SPOILER ALERTS!! First of all, I must acknowledge the bad plot line of the season: Mrs. O'Brien's attempt to get her nephew, Alfred, into a higher position. As far as I can tell, her plan was half-baked to begin with — something akin to the Underpants Gnome strategy: (1) Get Thomas and Jimmy James in bed together, even though Jimmy … Read More
Meteor In Russia Yesterday Injures 750
Pretty amazing: This series of videos show the blast wave which caused the injuries: UPDATE: Injuries over 1000 now. Just nicks and cuts mostly. By the way, NASA is saying this meteor has nothing to do with the near-miss asteroid which I mentioned a while ago. That also flew by today. Again, the two are unrelated — in … Read More
Illinois Next
Just moments ago, the Illinois Senate voted to approve same-sex marriages. The final vote was 34-21 (with 2 voting "present"). The bill goes now to the House, where it has strong support.Though the Catholic Church and conservative evangelical groups oppose the bill, polling shows that most Illinois voters support marriage equality.
Distracting Headlines
Report: As many as 8 people may be involved in avalanche in Scottish Highlands - @STVNews "Involved"? What does that mean? Does that mean "buried" or "trapped"? And if so, why not say that? Unless the headline is saying that these 8 people started the avalanche. But if that's the case, then the headline should say that. *Sigh(
Stay Classy, FreedomWorks!
FreedomWorks is the political action commitee supporting tea party candidates. Right now, there's an internal investigation by its members, who seem to be displeased with some past behavior from its former president, Matt Kibbe. David Corn of Mother Jones brings us the latest in FreedomWorks creepiness (my emphasis): FreedomWorks staffers worried last year about a promotional video created ahead of FreePAC, a FreedomWorks … Read More
Gallup Poll Shows Most/Least Religious States
The full results and article are here. It's not too surprising, actually. Map is interesting, though.
What Happens When You Take Away Background Checks? Not Surprisingly, More Gun Homicides
New research suggests that universal background check legislation of the sort currently being debated in Congress has had an enormous impact on gun violence in the past, according to testimony presented at Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary committee. Daniel Webster, the Director Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, studied the consequences of Missouri repealing its “permit-to-purchase” law … Read More
So… This Happened
It's truly childish to focus on what has now been dubbed "Watergate", but to be completely honest, it was really awkward.
Breaking: LA Times Reporting Shootout With Dorner
Link: Christopher Dorner was engaged in a shootout with federal authorities in the Big Bear area Tuesday, a law enforcement source told The Times. The shooting occurred after Dorner burglarized a home, tied up a couple and stole their car, the source said. It was not immediately clear whether Dorner was in custody. * Two deputies shot and wounded. NEXT … Read More
Senate Passes VAWA
First Read: The Senate approved legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Tuesday over the objections of a handful of Republicans. Democrats were joined by several Republican senators in voting to renew the landmark gender and domestic violence law, which lapsed at the end of 2012 after lawmakers in the last Congress failed to reach agreement on a … Read More
Violence Against Women Act Is Unfair To Men, Say Conservatives
Of all the astonishingly bad reasons conservatives oppose reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, concern for men is probably the worst. Make that definitely the worst. Via Sahil Kapur at TPM: Claiming that the reauthorization would expand the definition of domestic violence to include “emotional distress,” Heritage [Action] declared that the “expansive and vague language will increase fraud and false allegations, for … Read More
Optics
Many Democrats are bringing children and teachers from Newtown, as guests, to Obama's State of the Union speech tonight: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced on Friday that she will bring a fourth-grade child from Newtown who launched a petition to change gun laws after the shooting. Pelosi declined to name the child, but said she attends a school near … Read More
Glenn Beck Will Redefine the 4th of July by Talking to the Man in the Moon
No, this is not The Onion. This is real: I like it when he says that it's not going to be "his point of view", but the moon's. By the way, can you imagine the outcry from the conservative wingnuts if Obama had uttered the words "we would like to change the 4th of July celebration"…..?? [Aside: sorry for the … Read More
North Carolina Appoints Fox To Protect Hens
North Carolina has a Health and Human Services Department, and within that department is the Child Development and Early Education. The Division of Child Development and Early Education, or DCDEE, oversees the state's child-care program as well as NC Pre-K. So you would think that the person placed in charge of DCDEE would have an interest in North Carolina pre-K education. You would be … Read More
Finding Nemo
Hold on, New England! From The Weather Channel: The heaviest snow totals by early Sunday morning are expected in New England from coastal Maine to Connecticut, as well as the Adirondacks of Upstate New York, where over one foot of snow is expected! Some locations, particularly in coastal New England, may top two feet of storm total snow! The following cities … Read More