PJTV'S THE RUNDOWN: JANUARY 12, 2015

California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer announces her retirement. Has she left California and the nation in a better place? A disabled Iraq war veteran goes on a career crusade. A newspaper lands in hot water after misquoting a local sheriff. Plus, dozens of students at a prestigious college are caught in a massive cheating scandal.

BARBARA BOXER...DOING WHAT DEMOCRATS DO

Is Senator Barbara Boxer a liar?  Or is she simply ignorant of the facts?  Why choose?  She's a Democrat and a liberal, which pretty much covers all the bases.

Yesterday she claimed that the federal budget deficit has "been cut in half" under Obama.  Wait...WHAT?

Budget figures provided by the White House show that the deficit nearly tripled from 2008 to 2009, when Obama took office, and has remained above $1 trillion since then, though 2013 projections are slightly lower.

The country has seen higher budget deficits during every year of Obama's presidency than it did during any of his predecessor's eight years in office.

The White House provides the following deficit numbers:

2005: $318 billion

2006: $248 billion

2007: $161 billion

2008: $459 billion

2009: $1.41 trillion

2010: $1.29 trillion

2011: $1.3 trillion

2012: $1.09 trillion

2013 (projected): $973 billion

Boxer made her remarks on the House floor on Friday:

If you listen to the Republicans, you'd that this deficit has gone up under President Obama. President Obama inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit. It's now down - it's been cut in half. It's been cut in half. But if you listen to them, you'd think that, oh my God, everything is awful. I just took a look at the charts. I took a look at deficits under Democratic and Republican presidents. I am so proud to be a Democrat.

It was not clear whether or not Boxer was looking at this chart: