Stories to Watch: 1/22/12

I'm feeling lazy tonight, so spaghetti it is. Now here's the news...


Newt was crowned Prom Queen in South Carolina last night -- by a really wide margin.


Taegan Goddard points us to this quote from New York magazine's John Heilemann: "If Gingrich wins Florida, the Republican Establishment is going to have a meltdown that makes Three Mile Island look like a marshmallow roast." Go Newt!


And on that note, the Washington Post's resident wingnut blogger, Jennifer Rubin, is already hitting the panic button. Bill Kristol's already been hitting that button repeatedly, but he's pounding away at it like John Bonham now.


Meanwhile, The Hill's Justin Sink sees Gingrich's South Carolina strategy as a realistic winner in the Sunshine State. The White House has to be checking their calendars, because it seems like it's way too early for Christmas again.


Rattled and desperate for headlines, Mittens says he'll release 2010 tax return and 2011 tax estimate Tuesday. Two years won't be enough to satisfy his critics.


Finally, surprising no one, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk becomes the first Democrat to announce her intention to run against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a the recall election. I've pointed out before that once a candidate declares, labor and the Democratic Party can no longer coordinate. Falk is labor's candidate of choice, meaning that all the groundwork has been laid and ready -- a little faster than I thought it would be.

Related articles

• Newt Gingrich's Victory Speech - South Carolina Primary Win 1-21-12 (constitutionclub.org)

News Roundup for 12/6/11

Ineffective Effective protester

-Headline of the Day-
"Cuomo caves to protesters, will hike taxes on rich New Yorkers."

Those Occupy Wall Street commies are never going to accomplish anything, because they don't have a message and they're living outside like hobos and they're screwing around with drum circles and... Oh look, they accomplished something!

According to the report, "After facing repeated protests over his resistance to raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo relented on Tuesday, striking a deal with legislators that will boost state revenues by $1.9 billion while simultaneously dropping the middle class tax rate to the lowest it has been in 58 years."

"New York citizens earning $20,000 per year or more are currently taxed at a rate of 6.85 percent, as are married couples earning more than $40,000 per year," the report continues. "The new tax brackets would drop tax rates for the lowest incomes to 6.45 percent, while increasing the rates for higher earners. Couples with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000 will pay 6.65 percent; households that earn $300,000 to $2 million will pay 6.85 percent; and incomes over $2 million will be taxed at 8.82 percent..."

That sound you hear is about a thousand empty-headed pundits and corporate apologists eating crow. (Raw Story)


-And a Happy Newt Year-


Click to embiggen

I don't know what they're complaining about, they almost got stuck with Cain. This is actually a step up. (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Hero Child Explains Gay Rights In Words Bachmann Can Understand."

Eight year old Elijah from Myrtle Beach leaves Shelly Bachmann speechless, becomes hero to the nation. (Wonkette, with video)

News Roundup for 11/15/11

Armed and dangerous -- no, not the cops...

-Headline of the Day-
"City Claims Occupy Wall Street Protesters Were Stockpiling Weapons, Fights Court Order To Reopen Park."

Them Occupy Wall Street commies got big piles of guns and stuff!

Wait, no. According to the City of New York, currently fighting a legal battle to declare Zuccatti Park a free-speech-free zone, are getting a little creative in their defense. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway "filed a motion on behalf of the city today opposing a court order requiring the NYPD to allow Occupy Wall Street demonstrators back into Zuccotti Park."

In that motion, Holloway wrote, "It was our understanding that the protesters may have had a significant number of items that could potentially be used as weapons." For the record, that could be pretty much anything. The biggest threat to public safety cited were "cardboard tubes with metal pipes inside," which I guess are more weapony than just metal pipes. Other evidence of a heavily armed protesters includes the aftermath of an October 1st march across the Brooklyn Bridge, where authorities reportedly found "knives, mace and hypodermic needles were observed discarded on the roadway."

OK, I'm going to go ahead and call bullshit on that one. One, who discards a knife? Those things cost money. And cops have been macing protesters, not the other way around. Finally, hypodermic needles? Yeah, that's my weapon of choice, right up there with thumbtacks -- it's New York, those are called "litter." I'm surprised they didn't include used condoms in that list of "weaponry."

