Tuesday, July 31, 2012

And the "triumph" continues

The best staff money can buy

Let's call it the "Romneyshambleskis":

After Romney paid his respects to Poland's war dead and shook hands with a small gathering of the nation's military veterans, the GOP contender walked approximately 100 yards away from the memorial as he chatted with Warsaw's mayor.



As Romney made his way to his vehicle, reporters attempted to shout questions to the candidate. The former Massachusetts governor, who has answered only three questions from his traveling press corps during a week-long overseas trip, ignored the queries.

When members of the press tried to ask Romney about some of the mishaps on his trip, his traveling press secretary Rick Gorka verbally dressed down reporters.

Here's a transcript of the questions and Gorka's response:

CNN: "Governor Romney are you concerned about some of the mishaps of your trip?

NYT: "Governor Romney do you have a statement for the Palestinians?
Washington Post: "What about your gaffes?

NYT: "Governor Romney do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?"
CNN: "Governor Romney just a few questions sir, you haven't taken but three questions on this trip from the press!

Gorka: "Show some respect"

NYT: "We haven't had another chance to ask a question..."

Gorka: "Kiss my ass. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect." 

Moments later, Gorka told Jonathan Martin, a reporter for Politico, to "shove it." About a half-hour later, the aide called reporters to apologize.
"KISS MY ASS. THIS IS A HOLY SITE" is now one of my favorite political quotes ever.

Oh knobs, thou art performance art

Over at Powerline (not gonna link) it has been proclaimed that Romney's visit overseas has been a triumph...A TRIUMPH...A TRYYYYYYYYYYY-UMMMMFFFFFFFF!

Allow me to paraphrase, yet be remarkably accurate:

It must be very strange to be President Bush Mitt Romney. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

In Mitt's defense

Greta Van Susteren has long been Sarah Palin's main enabler (well, outside of serial masturbator Rich Lowry, God only knows what that guy is doing while watching women's volleyball), so I'm not sure I'd trust her complaint about Willard's treating the press like a "Petting Zoo".

Hell, I'm not even sure what that means -- I'm pretty sure being treated like an inmate at a petting zoo by Mitt Romney is one of Kathryn Lopez's sex fantasies...in fact her ONLY one.

Just another commandment broken

Who could have anticipated Michele Bachmann would be surrounded by a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites and perpetual whiners.

Former Michele Bachmann aide Barb Heki (which, excellent name) is suing the congresswomen and several of her aides over the alleged theft of a private email list. Heki says the list, which she used as part of her work on the Iowa home-school network, was stolen from her private computer by Bachmann's Iowa chairperson, Kent Sorenson.
Don't worry, I'm sure Bachmann's people are comprising an airtight "she has connections with the Muslim Brotherhood" alibi this minute.

Like a Republican pundit

I may be very wrong, but I'm guessing that this same person was the timer at the USSR-USA basketball game in 1972 but keeps their job.

Officials at the semi-finals of the women's epee fencing were booed by spectators after a controversial decision left a South Korean athlete weeping and refusing to leave the stage.

Shin Lam was one second away from winning against reigning Olympic gold medallist Britta Heidemann of Germany.

But the Austrian referee allowed no fewer than three quick bouts in the final second - on the last of which, with the time reset from zero to one second, Heidemann snatched victory.

Culture Club

Lately Mitt Romney and his gang of recycled Bush Advisers (the only kind of recycling they believe in) have been working hard at ethnography.

First they went on about an "Anglo-Saxon" heritage, now Mitt has moved on to taking a dig at the Palestinians in Israel and why they are "the poors":
“Culture makes all the difference,” Mr. Romney said. “And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things.”
Oh never mind they are rather "occupied" Palestinian territories, or that Netanyahu himself admits they have been economically brutalized, no it is their "culture" that is the Palestinian's problem.

There was also something else we learned and that is John McCain studied this statement with all the care he exercised in looking at 23-years of Mitt's tax returns.
“I am sure that Gov. Romney was not talking about difference in cultures, or difference in anybody superior or inferior”
Um, yeah.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Monday, July 30, 2012

Finally, a celebrity endorsement

One to build on Mitt:

Mitt Romney earned praise from an unlikely source over the weekend: Adult film star Ron Jeremy, who called the presumptive Republican nominee "a good man."

In an interview with the Boston Herald, Jeremy said he's voting for President Barack Obama in November. But he told the paper he still gives Romney "credit."
Oh, so close and yet no money shot.  But still good to know the Adult Film Industry recognizes their most faithful customers, the Mormons.

Fortunately, money shots are what foreign fund-raisers are for.

Wait a minute, they can't move it?

Apparently the Olympic flame continues to burn on the field in the Olympic Stadium, which is kind of weird.

Does that mean it will still be in middle of the place during track and field?

Be sort of embarrassing if a javelin or discus flies into it.'

Update:

Never mind original article is misleading it is being moved.

I find it hard to believe he doesn't know...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Has FoxNews gotten done editing that Cheney interview

To delete that honest thing he said about Palin?  To something along the lines of not building something herself?

After all, no Republicans are going to go see a Cheney-impersonator strip at their Convention in Tampa.

Besides, the important thing is that in a private suite that week folks line Sheldon Adelson will be stuffing large bills in Mitt's sacred undies while he works the pole.

Of course he was

Why wouldn't he be?  His hand is up his puppet's ass:

Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson and wife Miriam were visible in the audience at presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech on Israel-U.S. relations in Jerusalem.

The Mysterious Ways

And to think, all it took was three hundred and forty years of throwing filth into the air, good plan.
In 1678, the inhabitants of Fiesch in the Swiss canton of Valais, exasperated with the glaciers that loomed ever larger over their village, swallowing up their pasturage, inaugurated an annual pilgrimage. The hope was to banish the ice forms with chants, prayers and holy water. Several centuries later, their prayers appeared to have been answered.
Yes, thanks to years of dumping pollution into the sky the planet's atmosphere is taking care of those glaciers, answering those prayers. Problem is, if you choose to believe these prayers were answered, then you have to accept this version of God as well, which makes the Almighty kind of a dick.
The Giesen glacier in the Jungfrau massif has developed a large crack, and risks collapsing, potentially unleashing floodwaters on the village of Lauterbrunnen
Now, as the story points out, after a petition from the locals, the Vatican has approved prayers to ask for the glaciers to grow again. I'm sure we'll have an answer by 2356.

