Stories to Watch: 5/21/12

The Cory Booker non-story, explained concisely.


Limbaugh's ratings post-slut comment were not so hot.


State of Hawaii to Arizona's birther Secretary of State: We are so tired of this bullshit. The email exchange behind all of this is well worth your time.


Facebook's shares aren't doing so well.


The conservative media start a race war. Luckily, it exists only in their imaginations. Bonus fun: Ed Kilgore on how incoherent and insane the whole thing is.


Obama says he's not letting up on Romney's Bain past.


Paul Ryan's stopped trying to make any damned sense at all.


Me talk like conservatives now.


Are squirrels possessed by gay demons?


Just a reminder; rightwing "historian" David Barton sells the purest horseshit known to man.


Finally, if the current escalation in numbers is any indication, by the time November rolls around, Mittens will be claiming to have created about a trillion jobs -- give or take a billion.

Related articles

• This Is Why Rush Limbaugh Is So Entertaining: Now He's A Reverse-Birther

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• Aide: Romney created more jobs as governor than Obama did as president

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• Obama doubles down with new ad attacking Romney on Bain

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News Roundup for 5/9/12

Classy

-Headline of the Day-
"Limbaugh launches ‘babe’ outreach effort."

Faced with an ongoing boycott that's reportedly costing his affiliates millions, Rush Limbaugh has launched a counter-offensive -- a Facebook group called "Rush Babes for America." I'm not real clear on why they aren't "Babes for Rush" or what being for Limbaugh has to do with being for America, but whatever. At least he's finally figured out that something like "Rush Sluts for America" isn't going to fly. "Babes" is so much more classy and respectful.

And, according to the report, the whole effort has Rush's own brand of class all over it; "The group’s logo features a woman’s outline similar to the frolicking nude female figures cast in chrome on a trucker’s mud flaps. She is provocatively straddling Limbaugh’s 'EIB' seal, which stands for 'Excellence in Broadcasting.' The 'Rush Babes' Facebook profile photo features the logo printed on a yellow plastic 'Baby on Board' sign, emblazoned with the slogan, 'Rush Babe on Board.'" This is Trump-level class, to say the least, and is totally not sexist at all.

The fact that Rush is even trying at all shows you how badly the boycott is hurting. But I think he's probably going to have to try harder.

And maybe try being a little less of a sexist dick. (Raw Story)


-A somewhat less-than-proud moment in history-



(McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Texas school misspells own name for nine years."

These people set the standard for everyone else's textbooks.

Just sayin'. (Raw Story)

Stories to Watch: 3/6/12

Over 50 degrees here today. Beautiful, but very, very wrong. Now here's the news...


Tonight could be the night that Mittens is finally crowned Prom Queen. With the gap in Ohio now nonexistent and even moving Romney's way, we've finally gotten to the point where the numbers do now actually matter.


I saw a Facebook post about this last night, but it seemed too sparse to report on at the time; Lakota threaten to confiscate Keystone XL Pipeline trucks and equipment that cross their Pine Ridge lands in South Dakota.


Limbaugh's mouth is a gift to Democrats.


A Dane County Circuit Judge grants a temporary injunction against Wisconsin's new voter identification law. There is a problem, however -- that same judge signed the petition to recall Gov. Walker. So we'll see how long that lasts on appeal. Still, a speedbump's a speedbump and I'll take it.


Polling shows that people in Texas -- Texas -- want the state to continue funding Planned Parenthood. The GOP's War on Women is just blowing up in their faces all over the place.


Newt takes a nap.


Things that would never happen, but would be awesome if they did: a Limbaugh/Maddow debate.


Finally -- and this is no surprise, but more of a reminder -- Rick Santorum's been crazy for a while now.

Related articles

• Lakota Indians Block 'Keystone XL Pipeline' Trucks in Six-Hour Standoff (alternet.org)
• Rush Limbaugh advertisers drop out even after apology (abclocal.go.com)
• Breaking News: Lakota arrests underway halting XL pipeline trucks (climate-connections.org)
• Herman Cain Addresses Sandra Fluke Controversy (huffingtonpost.com)

Stories to Watch: 11/15/11

Did a little tweaking of the blogspot blogs last night. I think it looks good. Now here's the news...


A judge declares Zuccotti Park a free-speech-free zone.


Are mayors coordinating the crackdown on the Occupy movement? Sure sounds like it.


During a presidential debate, Newt Gingrich said he was paid by Freddie Mac to be "a historian." If that sounded insane to you at the time (why does a lender need a freakin' historian?), that's because it was bullshit. Newt was hired as a lobbyist to "to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it." In short, Newton is a liar. Pure and simple.


David Brooks wrote something stupid again.


Two people who worked for him are now confirming the obvious; "investigative journalist" James O'Keefe has zero interest in journalism and only wants to push propaganda.


Both Google and Facebook oppose an anti-piracy bill. Why? Because it's so stupidly written that both services could be held responsible for the way other people use them. Imagine Ford having to answer for every hit-and-run or drunk driver in a Mustang and you get an idea of what the problem is here.


Texas executes mostly black people.


John Boehner is a prick.


Finally, remember how ketchup became a vegetable under Reagan? Now pizza's a vegetable, according to House Republicans. I know it's a crazy idea, but how about we stop declaring things to be other things? Because that's stupid.