There's a lesson to be learned here, of course. If you're going to stockpile weapons (or be accused of it) make sure they're guns.

When the cops come to take your guns away, the NRA will have a hissy. Guaranteed. (Gothamist)


-Racism is dead!-


Click to embiggen

Except when it's not. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Scalia and Thomas dine with healthcare law challengers as court takes case."

You know, it's one thing to have a conflict of interest and it's quite another to go out of your way to create it. The first is called "random stuff that happens in life," the second is called "being a dick about it." (LA Times)

Stories to Watch: 7/24/11

Having pancakes for dinner -- again. It's been too hot to use the oven, so I'm stuck with two choices; find some way to use sourdough starter when I feed it or throw a cup of the stuff down the drain. Waste not, want not, so bring on the sourdough pancake brinner. Now here's the news...


Apparently, Boehner and Obama are back at the negotiating table. It's not exactly good news, however, since ABC News reports that any deal would likely "face strong opposition for House Republicans opposed to increasing taxes and Democrats opposes to entitlement cuts."


ThinkProgress looks at the way the right jumped on the "IT'S MUSLIMS!" train in the Norwegian terrorist attacks. Not surprisingly, they all look even stupider than normal. Breitbart's idiocy shines out especially brightly for me.


Things get worse for possibly unstable Oregon Democratic Rep. David Wu, with allegations of sexual assault.


It's Wedding Day in New York. Congratulations.


Norwegian police are investigating a possible second gunman in the terrorist attack.


Is America in danger of a Norway-type attack? We've got the same kind of nuts, so judge for yourself -- Exhibit A.


Finally, RedState's and CNN's Erick Erickson declares Jews to be extremely likely to become terrorists. It wasn't the argument he was trying to make, but Erick-Erick's a ridiculous boob and his logic is always flawed, so you wind up with collateral damage. Seriously, this guy is just awful at spin.

Related articles

• Anders Behring Breivik: Oslo, Norway Bombing 'Necessary' (huffingtonpost.com)
• Geithner: Obama And Boehner Still Negotiating Grand Bargain (businessinsider.com)
• Norway mourns massacre victims (cbsnews.com)
• Gay couples begin seeking marriage licenses in NYC - Atlanta Journal Constitution (news.google.com)

News Roundup for 6/29/11

Rudy Giuliani

-Headline of the Day-
"Giuliani Breaks Promise To Legally Gay Marry His Gay Roommates."

That is, perform the ceremony, not gay-marry them both as a third wheel.

See, when Rudy got kicked out by his wife for having an affair, Giuliani moved in with these two nice gay fellas. This was before being panicked over marriage equality had become the big fashion among national GOP leaders.

So Rudy, not being a complete asshole, said that if same sex marriage ever became legal in New York, he'd perform the marriage -- I guess he can do that. The report tells us that "all mayors of New York have the curious legal authority to perform marriages both during and forever after their term of office."

And guess what? Same sex marriage just became legal in NY. So the two nice gay fellas decided it was time to look Rudy up. However, according to the report, the guy called Giuliani and has become "distressed that his former house guest hasn't returned the many calls he began making before the legislation was passed last week."

That doesn't seem very appreciative of Giuliani, does it? (Wonkette)


-Wind power could destroy the world-
The scary thing about this is that it's only about one degree wide of reality.



I especially like the brainlessly gullible talking heads -- "Oh my God, kids could drink that water and get wind in their brains!" (The Onion, via ThinkProgress)


-Bonus HotD-
"Sarah Palin Blasts Hollywood Stars as 'Full of Hate' at Movie Premiere."

And then the universe collapsed under the weight of her hypocrisy. (Hollywood Reporter)

NY, Judge, Mom, Religion, Not Funny... You Know the Drill

OK, now they're just jacking us around. A new development in the case of Rachel Bevilacqua, AKA Reverend Magdelen.

The High Weirdness Project:

July 23, 2007: Today I (Modemac) wrote an email to Magdalen, asking how things were going and looking to see if she was going to lay her case to rest. She wrote back, saying there have been some new developments in the case. These new developments have caught everyone completely off guard.

I'm talking The Twilight Zone here.