Sure we can point out how silly this all is, but reversing the prayers is more than our government is doing.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sunday, July 29, 2012

What is it good for? Well, apparently a mongerers income stream and perpetual employment

Well, this should certainly gain Mitt Romney exactly zero votes. I'm pretty confident the "MORE MORE MORE WAR!" crowd is not voting for Obama already...the independents looking for a reason to votes Mittens however are not exactly amongst that crowd -- saying "Hey, let's bring back the Bush foreign policy team!"
"If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing the capability, the governor would respect that decision," foreign policy adviser Dan Senor told reporters ahead of the speech, planned for late Sunday near Jerusalem's Old City. Senor said Romney is careful to note the governor believes preventing nuclear "capability" - not just a nuclear weapon - is critical.
Ah yes, Dan Senor, former Bush Administration member and perpetual beltway person of permanent employment no matter how many times he helps other peoples' kids die (and if you are the target of his faux wrath just whole families) in the name of his being wrong.

He's arrived there by now...

Has Mitt told the Israelis how much he "enjoyed" Shindler's List yet?

And it has come to this

Nice job with the PR when you make KFC look good:


Saturday, July 28, 2012

What could be more endearing

Than a guy who was born rich and took advantage of all its privileges and then made millions more taking advantage of the misfortune of others...growing up to declare he made it ALL ON HIS OWN?

Straight from the Asshole

Former Florida GOP chair admits Rick Scott and company are all about repressing African-American voters.

Party of Lincoln boys and girls.

I'm tired

When it Mitt Romney going to do something stupid and brighten my day?

Friday, July 27, 2012

It gets better and better part 2

Here is the physical proof of the headline in The Sun (Rupert Murdoch's Sun!) this morning:
What a maroon -- just a big dumb dope.

Oh, it just gets better and better

Remember how some of us thought that the big story of Mitt's trip was going to be his megabucks fund raiser with the white-collar-criminal element of the Piranha Brothers?  Well that was before Willard became a blight upon 'Ol' Blighty" -- and now look how that turned out:

Romney appears to have angered the entire of the British Isles in the past 24 hours.
Worse still, it seems that his fundraiser, which happened tonight, might not exactly be a huge success — it sounds like attendance could be a little thin.

Tickets to the event, which were originally priced at between $25,000 and $75,000, were being given away for just $1,000 a few hours before the event, UK right wing blogger Guido Fawkes tweets. Milo Yiannopoulos, a UK tech blogger, says he was offered a free ticket to the event three times.

I absolutely agree with Greenwald on this

I certainly have no qualms about calling out Chick-Fil-A for being bigots and calling for and taking part in boycotts against them.

But when governments -- local, state, national -- start saying that because of the exercise of those beliefs they will prevent Chick-Fil-A from opening a store what have you -- especially if there's no evidence they will not serve gays and lesbians or hire them [in certain places where that is illegal] (because then it becomes a different sort of violation to other person's rights)  -- no matter how I feel I think that is blatantly wrong (and illegal).  It is textbook for what the First Amendment is.

For example Amazon just made a big donation to assist the pro-gay marriage movement in Washington state -- would a Republican mayor or governor be allowed to attempt to punish them in the same way?

Sure, Chick-Fil-A is run by assholes -- they suck-- have at it anyone BUT government to punish them by boycotting them or calling them what they are, but the government cannot.  That's what makes the First Amendment awesome.

About those Anglo-Saxon relations he'd be so good at

What he says

Living through the great drought that is the Summer of 2012 (with extra special crazy ass heat) Charles Pierce is right, it is the great under-reported story of 2012.

Further, the ability of our politics, our media, and ourselves in dealing with it makes it extra tragic. But not in a shake your head way alone, but in a real and devastating way it will affect us into the future.

Deny Climate Change all you want, but in a few more years like this and we'll be in a famine and you cannot eat money.

This is really good

When you are a Minnesotan who remembers the very first Saturday Night Live (George Carlin, talking about "jumbo shrimp" and "football vs. baseball") you remember Tom Davis well. When you were his best friend since high school and wrote with him, you remember him incredibly well. This is a great piece from the Senate yesterday:

And this is only the first act

We are early on in Mitt Romney's trip overseas to show what a diplomat he is, and it's gone really well...for the Obama Administration.  It takes a lot of thoughtless effort to get Boris Johnson over the irony of mocking you for being a dumb loudmouth.  But Mitt's the man for the job.

And to think this is but the first leg.

Soon Mitt will visit Poland, a trip the seems to have the same comedic potential as the time Jimmy Carter let Billy translate for him.  Maybe he'll criticize union movements?

And then it is on to Israel.  Now, one would think that will go okay because Mitt has already stated if he's elected President Bebe Netanyahu will run his middle east policy.

And yet...here's Mitt in April 2012:
Israel's current prime minister is not just a friend. He's an old friend.
But here is that alleged "old friend" this month:
“I remember him for sure, but I don’t think we had any particular connections,” he tells me. “I knew him and he knew me, I suppose.”
Well that could be awkward.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Thursday, July 26, 2012

This is quickly becoming the least popular visit

To England of a politician since Rudolf Hess:


Here's a summary via the estiminable Mr. Bogg:

Nice of them to meet in a Bluth Company home

Dig that handsomely decorated fake fireplace, could you maybe meet in a place that has been occupied by humans?  Even with this picture I'm not sure it has:


Nice deep chairs too, apparently they do not have ass-support  -- why not just sit in beanbags?

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

So much for Asshole-Saxon relations

Looks like the "Special Relationship" for Mitt involves cramming sessions on the short-bus.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has questioned Britain's preparedness to host the London 2012 Olympics and asked whether the country is genuinely willing to "celebrate" the Games.
That will certainly help him with the Brits, dissing their big party. And then there is this...clearly those Bush-era advisers are working their magic:
He met Tony Blair on Thursday morning at the former prime minister's London office and also held brief talks with Ed Miliband, the Labour leader. In a gaffe of his own, Mr Romney referred to Mr Miliband as "Mr Leader". “Like you Mr Leader I look forward to our conversations this morning and I have had a number of conversations with leaders both present and past and recongise of course the unique relationship that exists between our nations,” he said.
Better download the latest software patch. What is especially hilarious about this is all these self-inflicted wounds are coming via The Telegraph, which is a conservative paper.

Remember Anglo-Saxon for Mitt is:  

Anglo International and Saxon Fifth Avenue

*Rim shot*

Just what gets you fired from this job?

This job of being a priest? Oh, that's right saying you are gay or saying the government shouldn't abuse its citizens (can also get you killed). But not this apparently:
In a three-minute statement before sentencing, Monsignor Lynn, dressed in a black clerical shirt and white collar, said: “I have been a priest for 36 years, and I have done the best I can. I have always tried to help people.” Turning toward relatives of an abuse victim in the courtroom, he said, “I hope someday that you will accept my apology.” But he did not comment on the broader accusations that he put children at risk by repeatedly protecting “monsters in clerical garb,” as Judge Sarmina described it at the hearing. ...
But he is still a priest. And no wonder:
In a statement Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said that its procedures for protecting children had improved significantly since “the events some 10 years ago that were at the center of this trial.” It acknowledged “legitimate anger in the broad community toward any incident or enabling of sexual abuse.” But it also described the sentence as overly harsh, saying “fair-minded people will question the severity.”

Oh that's classy

He really is a lot like Commander Bunnypants:
One senior British colleague used an anecdote from a rare corporate gathering at his Massachusetts home at the end of the 1980s which he claims summed up Mr Romney's character and management style. "One of our wives was sick – she had been pregnant and the delivery had not gone well," said the executive. "She had serious issues. Simultaneously, another wife of one of our colleagues had cancer. "As the wife of the first man was leaving the house, she was struggling," the former colleague recalled. "Mitt turned to her and said: 'Buck up - you could be like her,' pointing to the second woman."
Sums it up indeed.

Even if they were not run by homophobic assholes

I'm pretty sure this would end my desire for any Chik-fil-A ever.


I do not need to associate "Santorum" with "special sauce" ever thank you very much.

It's like Godzilla vs. Mothra for real

Lioness vs. Crocodile...lioness wins by decision in battle to protect her cubs and, of course, in cuteness (because what's cuter than a battle of life and death?).

Pics here, not bloody  -- it's not like Mitt's limo vs. random pedestrian.

There damn well better be photogrophers present

In what is probably the least aptly named "charm offensive" since Donald Trump looked in a mirror, Mitt Romney is due to lock his Asimo-like right-appendage with the hands of various British government officials in a "Mitt and Grit"meet and greet.
And oh such luminaries:
The Republican's 15-strong "advance team" has arranged separate meetings for Romney with political leaders to ensure he has a portfolio of pictures for the presidential campaign.

In addition to Blair, he will hold separate talks meet[ing] David Cameron, George Osborne, Nick Clegg, William Hague and Ed Miliband.
George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the man who is the self-proclaimed parent of Great Britain's austerity policy? Yeah, that guy:
George Osborne insisted the government was on the right economic path, despite "disappointing" official figures released on Wednesday that showed Britain is enduring the longest double-dip recession for more than 50 years. The chancellor came under increasing pressure to lay out a plan B for the economy after shock figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed the economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.7% between April and June. Gross domestic product (GDP) — a broad measure for the economy — fell for the third quarter in a row and by much more than the 0.2% expected by forecasters. [ED: IT FELL 350% more, falling 0.7%]
Oh the photo-homages they'll cause -- maybe to the tunes of Minnie Ripperton?

How very Anglo-Saxony.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

I know that this is a technical issue

And I'm no trained mental health professional, but in discussing whether James Holmes is suffering from a particular psychological illness or "just faking it", this comment struck me as yet another bizarre statement:
Marissa Randazzo, former chief research psychologist for the Secret Service, told Good Morning America that Holmes could either be in the middle of a psychotic episode or coming down from a period of mania. But she didn't rule out that he's faking it.
It's possible. It is possible. We'll leave that open ... Let's keep that in mind that he was studying neuroscience. He was studying exactly the type of brain issues that we're going to be talking about throughout this whole case.
On the other hand, Randazzo explained that criminals who fake these symptoms are sociopaths, and Holmes' history "does not suggest sociopath at all."
Yeah, no history of being a sociopath at all...other than killing 12 people and shooting 59 others.

Again, I'm sure someone who is a trained professional knows more about these things than I do, but that sure reads weird.

It's not a rational plan...it's a goddamned cult

Atrios is absolutely dead-on in describing the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne thusly:
The "deep-rooted problems" are the policies of the government and the fact that the chancellor is the stupidest fucking person on the face of the planet.
And here is the evidence:
George Osborne insisted the government was on the right economic path, despite "disappointing" official figures released on Wednesday that showed Britain is enduring the longest double-dip recession for more than 50 years. The chancellor came under increasing pressure to lay out a plan B for the economy after shock figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed the economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.7% between April and June. Gross domestic product (GDP) — a broad measure for the economy — fell for the third quarter in a row and by much more than the 0.2% expected by forecasters. [ED: IT FELL 350% more, falling 0.7%]
And Mitt Romney is going over there to take money out of the giant bankers who are among the elite sucking the marrow from the bones of the poor and middle class. With any luck we'll see a manly hug between he and Osborne, because as stupid as Osborne is, he is totally Mitt's kind of guy -- so maybe the former is just the second dumbest?

Exactly

In the wake of the disgusting James Taranto, here's a more accurate reflection of his mindset from Wolfrum:


Williard Mitt Kipling

Ready willing and able to beat Gunga Din repeatedly for Queen and the East India Company:

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa. 
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.
Ugh. 

It's no coincidence that in order to demonstrate his foreign policy prowess he's going to Great Britain, Poland and Israel places run by conservatives the latter two the biggest darlings of the far right in the world.



And the end of the day, it's good business

In the Spring of 2008 one year before the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage was a Constitutional right an analysis found that the State would see more than $5 million in additional revenue annually.

And with less than three-million people the state is small in comparison to the movements largest accomplishment in the aftermath, New York.  The the economic impact is proportionately larger.
Despite the smaller spend per couple, same-sex unions are a boon to the wedding industry – and to New York as a whole. Same-sex marriage brought in $259m worth of economic benefits over the past year, according to the mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
A quarter billion in additional revenue -- if you add a  dressage horse, a microchip and a car elevator you have the Willard M. Romney Estate.
But the impact of allowing same-sex marriage goes even deeper.   In the short-term three Iowa Supreme Court justices lost their jobs in the 2010 election, but by February 2012...
A majority of Iowans oppose passage of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, a new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows.

The poll found that 38 percent favor a legislative initiative to pass a constitutional amendment, while 56 percent are against.
Within a decade -- as happened in the past -- those who vehemently opposed gay marriage will be acting as if they never opposed it and will have moved on to whatever thing progressives want that will ruin 'Murica in 2022 (my guess is it will still be how the last decade of drought and starvation occurred because Al Gore is slightly underweight).

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Well, this was inevitable

Via Crooks & Liars.

So we need to see them then

How do you know Mitt Romney's tax returns issued are insufficient? This is how...
Steve Schmidt earlier claimed he hadn’t seen the tax returns specifically. But he understands the political relevance of their contents. And though he contends that they weren’t the reason McCain picked a rather different running mate, he still thinks Romney’s better off releasing just two years as the party’s de facto nominee in 2012.

Farewell to a real pioneer

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space -- but not the first woman -- died yesterday at the age of 61.


They hear the song, we play the piper

I think there was a bit of theme in the news in the last 24-hours:
Spain's economy sank deeper into recession in the second quarter, its central bank said on Monday, as investors spooked by a funding crisis in its regions pushed the country ever closer to a full bailout.

Economic output shrank by 0.4 percent in the three months from April to June having slumped by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, the Bank of Spain said in its monthly report.
And to think just last month they got $100 billion while the common Spaniard got screwed -- and this is the thanks they get.

But as I said a theme:
The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.
Things suck, let's make them suckier:
Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post wrote approvingly over the weekend of an effort by the nation’s leading CEOs to install a deficit regime that would demolish the social safety net.
It is almost as if there was an alternative agenda here...
...the austerity game also has winners. Cutting or eliminating government programs that benefit the less advantaged has long been an ideological goal of conservatives. Doing so also generates a tidy windfall for the corporate class, as government services are privatized and savings from austerity pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens.
And I have to give some credit to Mitt Romney, people like him ARE building this.

And after the election when it comes to both candidates and social security they may be disparate members of the same team.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Monday, July 23, 2012

Dear People waiting outside of elevators

Is it at all beyond your comprehension that there may indeed be people inside waiting to exit an elevator and that the six of you standing abreast and in depth three inches outside the doors may impede our egress?

You have lived within an urban society at least a substantial portion of your life to know that humans both enter AND exit elevators right?

And yet, nearly EVERY-FUCKING-DAY this same thing reoccurs.

I know in the scheme of things this is the smallest and pettiest of inconveniences, but why do you never ever learn?



Wow

Found at Gizmodo, this footage from the ISS is amazing. Make it take up the full screed before you play it.

Good job everybody

But surely our deficit scolds can make it worse...let's shoot for the early 30s!
The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

GAG!

Hasn't Darrell Issa embarrassed himself enough lately? I know, of course not.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is floating legislation that would name most U.S. coastal waters after former President Ronald Reagan. Issa reintroduced his bill Wednesday to rename the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which generally extends from three miles to 200 miles offshore, as the Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone.
No continental shelf should ever have Darrell Issa involved in the naming of it...only the deep ends for him.

And where will we be in one year?

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the whole-scale slaughter of people, most children, throughout Oslo -- 69 of them on the small island of Utoeya. In commemoration ceremonies Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said:
despite the great suffering Breivik had caused, he "failed to achieve what he set out to do. The people triumphed"
Anders Breivik sits in jail, his delusions of an Islamic takeover of Europe and the uprising he would create defeated by a people who united to reject such an idea to such an idea that they refuse to even shed his blood. Meanwhile, we've got Michele Bachmann.

And what we also have is another mass slaughter from a gun. And we all know what will come of it, no matter how logical and non-violative of the Second Amendment new restrictions would be...nothing will come of it.

And one year from now we are almost certain to have at least one additional incident of mass murder by gun.
Since 1982, there have been at least 36 mass murders* carried out with firearms across the United States.
And all we will have accomplished is the interregnum before the next one.

*Murders by single individuals of at least four people at one location at one time.


  [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Aiyee!

Guess who had an account at a sex-hookup site? With extra creepy foretelling statements? ("Will you visit me in Prison?" YEESH!)
Diana says she informed Match.com of the profile and they said they'd take it down, which Diana says they did minutes later. She took a few screen shots before it was deleted. Holmes' profile included:
-- Favorite movies: "Too many good movies to have a favorite, maybe Dumb and Dumber, Hachiko, Star Wars, etc." -- Favorite book: Where's Waldo? -- "You should message me if you're interested, obviously. Or lookin' for sexy times. Very nice!" -- Political views: Middle of the road -- Faith: Agnostic -- "I spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Mind = blown"
So again -- of course he's crazy so I would imagine self-descriptions have to be taken with a grain of salt -- he was neither a right or left extremist. Just a sui generis extremist.

Now, melt it down into a giant plaque of apology

The Paterno statue is coming down -- I was wondering if they were just going to change which finger was extended on his hand?

Exactly

This evolution of gun-ownership becoming almost the sole basis for being an American for so many Americans is probably the greatest societal sickness of my lifetime.

There has been a change in our culture. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, a concerted effort, led by the re-styled and newly politicized National Rifle Association, convinced Americans of a new interpretation of the Second Amendment, an interpretation which the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren Burger, termed a fraud on the American people in an interview with Lepore...

...
“When carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense is understood not as a failure of civil society, to be mourned, but as an act of citizenship, to be vaunted, there is little civilian life left.”

Even in Seattle, where we pride ourselves on a civil society, its institutions and behaviors, this shift is now evident. Increasingly, it seems that citizenship is defined not by the community we are and which together we build, but by our right to own and carry a gun. To call this an impoverished notion of citizenship is an understatement. It is an outrage.
 
Via Crooks and Liars.

Sad indeed

Poor Mittens, he not only has to pay someone to tweet for him, he needs to buy his own Twitter followers:

It appears that the Romney campaign thought that the Colorado shooting was the perfect time to go on a Twitter follower buying spree. With the media all covering the horrible shooting, they assumed no one would notice if they added 100,000 new Twitter followers in a day, but they were wrong.

No explanation can be found in the news cycle for why a candidate that is not even campaigning has seen such a dramatic spike in his number of Twitter followers.

It is possible that 100,000 people woke up yesterday and today, and decided that now would be a great time to start following Mitt Romney.

But the likely truth is just like the awkward and unpopular rich kid that he is, it looks like Mitt Romney is having to buy his friends on Twitter.

Yep, he aspired to be a supervillain

Yesterday, I posted something from Booman about how it appeared that James Holmes aspired to be something out of Batman.

That appears to be more accurate all the time.

 Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates provided details of Holmes' booby-trapped apartment at the press conference, noting the apartment was designed "to kill whoever entered it."

"It was an extremely dangerous environment," Oates said. "If a neighbor or an unassuming pedestrian would've walked in that door, or God forbid a first responder, they would've sustained significant injuries and/or lost their life."




Saturday, July 21, 2012

Now that we are past the point of blaming each others political opponents

For this horrible act of violence in Colorado (yeah, I really believe that), I do wonder if Booman might be on to something about his motivations -- the guy does have a stereotypical background for attempted super-villain.

I don't know what kind of metaphorical "Warfare" this, but it's stupid metaphorical "warfare"

Via Paul Krugman who got it from the Financial Times:
One of the better answers I have found comes from a well-known supporter of Mr Romney – Suzy Welch, former editor in chief of the Harvard Business Review, and wife of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric... ...

“It’s the difference between the songs that they’re singing,” Mrs Welch said. “Mitt Romney didn’t exactly do a beautiful job on that song, but think about what he’s singing, OK? I mean it’s that patriotic song and he goes all the way through it. Then you’ve got the very cool Barack Obama singing Al Green. That is the two different Americas. Isn’t it?"
Yes, between talented America and hack America. To note three obvious things: that "otherness" is portrayed by Al Green and Obama daring to be a black guy; "Let's Stay Together" is an original song - "America's" tune was lifted from "My Country 'tis of Thee" so its derivative; finally, and most ironically of all, "Let's Stay Together" is perhaps the world's best known contemporary song about monogamy.

Monogamy is a subject many of Mitt's fellow coreligionist have a history of difficulty with... It is DEFINITELY a subject Suzy Welch and her billionaire husband Jack are not familiar with. Different America's indeed.

Friday, July 20, 2012

"TO THE FACEBOOK AMATEUR SLUETHS!"

The arrested suspect in the Aurora shootings is named James Holmes...that should narrow down those internet searches, hardly anyone with that name.

With a name like that, there are going to be all manner of folks with that named getting hassled and bullshit flying at 50000000 miles an our (so just stop).  Let's just compromise he's obviously an Occupy member who is also a Tea Party member, who reads Marx, Ayn Rand, and listens to Black Flag and Rush Limbaugh.

But as austerity's main goal if to fuck the lessers

It remains an outstanding success.

Of course, by any other standard of policy, it is a disaster wrought by a cult-like belief in disproven theories --- naturally it will not be the policies fault but some other (fill in nation, ethnic group, or just "the lessers" here).


Chancellor George Osborne's deficit-busting plans are struggling to keep up with full-year targets as official figures published today revealed another rise in Government borrowing.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions, such as bank bailouts, was £14.4 billion in June, up from a revised £13.9 billion the previous year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
But if you think about it all as a snake eating its tail, it is an AMAZING policy.

The first commenter on the linked story sums it up best:


Chris Horner 2 hours ago
So let's get this straight. George Osborne's entire economic programme, which has been a disaster from start to finish, has not even accomplished its one and only credible goal of significantly reducing government spending?

*slow clap* Full points for sticking to your guns, George, even if they are broken and rusted; after all, there is no plan B, right?

(via Atrios)

Their butthurts are more meaningful than ours

Krugman:
Anyway, what’s now apparent is that the campaign was completely unprepared for the obvious questions, and it has reacted to the Obama campaign’s decision to ask those questions with a hysteria that surely must be coming from the top. Clearly, Mr. Romney believed that he could run for president while remaining safe inside the plutocratic bubble and is both shocked and angry at the discovery that the rules that apply to others also apply to people like him. Fitzgerald again, about the very rich: “They think, deep down, that they are better than we are.” O.K., let’s take a deep breath. The truth is that many, and probably most, of the very rich don’t fit Fitzgerald’s description. There are plenty of very rich Americans who have a sense of perspective, who take pride in their achievements without believing that their success entitles them to live by different rules. But Mitt Romney, it seems, isn’t one of those people. And that discovery may be an even bigger issue than whatever is hidden in those tax returns he won’t release.

We need to faill even BIGGER

Criminy:

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has hired Mark Penn as corporate vice president for strategic and special projects, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer as the company readies new offerings for the tablet-computer market.
I can see it now, Mike Penn likes the metrics of reintroducing and placing the greatest
OS ever on these tablets ("the heavier and thicker the better Penn demands!)...
"GIVE IT MICROSOFT BOB!"

Well that's enough for that area, or any area anywhere

Aurora, Colorado is less than a half-hour from Columbine. Youngest victim is apparently 3 months old -- and injured, six year old killed.