Related articles

• Newt Gingrich Lied about That $300,000 He Took from Freddie & Fannie (firedoglake.com)
• Newt Gingrich Paid $300,000 By Freddie And Fannie To Court Republicans (alan.com)
• New York Times Total Fail: Yes, Another David Brooks Edition (delong.typepad.com)

News Roundup for 10/10/11

Getting someplace

-Headline of the Day-
"Poll: Half the country has heard about the Occupy Wall Street protests."

CNN is out with a good news/bad news poll. The good news is "roughly half" (51%) of the people CNN polled were aware of the Occupy Wall Street protests and the bad news is that, of them, 54% don't have an opinion about them either way. But the bad news breaks down further as good bad news for the 99-percenters and bad bad news for the people backing the suits. CNN reports that "27% say they agree with the movement's overall position on the financial system and social change, with 19% saying disagree with Occupy Wall Street on those issues."

In better news for the 99-percenters, Occupy Wall Street is winning the internet by an extremely wide margin. "Those who use social media were more likely to support the goals of the movement, with a full third of those respondents saying they agreed with the group's overall position," reports The Hill. "Only 14 percent of social media users said they did not support the protesters."

It's a start. Occupy Facebook! (CNN)


-GOP consistency on display-

>
Click to embiggen

No comment needed, I guess. (DailyKos)


-Bonus HotD-
"Almost Twice As Many People Have Heard of Occupy Wall Street As Rick Perry."

Or, "Fun With Mix-and-Match Polling." (Wonkette)

Stories to Watch: 8/23/11

Have no idea what to eat tonight. So that probably means burgers. Can't go wrong with burgers. Now here's the news...


That east coast earthquake earlier today? Yeah, that was Obama's fault.


Bank of America looks to be collapsing. While total failure would no doubt be a big hit to the economy, it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.


Rick Perry is now officially at war with Rick Perry. Which is good. Someone's got to take him down, he's the world's most successful serial killer.


Like so many really great Republican economic ideas, raising the eligibility age for Medicare would cost more money than it saves.


Steve Kornacki has a way to rid the world of a high-profile Facebook troll: have her actually run for president. A Palin campaign, according to him, would be an "epic, humiliating defeat, the sort of disaster that might once and for all convince the political and media worlds that the empress has no clothes."


A former Clinton speechwriter urges President Obama to drop the post-partisan crap. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And yes. If you need evidence that it's not working, here ya go.


Meanwhile, Democrats gear up for a decidedly partisan fight on the payroll tax. Note to the White House: lead on this one or get the fuck out of the way.


And here's what the rhetoric in that fight should look like.


Finally, John Boehner is a shameless liar.

Related articles

• Karl Rove wants Rick Perry to lose (americablog.com)
• Rick Perry Loves Bank Of America, Hates Social Security (mydd.com)
• Rick Perry's Evolution and Global Warming Denial Propel Him into the Lead in Iowa (firedoglake.com)
• Rick Perry Takes The Lead In New Iowa Poll, But Warning Signs Abound For The GOP (outsidethebeltway.com)

News Roundup for 2/17/11

Portrait of any Wisconsin Democrat today

-Headline of the day-
"Democratic lawmakers leave Wisconsin to protest union curbs."

Well, it's not so much a protest as it is a filibuster. But who wants to argue semantics?

See, it turns out that pretty much no one but Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker likes Walker's attempt to bust public employee unions. Turns out that giving away the state surplus, then declaring a budget emergency because of the newly created deficit, and making working people pay the bill strikes a lot of people as pretty unfair.

And some of those people are all the Democrats in the state Senate. So, on the day that Walker and his pet GOP were going to pop the champagne on the success of their heist, Democrats decided to take the day off and go to Chicago for beer and hot dogs... Or something. No one actually knows where they are.

In order for the bill to pass, there have to be 20 members voting. If it's not 20, then there's no quorum. In other words, this thing can't possibly pass today. Or tomorrow. Or anytime until the dems decide to come back from their little vacation. When will that be? A top dem asked the same question.

"The question is when are the Republicans going to sit down seriously with the other side on this issue and try to work something out," asks Sen. John Erpenbach - which is a real name. "When are we going to be reasonable about this and slow things down?"

Republicans need to answer those questions, because -- by wild coincidence -- that's probably when the Democrats plan to get back from their field trip. (Reuters)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, we've got a special cartoon today. It's educational and it's all about math! Yay!


Click for animation

Don't try that math in school, kids... (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Runaway Wisconsin State Senator Wins Internet."

Democrat Lena Taylor updates her Facebook status as "brb," which I guess is some sort of commie code. (Wonkette)

Stories to Watch: 1/21/11

Man, it's freakin' cold here. Single digits. Luckily, there are really only a few days like this every year, but we always seem to remember the whole winter being this way. Now here's the news...


Fox News' Megyn Kelly claims that no foxbots ever compare anyone to Nazi. Media Matters calls bullshit on her.


Legalize democracy! Do it now.


Dana Milbank declares February "Palin-free" and asks people to pledge not to talk about her for a month. This seems like an invitation to America's favorite attention whore to do something outrageous. Facebook trollery ahead.


Boehner declares that banning federal funding of abortion -- which, for good or ill is already illegal -- is the House's "highest priority." Jobs? Meh...


Compromise is the word of the day, but House progressives warn Obama that cuts to Social Security are not on the table.


Mittens Romney knows his base is not the Tea Party.


What will the White House do about jobs? A blue ribbon panel. That always works so well.


Finally, GOP Rep. Paul Broun is really paranoid.