What Ailes the MSM

In a firefight, it is not numbers which matter, but rather firepower.   Roger Ailes may have been numbered but he was not out gunned,  Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters:

There was a marvelous fireworks display on Sunday’s “This Week” when Fox News chairman Roger Ailes squared off against liberal media powerhouses Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, and substitute host Barbara Walters.

The one standing at the end likely didn’t vote for Barack Obama.sv2

video:

That is what the liberal get for violating their rule about out numbering conservative four to one.   Three liberals were no match for one conservative, armed with the truth.    Good night and good luck.

The Telegraph points up that…

The United Nations’ expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from the world’s mountain tops on a student’s dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine.

Go and read the whole thing, and if you can, explain to me why it is we’re still taking these morons seriously.

BitsBlog Authors:

Sorry for the last minute thing, but I’ve made some changes to the “dashboard” and “new Post” layouts, in an attempt to minimize the size of the resulting pages, so my Palm Pilot can deal with it, thus allowing me to post from the Road.

Let me know if there’s a problem, and I can bring them back. I doubt there will be. Just use the “new post” button at the top of the dashboard to bring you to the editor, which will work for you as always.

It looks like I’ll be able to use “Quick Post” to get things to the blog. Words at least, not pics. Not nearly as easy to post stuff but it’s possible to do it. Not sure about using the “new post” page, though. Have to play with that a bit.

If you have problems, let me know, and I’ll do as I can.

There may be many names for what Barack Obama is dong thiese days, from Paul Kane and Shailagh Murray, Washington Post:

White House

A day after President Obama called on them to renew efforts to pass his ambitious agenda, congressional Democrats remained in disarray Thursday about how to move forward, with at least some pointing at the White House as the cause of the legislative standstill gripping Capitol Hill

[…]

Pelosi, reiterating her opposition to simply passing the Senate legislation, said it is only “75 percent the same” as the House bill and mocked Obama for suggesting that the two measures are 90 percent similar.

Nore dare call it leadership.

Barack Obama

From Ann Althouse:

Obama chose to call out the only 9 guys in the room that did their homework in law school. And the rest who ended up settling for politics stood and and cheer it.

Dennis Miller.