Naturally some peopled will start wondering what kids that age were doing at that movie -- which is y'know way way way beside the point.

Really?

REALLY?


A shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado early today has left at least 14 people dead and at least 50 people injured, authorities confirmed.

Police now have apprehended a suspect who has been described as an adult male and have recovered a gun after the shooting at approximately 12:30 a.m. CT at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center in the Denver suburb. 

Witnesses said that the man appeared at the front of the theater with a rifle, handgun and gas mask. Witnesses said that he then threw a canister that released some kind of gas, after which a hissing sound ensued. The gunman then opened fire on the crowd packed into the early morning screening of the film, according to people in the theater at the time.
Later in the story there is an assetion that there is no Islamic terrorist connection, which seems like "duh" but also to short circuit the first hour of Fox & Friends default setting.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

If only she were feeding her dressage horse imported hay at the time...

Ann Romney has had ENOUGH of you riff-raff:

Mitt Romney's wife is reinforcing her husband's refusal to make public several years of tax returns, saying "we've given all you people need to know" about the family's finances.
This sure reads as if after a few minutes she stood up, walked off, and a serf was able to stop being a footstool.

"God's Plan"

As Zimmerman falling back to say Travon Martin's death was 'God's plan' with Hannity reminds you of one permanent undercurrent of right-wingers and their proclamation of holiness.

Killing's okay because it was all determined by God, I was just the instrument. 

So, their version of God is much like them...

AN ALMIGHTY PRICK.

I think he found No. 4

The viral battle between whatever Snooki has from injecting one spot and Callista another should battle it out.


For those pondering

I bet all the NCAA does is give Joe Paterno the death penalty.

Like Mitt they are that retroactively effective.

For those last few of you

Who had doubts that George Zimmerman isn't quite the creep who, if he can get off, will turn his killing of a black teenager into an opportunity to make money -- this will remove all doubt.

Of course, Hannity is the go to guy for guys who need to explain how the "black guy" deserved it.

Curses, foiled again

Oh that First Amendment -- this story from Tennessee embarrassing both Church AND State since at least 1925:

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a recent Rutherford County order that prevented Muslims from occupying the controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, letting local Muslims use the place of worship in time for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell gives the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro the right to complete its inspection process, thus reversing Rutherford County’s June injunction, which contended that county officials did not adequately notify the public about the mosque’s construction.

It should be noted that the federal court found that the argument about lack of notice was, to use a legal term, bullshit. And in a ever so surprising bit of news:
...opponents made clear in court hearings that they also opposed the practice of Islam.
And Tennessee is rife with these wonderful examples of intolerance (and thankfully some who are not). The Murfreesboro Mosque construction was protested with all manner of bigoted and ignorant rants and signs, and, of course, vandalism -- and followed the firebombing a mosque in nearby Columbia.

But I'm sure it is the fault of the non-Christians.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Suck on this Chik-Fil-A

If you really want one without compromising your principals...or on a Sunday. Thanks Hilah.

Another uppercut lands square of the jaw

Mitt Romney -- a political campaign's dream opponent -- the saga continues:

Mitt Fit

Shorter Williard:

"Like all my rich buddies I have completely gamed the system by having fake losses and overseas bank account and have paid jackshit for taxes while demanding you pay more.  Hell if I'm going to let my prospective bosses know just how much I've screwed 'em over."

Not a real master of logic are you?

Rush Limbaugh's brother "the smart one" -- oy!


Frankly, it's a pretty awesome place

But Republicans sure hate Chicago-Style politics -- which seems to be normal politics done by black men from Chicago.

You know the kind that got Abraham Lincoln nominated...in Chicago (well without so many black men at the time).

So that makes real sense.

How the "American System" works

Hey, in a classic Republican move, an apology that is not really an apology. Human/tuber hybrid John Sununu (yes, still alive) spent yesterday morning calling the President "un-American" then said he made a mistake.
But Sununu was less apologetic over comments he made the same day on Fox News that seemed to directly question Obama’s American roots. “He has no idea how the American system functions,” Sununu told FOX News Tuesday morning.
Yeah, the "American System" functions like this:
The Washington Post wrote that Sununu's jets "took him to fat-cat Republican fund-raisers, ski lodges, golf resorts and even his dentist in Boston." Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travel...Sununu worsened the situation shortly afterwards when, after leaking rumors of financial difficulties in his family, he traveled to a rare stamp auction at Christie's auction house in New York City from Washington in a government limousine, spending $5,000 on rare stamps. Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet
Now THAT's the "American System" that makes Mitt Romney want to sing. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

That's one hell of a surrogate

John Sununu, who resigned as the first Bush's Chief of Staff because he did more than half-a-million in free airplane flights on the taxpayer's dime had quite a time on the Romney Campaign's daily conference call.

"I wish this President would learn how to be an American."
Just for some irony fodder...
Sununu was born in Havana, Cuba, the son of Victoria (née Dada) and John Saleh Sununu, an international film distributor. He is of Palestinian Christian and Greek descent. His father grew up in Jerusalem and his mother was born in San Salvador, El Salvador
For the birther brigade the only thing that is missing is a Communist Party membership.

Oh I feel so hip and new

Hey, Louis C.K. mentioned "the blogs" on The Daily Show last night -- it was like 2005 all over again, before Facebook and Twitter ruined everything.


Now edited for 1997 purposes:

Hey, Chris Rock mentioned Compuserve on Politically Incorrect last night -- it was like 1987 all over again, before Netscape ruined everything.


Now edited for 1977 purposes:

Hey, Richard Pryor mentioned short-wave on Carson last night -- it was like 1966 all over again before CB-Radios ruined everything.

Sorry DirecTV subscribers

You missed Jon Stewart ripping Mitt a new one.

Romney should think about outsourcing his staff

Those copyright laws don't apply so easily in Myanmar:
President Barack Obama released ad critical of Mitt Romney‘s singing skills recently. Romney reciprocated not long after, ridiculing the president singing “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green. Unfortunately for Romney, his ad’s been pulled from YouTube due to a copyright claim.

