters’ worries about competition for jobs and wages.

So they’re looking for clues to what Boehner will do next. They’re checking his statements and demeanor, his quips, claps and shrugs, to find out if he really want to push the unpopular bill though the House.

They’re also trying to gauge the willingness of GOP legislators to go through a painful process that would split the GOP base before November, distract the media and voters from Obamacare, and perhaps leave the Democrats in control of the Senate after the November election.

They’s also working to cajole, pressure, spin and lobby to drag Boehner over to their side.

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