Welcome, one and all, to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web; the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• A CHANGE OF JOBS: The last one? Yeah, for a while… maybe a month, we don’t know.  I’m changing jobs, in case you don’t know.  After more or less  20 years as an IT generalist, mostly in End User Support, I’m going to try my hand at long-haul trucking.  It’s just time for a change.  The money is about the same, as it turns out, once you get a year or two under you.  Anyway, because of that change I’ll be more off the grid than I want to be for about a month or so. I’ll be getting a laptop soon as I can swing it, that will allow me to be on the grid again.  How much I’ll be able to post between now and then from my smart phone, and whatever computer I can borrow, remains to be seen, but at the very least my access to this site will be limited.  We’ve got some new authors in,  as well as David who has been a vital part of BitsBlog for years, now. Getting David to write for us here was the best choice I ever made for this blog.  I’ve got a friend from High School, Art Smith from Conservative Reader, monitoring the techie end of things, and adding his two cents as well.   I’ll be sending pics from the road, and reports of my progress too, as I can.  All that said, let’s get to this thing, here.
• FIND ANOTHER VENUE: The New York Daily News is reporting that the White House has ordered the justice department to find other places to hold the 9/11 trials.  Don Surber pipes up and offers Guantánamo bay as a solution.  I tend to agree.  Let’s be honest, here.  Part of the reason that the white house is scrambling right now to find contingency plans is because of the massive objection amongst the electorate regarding the closing of Gitmo. I think the ultimate outcome of this thing is going to be that Gitmo will end up being the site of the trial.  In the end, there is no place in the United States that is not going to raise hell about being chosen for the site of such trials, and having to bear the financial burden and the risks.   Michelle Malkin offers her take. Betsy Newmark offers her take as well.
• THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT SHAM…. AGAIN:The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is breathlessly reporting a 5.7% increase in productivity in the fourth quarter of 2009.  And given that the Commerce Department serves at the behest of the executive branch, it’s not hard to ferret this one out.  As you might expect, the liberal media is all over this one, and the obvious implication is that the Democrats are doing their job correctly as regards the economy.     Indeed, The New York Times this morning is reporting that the economy has grown at the fastest pace in the last six years.  Only one problem , and that is that almost 2/3 of this increase came from a slowdown in the liquidation of inventories.  The reason for that slowdown is not that people are trying to dump stuff, but that there’s no money out there to buy those inventories,  even at the substantially reduced prices involved with such a liquidation.  Now I will point out, that this is a preliminary report, and preliminary reports from the Commerce Department since last November’s election have been routinely adjusted for the worse, months after the blaring headlines about how good our economy is doing, are issued.  This one will be more of the same.  And, keep in mind you’re going to have to look very closely indeed to witness those muted reports in a couple of months.  In case you think I’m alone in this way of thinking about this report, perhaps a look at what Wall Street is doing today, will give you a clue about others coming to the conclusion that I have.  And, did anyone notice that wages rose in 2009 by the smallest amount on record? What we have here is a case of the boy who cried “Recovery”.  Nobody’s buying it, any more.  The White House has squandered whatever credibility it had.  The fact is, I predicted all of this the morning after the election.  Indeed, I predicted it for a full year before the election, if either Hillary Clinton or Obama managed to get elected.  I can’t recall being so annoyed at being so right before.
• RECALLS: Well, let’s see.  First we had the Toyota recalls, now Honda.  As much problem is I have with what’s gone on with the domestic automakers I have even greater difficulty with foreign automakers.
• HEALTHCARE? WHAT HEALTHCARE? It’s a reaction to voter anger, to be sure.  But health care, is suddenly off the table. There are a number of Democrats who are hoping it won’t come back. At least, for a while.  the question is, have we really changed the minds of the democrats who have been pushing so long for socialized health care.  Let’s remember, this is hardly a new thing; they’ve been pushing their socialist agenda for twenty years and longer.  So, are they simply pulling back and regrouping?  I think so.  Never forget that under the appearance of leftist pragmatism, there is an agenda lurking.
• BORED? Byron York wonders if Obama has become bored with being president. Is it boredom, or frustration because of incompetency?
• SCIENTIFIC POLITICAL AMERICAN:Roger Simon over at Pajamas Media looks at ClimateGate
  

-1-

With the special primary election for Florida Congressional Dist 19 just days away (Feb 2^nd)things are heating up and getting quite nasty between the three Republican candidates.  Front runner Edward Lynch is being attacked by his two opponents.  In fact it has degenerated into a very dirty nasty race.

Edward Lynch

Lynch has been running for this seat since 2008 when he ran against Robert Wexler in a very strong Democratic district and had a fairly decent showing in the polls.  Lynch had never involved himself in politics until he ran up against the do nothing Congressman for his district.

Wexler meanwhile, resigned a few months ago under a cloud of accusations that he did not live in his district or even in the state for that matter, and an ongoing investigation by the FBI into money laundering.  With this resignation which came into force at the beginning of this year we had an empty seat that needed to be filled.

Lynch, who was in the middle of a campaign for the Nov 2^nd mid-term, elections,  suddenly had to accelerate everything to accommodate these new election dates of Feb 2^nd and April 13^th.  His Democratic opponents in this race are Ted Deutsch and Ben Graber, with Deutsch being the front runner and who has almost been anointed by Wexler as his successor as he left office.  The Democratic Party does not want to lose this seat, especially so soon after their catastrophic loss of Ted Kennedy’s empty Senate seat in Massachusetts.  They will flood Deutsch’s campaign with money and will be sending down their big guns for fund raising and campaigning for him.

When Wexler resigned two new ‘Republican’ candidates came out of the woodwork and started running.  As it became more and more apparent that they would not beat Lynch and more especially Deutsch they got desperate they joined together and started a really nasty rumor campaign against Lynch.  At a recent debate both Curt Price and Joe Budd said that they would not support Lynch if he won the primary!  Edward Lynch, on the other hand, said that he would support whoever won.  It is after all, for the good of the country that he is even running at all.  What are these two men doing and why?  They themselves cannot win this race in either the primary of the special election against Ted Deutsch.  Lynch is, in my view,  the only hope for Conservatives.

