Stories to Watch: 7/30/12

According to Justice Antonin Scalia, women have no guaranteed right to legal abortion or contraception, because liberty.


Romney's doing a lot of damage trying to prove he's not a diplomatic lightweight. Seriously though, this is some profoundly racist stuff -- and completely divorced from reality.


Harry Reid is not a fan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- specifically, an Obama nominee by the name of William Magwood. From the sound of things, Harry's on the right side of this one.


After Aurora massacre, opponents of gun control measures lose five points in polling. That's the good news. The bad news is that, at 47% pro-control and 46% anti-, it's basically tied.


It's official: bullshit media aids the GOP.


Politico finally figures out that voter ID laws are about stealing elections, not preventing that theft.


When it comes to providing Olympic coverage, NBC sucks.


Newt Gingrich reminds us all that he's an anti-Muslim nutjob.


Today's Second Amendment Hero.


Finally, Mitt Romney's having a real hard time finding someone who didn't get government help in building their business -- which was Obama's whole damned point.

Related articles

• Romney: Military option in Iran should not be ruled out
• Romney Olympics remark riles London mayor
• Obama gets ahead of Romney on Israel - Newsday

Stories to Watch: 1/29/12

Shorty today. It looks like a fairly quiet weekend -- at least, outside Florida. I finally got Zemanta back. Turns out they've vastly improved their bookmarklet. When there's a choice between an add-on and a bookmarlet, always take the bookmarklet. Trust me on this one; you'll have a faster browser. Now here's the news...


Mitt Romney collects more money from the five biggest banks than the entire presidential field -- combined.


And all that money's finally bought him a big lead in Florida. Herman Cain's endorsement won't be enough to turn the state around for Newt. Nor will the work of Sarah Palin. In fact, at this point Mittens would have to actually die or something for the lead to switch back. Gingrich is the de facto candidate of the Tea Party and the religious right and, once again, I marvel at how little influence those two constituencies actually have over Republican voters.


Mittens is really, really rich.


This is screwed up: NBC asks Romney to pull an anti-Gingrich ad, because it features Tom Brokaw delivering the news about Gingrich being fined and booted from the speakership. It's an entirely accurate ad, nothing' taken out of context, it's just a freakin' quote. If Romney doesn't say to NBC, "Sue me," he's a fool. Campaign ads cost money and NBC doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. Not only is this fair use, it's practically the definition of the term.


Finally, the use of social media to organize opposition to repressive regimes may be a thing of the past -- at least, if Twitter has their way.

Related articles

• Herman Cain Endorses Gingrich (newser.com)
• NBC Demands Mitt Romney Remove Ad Using Tom Brokaw (huffingtonpost.com)
• Romney, Gingrich Make Final Appeals to Republicans in Florida - BusinessWeek (businessweek.com)
• Tom Brokaw 'Extremely Uncomfortable' With Starring In Romney Ad, NBC Lawyers Want It Removed (mediaite.com)

News Roundup for 1/24/12

Gingrich to debate moderators

-Headline of the Day-
"Gingrich won't 'allow' moderators to silence crowd at future debates."

Noodles isn't very good at bluffing. See, in case you haven't noticed, Gingrich's debate strategy has been to say something incredibly dickish to the moderators. This becomes a big applause line, because Republican audiences really like assholes. Then Newt basks in the love for him (which is really just hatred for the media) as waves of hoots and the sound of clapping hands washes over him.

That didn't work in the last debate in Florida, because NBC moderator Brian Williams decided that this debate would be less like a gladiatorial event and more like... well, a debate. You know, logical arguments, well thought-out points, appeals to reason rather than emotion. The whole shebang. Real furrowed-brow, cocked-eyebrow, Aristotle stuff. Newt's specialty is the red-faced, throbbing-forehead-vein, Bill O'Reilly stuff.

So you can see the fix he's in.

"We’re going to serve notice on future debates that we won’t tolerate -- we’re just not going to allow that to happen," Gingrich said of NBC's "be nice and polite" policy. "That’s wrong -- the media doesn’t control free speech. People ought to be able to applaud if they want to. It was almost silly."

Yes, Newt is "just not going to allow" any more moderators to drag the tenor of a GOP free media event all the way up to an actual debate, in much the same way that boxing coaches don't allow refs to stop fighters from hitting below the belt. (The Hill)


-Ick-
Geez...


Click for full comic

Ew. (Bad Reporter)


-Bonus HotD-
"Rich Republicans sure love Mitt."

Mitt's winning the 1% demo. The problem: the 1% demo is only 1%. (Salon's War Room)