In Canada, politician uses classy tactic to push online surveillance bill: Regarding his Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, which would force ISPs to hand over personal info without warrants, MP Vic Toews fought off critics by saying people “can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.” Seriously. (ht papastain) source
Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. • Taking a swipe at the “Linsanity” that’s cropped up in the past week, when NBA player Jeremy Lin, one of the few Asian-American players the league has ever head (he’s Taiwanese), had a bout of overnight success. Mayweather, as you might guess, faced criticism for his comments, which he later defended: ”Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine,” he said. “As soon as I support black American athletes, I get criticized.” Seems like someone might’ve missed the point.
We’re glad to have him back. I think people deserve a second chance, you know. If you’ll note, he has not been on the Grammys for the past few years and it may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened.Ken Ehrlich, Grammys Exec Producer, on Chris Brown performing tonight. Read that quote again. He says they needed a while to kind of get over the fact that they were the victim of what happened. HE SAYS THE GRAMMYS WERE THE VICTIM OF CHRIS BROWN’S ABUSE OF RIHANNA. Read more WTF insights here. Quote’s source here. (via celinenyc)
Sometimes, humor walks a fine line between funny and “too soon.” Seems like Fark and @FakeAPStylebook perhaps fell a little too close to the “too soon” side. (more)
For this video, I wanted to do something that Conservatives had never done before. I wanted to create a stand-alone, kick-butt music single that also happened to be coming from Conservatives.Fox News contributor Steven Crowder • Writing on Big Hollywood about his intentions for this music video, “Mr. America” by Powdered Zombies. We can safely say that it didn’t work.
Fans of hip-hop and America, plan to watch both savaged in a single video, as “rappers” Steve Crowder and Chris Loesch throw on some track suits and powdered wigs and terrorize CPAC. A black guy walks out during the video. (h/t Buzzfeed)
Edit: Appears its creator was trying to create something both awesome and conservative.
Mississippi Bill Changes Name of ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’
I want out of this life, how did I do?
While we’re at it, let’s change the name of New Mexico to New America. And Mexican food to Southwestern American food. (On the plus side, the proposed name change it would only change the name of the portion of the Gulf of Mexico that touches Mississippi, which is extremely small.)
EDIT: Great news, everyone! Fox News presented this satirical bill as a straight news story.
Sure, we hear of an occasional winner come out of the ghetto. Movie stars, athletes, business people, we know their stories, but they are the very rare exception. For the most part, losers raise losers. Somehow we’ve got to get to these families and teach them how to respect education. Till then, nothing will change.Hartford Courant cartoonist Bob Englehart • Speaking in a now-removed blog post on the Courant’s site (cached version here) which blamed “dysfunctional inner-city poor minority families” for the problems that inner-city children face. “Losers raise losers” in particular raised the ire of New Haven’s mayor and school district superintendent, who wrote a harshly-worded letter to the Courant in response to Englehart’s blog post.
Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.A statement issued by CNN • Explaining their decision to suspend Roland Martin from their network, following a series of Super Bowl tweets that landed Martin in hot water with GLAAD, among other LGBT advocacy groups. He said if you knew a guy who liked David Beckham’s underwear ad, you ought to “smack the ish out of him.” Martin insisted, while apologizing for the offense, that he was attempting to be disparaging of soccer fans, not a man sexually attracted to Beckham, but these excuses fell in deaf ears when it came to his employer. source (via • follow)
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
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OMG. I got so...
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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I’m not concerned about the very poor; we have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich; they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.Mitt Romney • Speaking to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien this morning. There’s a few different reasons this will, and likely should, be seen as a gaffe. Romney’s political opponents now have footage of him saying he’s not concerned about the very poor, which isolated from his broader point feeds the very narrative that is most damaging to him, that of the disaffected millionaire. Snipping the quote and excising his real point about the Americans in between would be somewhat disingenuous. Even taken in full context, though, he is suggesting the very poor and very rich are somehow equally undeserving of a President’s attention, which is a peculiar philosophical position in and of itself, and one we suspect won’t play well with a great deal of people. source (via • follow)
We’re sorry, this is just low: Back in 1997, Newt Gingrich faced a tough punishment for ethics violations similar to those that caused his predecessor’s downfall. So, clearly, with Mitt needing some strong ammo to hold him off in Florida, this is probably the right line of attack. Problem is … well, what the hell does Tom Brokaw have to do with this? Mitt’s latest ad in Florida is just a long replay of a news clip from that era, with a little bit of dramatic music to really sell the whole thing. Brokaw is understandably pissed: ”I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad,” he said in a statement. “I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.” We’re pissed for him —Romney just co-opted his trusted image to score some cheap points. Not cool. NBC has asked the Romney campaign to remove their news footage from the clip, and they better. source
Jailed and ignored for two years, Stephen Slevin was awarded $22 million by a federal jury in Santa Fe in one of the largest prisoner-rights judgments ever.
Stephen Slevin was never convicted of a crime. But for two years, he languished in a New Mexico jail cell, going month after month without showers or outdoor recreation or human contact.
His nails grew so long that they curled. Refused medication and denied access to a dentist, he says he was forced to pull his own tooth.
In the photo on the left, Slevin appears in his mugshot following his August 2005 arrest; on the right, he is malnourished and disheveled after two years in solitary confinement.
Photo: Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department/AP
*wince* How do things like this happen?
In both cases, the children have grown up not knowing that their biological fathers – whom they have not seen in decades – were police officers who had adopted fake identities to infiltrate activist groups. Both men have concealed their true identities from the children’s mothers for many years.
This makes the phone-hacking scandal look like a beacon of ethical behavior. Wow.
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