So what is in it for these others to engage in the politics of personal destruction?  The rumors and accusations have been thrown out there in the public domain with no explanation of what they are, from either Price or Budd, leading the public to wonder what it is all about and opening the door to all sorts of speculation as to what it might be.  When in fact none of this is new and all came out in the last election cycle.  Price and Budd have started up a Facebook page and a website to spread their lies under the names of LynchsLies and Edgar RINO.  Lynch has been invited to sit on a panel called Rising Young Republican Stars at CPAC next month.  Right about the time that Price and Budd started the smear campaign against Lynch he received a phone call from CPAC telling him that he could not sit of the panel if he did not win the primary!  Now did Price and Budd have anything to do with this?  We don’t know for sure, but it is very suspicious, don’t you think?

Lynch has issued a rebuttal of the accusations leveled against him, with the aim of  putting everything to rest.

http://www.electlynch.com/edward_s_blog

Please read through this and make up your own mind.  Lynch in my view is by far the most qualified of the three Republican Candidates and is an avowed Conservative.  He has been endorsed by these people and probably others:

Republican Majority Campaign PAC

DC Works for Us

CRA PAC

Vince Boccard Vice Mayor of Coral Springs FL

Tom Parker Councilman Coral Springs FL

S.E. Cupp,  writer often seen on FOX NEWS

Jackie Mason the comedian    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LtYrC1tQQ&feature=player_embedded

Maj Gen Paul Vallely Army (retired)

Brig Gen Jim Cash USAF (retired)

Rabbi Rachamin Pauli

Dick Morris unofficial consultant to the Lynch Campaign

http://www.electlynch.com/endorsements1

Edward doing triage work in Haiti.

Lynch has worked tirelessly for the constituents of his district even when Wexler was their Congressman as Wexler would do nothing to help them.  He worked on behalf of the Veterans of the Miami Palm Beach area hospitals because Wexler would do nothing and for that he was punished by our Government.  Lynch has just returned from a two day visit to Haiti along with the Republican candidate for dist 20 Robert Lowry, and candidate for dist 24 Tom Garcia, who along with candidates Bernard Sansaricq running for dist 23 against the corrupt Congressman Alcee Hastings (an impeached Federal  Judge!), Corey Poitier candidate for dist. 17, Yomin Postelnik running for the Florida State House dist 91, and Congressman Lincoln Diaz from Miami, all formed a group working to gather supplies and medical first responders to go to Haiti to help in the earthquake disaster.  Lynch put his campaign on hold just three weeks before the election to do this  demonstrating cleanly that the suffering of the people of Haiti was upper most in his mind.  What did Price or Budd do?  Nothing we are aware of.  Note that all these candidates and Congressman who have dropped everything to, help the poor people of Haiti are Republicans.  My own Congressman Tom Rooney and State Senator Joe Negron also have visited Haiti.  Lynch has shown his compassion and humanity for the less privileged, and leadership by teaming up with all the other  Republican Congressmen and Republican candidates of South Florida for the needs of others.

Lynch aiding a quake victim

On another note, Ed  Lynch has been a first responder during 9/11 and Katrina supplying his workers and expertise in the communications field where it was most needed, so it no surprise that he dropped everything and rushed to Haiti when they most needed help.  He didn’t just go down there out of curiosity or for political reasons; he went to help the people just as he has been helping the people of his district ever since he started running for Congress.  It is clear to me that this is the type of man we need in Washington, but then that is my opinion, so I will leave you to make up your own mind

We absolutely do not need to add any more Rinos and ‘do nothing’  Democrats than we currently have ‘serving’ us in DC.   Please do not believe the lies you are hearing and give your support to Edward Lynch on Feb 2^nd!  If you live outside his district you can still support him with donations and phone calls for him like we, the Grassroots of American, did in the Scott Brown race in Mass.  Let’s not have another NY CD23 debacle, when Scozzafava pulled out of the primary race at the last moment leaving Hoffman to run against the Democratic candidate and then refused to support the Republican candidate throwing her weight and votes to the Democrat who ultimately won that race by a very narrow margin.  It feels to us down here in South Florida that something similar is being attempted here to sabotage Lynch’s campaign.  Don’t let it happen.  He can win this race if we all get behind him and it would deliver another huge black eye to the Democratic machine!