Funny, apparently Obama is unopposed this election

As Romney is running for First Lady. Which will make the next time "Kiss Cam" comes up, extra awkward.
“John Kerry ran for president,” Mitt Romney said Monday morning on “Fox & Friends.” “You know, his wife, who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. Somehow, this wasn’t an issue.”
Actually she released as much or more than Romney has at present.

What Booman says

Regarding Romney's No. 1 fan (after another country) Sheldon Adelson:

Sheldon Adelson is just the latest in a long line of crooks who have bought off politicians to avoid prosecution. Never underestimate these folks. However, what has changed is that when Nixon took Mob money, people were outraged and passed laws to prevent it from happening again. Today, it's not even questioned.
Yes, Citizens United, something to remember before conservatives think we are going to build a statue to John Roberts. Will.Not.Happen.

Another error comMITTed

Right after June's disappointing jobs report, Mitt Romney went right out and stepped on the rake of bringing up his business background -- i.e. Bain just as it was going to become nearly toxic.

And never one to pass up an opportunity for self-inflicted wounds, he followed up the well-aimed mockery of the Obama "firms" commercial with one that shows he is running against a guy who can carry a tune.

And it wasn't just proprietary rights that were a problem. No, the whole point of the attempted message was to accuse Obama of cronyism. Which Romney's surrogates could not explain what it all meant.

And then, the same day, the biggest crony of all made the news:
Sheldon Adelson Biggest Donor To Romney And Republicans Did Business With Chinese Mob
Well-timed.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Monday, July 16, 2012

A Whiter Shade of FAIL

Desperate to remove attention from his Bain Bane, Romney today unleashed a series of lame commercials, including one that unveiled Obama's lovely singing voice (oh, how original -- and I know I'm a partisan, but still just from a professional standpoint, how stupid of them -- it just underlies the effectiveness of the original). Knowing that these won't work will mean the Mittens is going to have to unleash his VP pick early to do something to change the narrative.
The report comes amid intense speculation over who will comprise the other half of the Republican ticket — with the likes of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) all thought to be on the short list.
Oh boy, those are three EXCITING candidates. Milquetoast, Two Percent, and Mitt Jr.

Bingo

Bloomberg makes the point that the Mitt Romney money-making method while he was definitely running things at Bain, shows that next to having rich parents (so that too) the easiest way to make money was by being a rapacious corporate raider:
Mitt Romney touts his business acumen and job-creation record as a key qualification for being the next U.S. president. What’s clear from a review of the public record during his management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors. When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain. Romney privatized the gains and socialized the losses.
And this f-a-c-t-u-a-l story (real facty not Glenn Kessler facty) is built upon by Krugman:
In this world, however, most voters get their news from short snippets on TV, which almost never contain substantive policy analysis. The print media do offer analysis pieces — but these pieces, out of a desire to seem “balanced,” all too often simply repeat the he-said-she-said of political speeches. Trust me: you will see very few news analyses saying that Mr. Romney proposes huge tax cuts for the rich, with no plausible offset other than big benefit cuts for everyone else — even though this is the simple truth. Instead, you will see pieces reporting that “Democrats say” that this is what Mr. Romney proposes, matched with dueling quotes from Republican sources. So how can the Obama campaign cut through this political and media fog? By talking about Mr. Romney’s personal history, and the way that history resonates with the realities of his pro-rich, anti-middle-class policy proposals. Thus the entirely true charge that Mr. Romney wants to slash historically low tax rates on the rich even further dovetails perfectly with his own record of extraordinary tax avoidance — so extraordinary that he’s evidently afraid to let voters see his tax returns from before 2010. The equally true charge that he’s pushing policies that would benefit the rich at the expense of ordinary working Americans meshes with Bain’s record of earning big profits even when workers suffered — a record so stark that Mr. Romney is attempting to distance himself from part of it by insisting that he had nothing to do with Bain’s operations after 1999, even though the company continued to list him as C.E.O. and sole owner until 2002. And so on.

Stay Classy

Twenty-nine year old Obama campaign worker tragically dies (as are most deaths at that age). And in result, the Chicago-Sun Times has to say this at its on-line story:
Due to the tone and content of many of the comments associated with this story, commenting has been turned off. The Sun-Times encourages readers to make their voices heard, but commenting must maintain a respectful and constructive tone.

Not even a glass jaw

Mitt Romney is simply an idiot. Look at how the story is playing on his refusal to release his tax returns. Even from his natural apologists:
GEORGE WILL: Look, what Mitt Romney has said is he has released, and I quote, "all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances." Now, the something is a pregnant word. And people are going to say there's -- the cost of not releasing the returns are clear. Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.

Just another thing to lie about

Funny about those "blind trusts"

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Let's see Mittens top this shot

Image by MANDEL NGAN / Getty Images

The Loonies of the Right

Iowa sure has its share of them:

Iowa Republicans plan to choose another candidate to run in Senate District 34 against Democrat Liz Mathis, after Randi Shannon bailed on the race to pursue leadership in an alternate form of government.

Shannon, who describes herself as an entrepreneur and homeschooling mom, released a four-page message Friday saying she is now the senator of the Republic of the United States of America and the Republic for Iowa.

The group believes that America’s original form of government, a collection of republics, was usurped in 1871 by a corporation called the United States Corporation, according to the group’s website.
Yeah...sure sounds like somebody didn't like the outcome of the Civil War. I'm sure those children were well-served by being home-schooled.

Hey, let's have shitty comparisons

This post from Angry Black Lady at Balloon Juice comparing the weekends of Obama and Romney really does sum up how the latter is sort of a combination of Jim Bakkus' Thurston Howell and Mr. Magoo.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

And right after this ad finished, Obama just stood there for a second, held out his hand -- dropped the mic -- and walked off stage

THIS.IS.BRUTAL.

Frustrated with Marcus?


Michele Bachmann demands investigations into the Muslim Brotherhood's "deep penetration"

Yes, they're just like Ben-Gay.

Oops, there I go with Marcus again.