For legal reasons, I obviously can't go into too many details, becase there are other parties involved in this. Basically, some time last week, [legal custodian and biological father Jeff Jary] was in a car accident involving a brick wall, a lot of alcohol, and another passenger -- NOT MAGDALEN'S SON, praise "Bob." Because of past incidents involving him and at least one other DUI, he is now facing at least two felonies, a misdemeanor, and three traffic charges -- which, combined, could land him in jail for up to eleven years.

All of this means that, due to the sudden extreme circumstances, Magdalen has temporary custody of her son at this time. There will be a new custody hearing in the middle of August. Jeff's criminal hearing will be in September, but that is an entirely different matter.

BUT, that's not the strangest thing to happen here.

JUDGE PUNCH IS BACK ON THE CASE.

Anyone who's been following this the way I have knows that Judge James Punch is a freakin' idiot. In fact, he was 90% of the problem in the first case. This is practically going back to square one, although it's hard to imagine that even a complete moron couldn't see who the better custodian would be now.

Strike a blow for religious freedom; check Modemac's site for info about what you can do.

New York Rules That You Can't Find Religion Funny and be a Parent

A quick update on the story of Rachel Bevilacqua and her son Kohl has turned out to be a loss.

Bevilacqua lost custody of her son, in large part because of her involvement with the satirical Church of the Subgenius. Turns out that, in the state of New York, it's illegal to be a parent and think religion's ridiculous at the same time.

I really don't have a lot to add here; Rachel's left with over $70,000 in legal bills to pay for and I don't know whether or not an appeal is open to her. Read up on what I've written about her case here and here. If it pisses you off as much as it did me, click on the banner below to see how you can help.

Sorry it wasn't better news, but this is the 'Bringer of Bad Tidings,' after all...

Griper Blade: Mom Loses Custody Because a Judge Thinks She's not Funny

It's a blurb on Boing Boing that has renewed interest in the case of Rachel Bevilacqua and her son Kohl. Unfortunately, the blurb isn't entirely accurate.

The story about Rachel Bevilacqua (a.k.a. Reverend Mary Magdalen) lost custody of her son after a conservative custody judge was outraged at the fact that she is a member of the Church of the SubGenius. As a result of appearing in a adult-rated parody of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," custody of her son was taken from her and awarded to the boy's father (the couple was never married). Rachel and her husband have fought a long, expensive battle to win custody of their son, while her ex-boyfriend's legal costs have been entirely been handled by a pro-bono lawyer (who is a friend of his). Legal costs have exceeded $70,000 as of March 2007.

The Church of the SubGenius is a satirical church that exists to ridicule organized religion. The blurb's mostly accurate and comes from someone who's been following the case closely, Modemac. To be fair, Modemac has been doing a great job of following this case and has condensed the story, rather than cover the same ground again and again on his blog. The blurb above is basically an update to the full story, which appears in full on the same page. But if all you have is the blurb on Boing Boing to go by, you really get the wrong impression of the case.

Kohl wasn't taken from Bevilacqua because she appeared in a joke video. He was taken because the birth father lied and told the court that she was homeless. I covered this story last year and quoted this from the Cleveland Free Times. The link to that piece has since expired.

Rachel Bevilacqua is a long way from homeless. She's back in Spencerport, New York, where she grew up, and where her parents still live in a modest frame house, nestled among trees on the banks of the Erie Canal. Sitting in the tiny office there, she talks while her father blogs, while her sisters play, and her mom cleans the kitchen after dinner, periodically stopping to show off family pictures.

Bevilacqua — known as Mary Magdelen to thousands of "worshippers" in the Cleveland-based, satirical Church of the SubGenius — has come home to get her son.

She's been in Spencerport since January, attempting to prove herself innocent so that 10-year-old Kohl can live in her house again, back in Georgia, with her husband, Steve Bevilacqua, whom her son has been forbidden in court orders from calling "dad." It's the family Kohl has lived with, except for vacations that roughly coincide with the school year, for most of his life, until he went to visit his biological father, Jeff Jary, for Christmas in 2005.

When Rachel took Kohl to the airport on December 18, she had no idea that a few days later Jary would tell a judge in Orleans County, New York that Rachel was homeless. No idea that without checking on the claim — without even sending a perfunctory notice of a hearing — the court would grant her son's father sole, temporary custody.

Now we're seeing how 'temporary' that custody is...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Tags: news | politics | New York | law | religious right | religion | free speech