http://www.electlynch.com/multimedia

A new interview with Daria DiGiovanni

http://www.parcbench.com/2010/01/28/republican-hopeful-works-to-earn-the-peoples-seat-in-floridas-district-19/

-0-

Editor's note: This post marks the first of what I hope are many from Shona Darress. I've watched her postings on Facebook for some time now, and have admired her work. I asked her recently to step outside that role and into "Bigtime Blogging"... mostly because I thought she'd fit in well among all the miscreants that write here... and she has delighted me by agreeing to do that. I'm glad as I can be to have her talents posted here.

Shona's backstory is interesting, and I suppose a lot of her unique insights are due to her background.  She is originally from Invercargill, New Zealand and lived there until leaving on a world tour (chuckle !! ) in 1969. She has lived in England two years, Germany 3 months, and Libya 7 years before finally settling stateside. She became a naturalized citizen in 1989. She has five kids, the first born in London and the next two born in Triploi Libya and the last two born in Singapore. She also has 7 grandchildren, all of which live in her adopted home of Stuart Florida. Her husband Bart, is a directional driller of oil wells currently working in the Bakken Field in North Dakota, that we've reported on frequently here at BitsBlog. Before working in ND he worked in the oil fields all over the world.

Welcome to BitsBlog, Shona!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8412966.stm

http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/10-small-business-trends-and-opportunities.html

Thoughts on J.D. Salinger,  Catcher in the Rye, from Pat Austin, And so it goes in Shreveport:

J. D. Salinger was not my favorite author ever, but I’m sorry he has died. I teach Catcher in the Rye to my students each year and they really like it. I used to teach A Separate Peace which I kind of like, but the kids hated it.

They always kind of get into Catcher in the Rye. I’d venture to say that the profanity is what catches their eye at first! “What! The TEACHER is letting us read this?!” Prostitutes?! Underage drinking?! Wow!

Catcher is not the great American novel, but is the come of age novel.  Salinger wrote one great novel, and Obama gave one great speech, in 2002

Welcome, one and all, to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web; the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• STATE OF THE ONE: If you’re interested in reading the speech, it’s here. Frankly, I had thought to do a running commentary on the speech, as I have done in previous years.  However, I got about a quarter of the way into the project, and decided that it was just too target rich an environment.Ya know, for a while there, I considered that there was nobody on the face of the planet who could lay manure on thicker than Bill Clinton. Silly me. Obama succeeded in more position shifting, Pandering, U-turning, blame shifting defiance then I have ever seen anyone do, and that’s saying something.One point I find myself interested in is the idea that Obama even in the speech last night could not bring himself to say that we had actually won the war in Iraq.  Precisely the response that I would expect from someone who has lost the political battle and is still trying to claim victory.  The problem is, the leftist press will sing his praises for that victory, regardless of the reality of the situation.Obama in my view, spent entirely too much time trying to declare war on wall street last night, particularly in light of the amount of capital he has withdrawn from Wall Street, and particularly inside that context when he is so dependent on Wall Street and the investors there in to generate jobs and thereby a recovery.  A dumb move, and the presidency overwhelmingly filled with them.
  I suspect that the only thing that Mr. Obama succeeded in last night is alienating the one political group remaining on the stage that was in his corner… the far left. Blogs around the left end, today, are mouthing weak praise for the speech, but frankly I begin to suspect a lot of it is momentum more than a serious analysis.  They have yet to bring themselves to the point of understanding that the vast majority of America has already understood; By any measure, Obama is an abject failure..  Even Justice Alito found it too much to deal with. …and yes Alito’s claim has been fact checked… and Obama was wrong.That’s one of many points in the speech of last evening, that if it manages to become a narrative, Obama is in even more serious trouble. There’s a statement, I never thought to make, that he could get himself in worse trouble than he was already in.  But, there it is.They really ironic part about all of this is, that it was designed to be nothing more than a stump speech in reality.  He was trying to boost his fortunes.  Somehow, I doubt he managed it.  Not in the long term, anyway.
• CHRIS MATTHEWS: Idiot. Matthews, of all people, disproving the long chanted Obama mantra that we have finally arrived at a post racial America.  More, he clearly identifies those responsible for that lack of progress.  Absolutely brilliant.
• AS WISCONSIN, SO THE COUNTRY? And, Massachusetts, of course.  The senate race up in Wisconsin is showing the Republican, Thompson out ahead of the Liberal’s Liberal, Russ Feingold 47 to 43.   I will add the qualifier that Thompson is not necessarily a conservative, but he certainly comes down to the right of Feingold.  Then again, who doesn’t?  It’s hard to overestimate is this point, particularly in light of the number of defeats for it the left wing around the country this last six months or so.  Feingold was certainly regarded as having a safe prospect for reelection.  That is until Obama got a hold the reins, and the current congressional leadership helped him along to where he is now.   I’ll be on the ground myself in Wisconsin on Monday, so I anticipate having a somewhat closer view of that situation, and will report as I can.
• LANDRIEU’S PHONES: NBC’s Pete Williams is suggesting as I did yesterday that there was no apparent attempt to tap or intercept calls from the senator’s office.  The apparent motivation says Williams is that the senator was seemingly unable to take phone calls from constituents as regards health care, which she has become a large player in lately.  (You will recall the Louisiana purchase.  ) Actually, I find that explanation for more plausible than the knee jerk reaction it came out of the left wing press yesterday.
• PERSONAL NOTES: As I suggested above, I will be on the road over the weekend, to arrive in Wisconsin sometime Monday evening.  As such, tomorrow night will be the last Nightly Ramble for a while.  I will be posting, but because of my limited access to the depth of commentary will be somewhat limited.  That will be true, I’m afraid, until such time as I manage to get a laptop going.  When that happens, things will return pretty much to normal.

http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/169950?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29

As we end the President’s first year in office, we still struggle with folks on the left complaining bitterly that those of us who share a conservative ilk are out to see Obama fail.  Never mind the fact that all I seem to hear during a Republican administration is a cacophony of angry vitriol, outright lies and attempts by Congress to undermine the critical work of the President, and I’ll accept the fact that there are many on the right who see nothing but red when they discuss the current resident of the White House.  But my goal is strictly to see America — Americans — be successful, and that means that I want to see the President be successful as well.

But the President’s speech tonight leaves me wondering. There’s no doubt it brought a sense of euphoria to those in need, to those who continue to promote a liberal agenda. The beginning and end of the speech brought a broad stroke of hope and confidence in who we are as a nation, as any good presidential speech should.

He made some good proposals. Some of which will make Congress uncomfortable to consider. Some of which will be hard to execute. Earmark transparency. Budget freezes. Cutting programs.

He made some popular proposals. Jobs programs. Small Business Lending programs and tax credits. Tax credits on capital investments. Bank investment reforms. Additional taxation of large banks.

And he continued to press for Health Care Reform that Americans don’t want.

I will likely disagree with much of the spending being suggested by the President, but for the moment I am somewhat resigned that we will see some of it anyhow. I doubt we’ll see all of the jobs he is wanting to provide, but there’s no doubt that people are looking for the government to make it happen somehow.

So here’s what I’m wondering. Where will the jobs come from?  Where will all the money come from?

Government cannot create jobs out of thin air without being the master of the jobs themselves.  It’s great to say that we can find ways to stimulate business to create jobs, but to truly get people working in legitimate jobs we need to make the business climate conducive to success and growth, which is currently stagnated by onerous corporate taxation and various constraints on small business.

Tax credits are a nice idea, although eliminating the entire tax system, as it exists today, would be better.  As the President talked about more jobs and more spending of money, my hopes grew (unrealistically) that he might recommend a wholesale scrapping of the income and corporate tax system and implement the Fair Tax.  I’m convinced this is the best answer for cutting government waste (the IRS?), creating a reliable revenue stream for the government, and providing a non-regressive (yes, it is truly non-regressive), voluntary (you don’t have to buy things, and you’re only taxed on purchase of new items) and real transparency in the government’s financial system.  And it will allow Americans to keep all of the money they’ve earned, and will create jobs because people have the economic fuel they need to create the demand for jobs.

But I digress.