What Matt Taibbi says

And yet the scary thing is, this guy has a shot:

Romney can’t even be mean with any honesty. Even when he’s pandering to viciousness, ignorance and racism, it comes across like a scaly calculation. A guy who feels like he has to take a dump on the N.A.A.C.P. in Houston in order to connect with frustrated white yahoos everywhere else is a guy who has absolutely no social instincts at all. Someone like Jesse Helms at least had a genuine emotional connection with his crazy-mean-stupid audiences. But Mitt Romney has to think his way to the lowest common denominator, which is somehow so much worse.

Most presidents have something under the hood – wit, warmth, approachability, something. Even the most liberal football fan could enjoy watching an NFL game with George Bush. And even a Klansman probably would have found some of LBJ’s jokes funny. The biggest office in the world requires someone who buzzes with enough personality to fill the job, and most of them have it.
But Romney doesn’t buzz with anything. His vision of humanity is just a million tons of meat floating around in a sea of base calculations. He’s like a teenager who stays up all night thinking of a way to impress the prom queen, and what he comes up with is kicking a kid in a wheelchair. Instincts like those are probably what made him a great leveraged buyout specialist, but in a public figure? Man, is he a disaster. It’s really incredible theater, watching the Republicans talk themselves into this guy.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Everyday is

...Opposite Day at Romney 2012:

Mitt Romney’s campaign communications director Gail Gitcho said on Fox News Friday morning that the attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital show the Obama campaign is “desperate and unravelling.”

Whaaaaaaaa?

If Glenn Kessler won't allow this little nugget to disprove his version of reality, it can at least be treated with the appropriate amount of amusement by me:

...according to Romney's own testimony in June 2002, in which he admitted to sitting on the board of the LifeLike Co., a dollmaker that was a Bain investment during the period.
And not only funny in that Romney would be keenly interested in "lifelike" objects (another form of narcissism I suppose) but also EXTRA creepy.
he was closely involved in a failed investment in a company that sold expensive dolls semi-customized to resemble the girl they were bought for... ..."As far as I can recall, Lifelike was the only investment that Mitt originated ...

Good to know Occam's Razor is no longer operational

For the GOP.

1.  We don't care what the long-form Birth Certificate says, he's not 'murican!

2.  We don't care what the sworn statements say, or the sworn testimony Romney had nothing to do with Bain or it's business after 1999.

Well, Republicans and Glenn Kessler on the last one.

They've long ago stopped caring...or should I say kerning?

It's not a "cure" it's the reinforcement of the disease

The importance of fact-check seems to be for the purpose of the "both sides do it" disease.

Case in point "FactCheck" rat-fucker Glenn Kessler.

Just wondering

How many homeless drifters were sacrificed at last nights Romney/Cheney fundraiser?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Hey, he's the one who thinks he is wearing magic underwear

Ah, old Republicans never fade away they just get to give spin:
Former New Hampshire Gov.John Sununu came to Mitt Romney’s defense Thursday in an evolving debate over whether Romney was in fact running Bain Capital after 1999, when he claims he left to run the Winter Olympics. Sununu is a Romney campaign surrogate.
The Obama campaign must think Mitt Romney is Superman.

Petty and assholish to the very end

Yes, this will magically make it all go away:
The handful of students and alumni that gathered in Penn State's student center this morning to watch the release of the Freeh report live were stunned when the channel suddenly switched. While most of campus was still sleepy, the small group was viewing CNN on a large screen, or one of several smaller screens nearby, in anticipation of the 9 a.m. release of the report on the sex abuse scandal that has gripped the school. Most were hoping that the report, part of a seven-month probe by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, would exonerate legendary football coach Joe Paterno. But, just as an anchor was ready to speak about the report, the television screens suddenly went blank. They then turned to a public access channel featuring a reporter from The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown about the state budget... ...Several students went to speak with a student working at the main desk at the student center. But the student said a university employee was in charge of what is broadcast. That person, the student said, was in a meeting and could not be reached.

Time to tear down another statue

Ugh, but not a surprise:

The lead investigator in an internal probe into Penn State's handling of child-sex abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach said today that former head coach Joe Paterno and top university officials were aware of a 1998 allegation but chose to do nothing about it.

Paterno also changed the university's plan to deal with a 2001 allegation against abuse, directing officials not to report former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky to law enforcement, the investigator, former F.B.I. director Louis J. Freeh, said...


And like a modern big time banker it was full-fledged institutional rot that will be promptly forgotten...bygones be bygones and all that tripe:

 "Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," Freeh said.

"The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized," he continued. "Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky’s victims until after Sandusky’s arrest."
Sorry it got caught.

And hey, they handled it in very very Catholic way:

Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is morereasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, themost powerful leaders at Penn State University – Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno andCurley – repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from theauthorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large. Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no suchsentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky’s victims.

We can no longer stand for this "Moon Gap"

Hey, we only have one good sized moon (well into the upper 80% percent in mass -- much like my LSAT score BOO YAH! -- 24 years ago, but still) how come puny little not even a real planet Pluto gets five fucking moons!

Naturally, the only logical thing to do is blame Obama.

Ringers, Stephen Colbert's black friend style

How Romney can get away with this clown-show is beyond me, but he's such a lying weaselly piece of shit he probably will. Remember Mitt Romney claiming after his NAACP speech he had "secret" black people (secret --that's kind of tough to hide?) come up and say they were "for him"? Yeah, about that:
Many of Romney’s claims were debunked by Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy and the Director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, Hilary Shelton who said that the only African Americans Romney met with after his speech were those that he brought with him. Mr. Shelton explained that Mitt Romney flew in his own African-American supporters who were not affiliated with the NAACP, in order to have some people in the crowd cheering for him.
Small plane...very small -- because when he was back amongst his SPF-5000 base Willard went full George Wallace:
Remind them of this: If they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy—more free stuff. But don't forget, nothing is really free. Rachel Maddow reported on Romney's remarks tonight, which he made at a fundraiser in Hamilton, Montana. Maddow sourced the comments to a pool report.
But hey I guess it gets even better:
Lawrence O’Donnell reported on his program tonight that Romney described some of the black conservatives that he flew in as members of his “kitchen cabinet”