It seems like President Obama can go on forever listing out ways to spend the People’s Money and then recommend a budget freeze. But this is like trying to get rich in one of those booths with dollar bills flying around. It’s very tough to catch any of them and you don’t end up with much. And the President admits that we won’t be able to start the freeze until 2011. Because that’s how budgeting works. Because we’re not talking about cutting anything except the increase. On part of the budget.

It’s a tough time to try and really balance the budget. I can see that it’s a long way off without resorting to something as radical as the Fair Tax. But we cannot continue to spend new money without a clear method of covering the costs that doesn’t impact taxpayers or consumers, and that’s what’s hard. We should be cutting programs right now. Money is flying out the door that shouldn’t be, but that may be one of the mysteries of Government that I will always have trouble comprehending.

So of all the things the President said tonight, the most important one to me is this: “We will continue to go through the budget line by line to eliminate programs that we can’t afford and don’t work.”

And here I am, wondering if we can really do it, really cut the programs we don’t need. The words “…it would take an act of Congress…” weigh heavily at times like this.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Come join me along with Kevin Hall on Friday (Jan 29) from 2 to 4 at Des Moines Local Live internet radio as we discuss the President’s speech and the aftermath.

Well, friends, tonight could well be one of the most anticipated State Of The Union Addresses in many years.  In a period of disappointment following the grand illusion of hope put forth by the President and Congressional Democrats, tonight’s speech may well a pivotal driver to the 2010 Congressional Elections.

Health Care

Look for President Obama to sound confident and yet cautious on this topic.  He may well fire barbs at the Republicans in Congress, but the fact is that House and Senate Democrats had the ability to make this happen months ago if they had the intestinal fortitude to put personal pride, personal gain and “pet ideas” aside and come to a consensus on what most of us would agree is a critical issue in America.  But the President won’t point any of that out.

The Economy

There will be more demands to pour money into the hands of businesses and citizens to fuel jobs… unfortunately it will likely be more of the same non-stimulating “stimulus” money, feeding the friends of the powerful and leaving the rest of us to pay the bill.  And also a continued call for banks and other big corporations to give their money to the government, since the government knows best how to re-distribute it (the government as Robbin’ Hood… ironic, eh?).  The call for a partial budget freeze will certainly be included, but is not yet enough to solve the continued spinning deficit.

Afghanistan

The President will likely try to provide a date, but will be careful not to state a definitive withdrawal by that date.  Talk around town now is to look at opportunities to work with the Taliban, but it’s doubtful Obama will stick his neck out that far.  If nothing else has happened in the past year, the Commander-in-Chief has clearly become more aware of the role he plays and complexities associated with working through the conflicts we are in.  However, it does not seem likely he will get us out of the Afghan theater anytime soon.

Homeland Security

In spite of the abysmal performance of the department’s resources in protecting our national interests on Christmas, and the foolish way in which they reacted to the attempted bombing of the flight to Detroit, the President will provide a glowing report of how these issues are being addressed and the insignificance of the event itself.  Hopefully, what we will hear about are real solutions to ensure that valid threats are dealt with properly and that reasonable controls will ensure that mass transportation and other high-value targets are kept safe from serious threat.

Haiti

Finally, we should hear about the great sorrow that we collectively feel here in the US for the devastation that occurred in Haiti.  We will also hear about the incredible sacrifice that many Americans are showing by traveling to that nation and providing relief to the impoverished survivors.  Expect themes of caring and kindness, and the American Spirit of never turning our backs on our friends.

Or maybe he’ll talk about something entirely different.  Watch tonight and see!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One thing I continue to find disconcerting is when the president holds his head up high… that is, where his chin is about 4 inches above his Adam’s Apple and you are looking long the ridge of his nose to see his eyes.  Honestly, I don’t understand why he ever takes that position unless it is to demonstrate that he is not using the teleprompter… or perhaps because that’s the only way he can read it clearly.  Regardless, it always looks very condescending to me, and I hope that he tempers the behavior.  If not, I will be keeping count tonight of how many times he does that.

Not to be mean, just because someone should do it.

I hope you plan to join us this evening as we live blog the speech at The Des Moines Register’s web site.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1rOz92/www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/48-best-free-apps-from-microsoft-665142?src=rss&attr=all

Some great stuff here and it’s free!