February 8, 2014

Obama vs. Greenwald on appointing bundlers to ambassadorships

President Obama just appointed a bundler -----who donated half a million dollars to Obama's campaign-- as ambassador to Argentina.
Glenn Greenwald believes this should not be the way our government works.

Which of these two views do you identify with the most?

February 7, 2014

To those telling Snowden to choose a country other than Russia

Step 1) Guarantee to him that his plane will not be intercepted by US-friendly allies on the way to your country of choice; and that he will not be incarcerated in the process.


2) When, when President Obama approves your promise, post a thread blasting Snowden's current "choice," if he decides to remain in Russia.


Thanks.

February 7, 2014

Original Humpty Dumpty rhyme

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Four-score Men and Four-score more,
Could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty

February 6, 2014

Colorado poll: Hillary Clinton 43%, Rand Paul 47%

" The George Washington Bridge traffic scandal stalls New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie's 2016 presidential bid in Colorado, but other Republican contenders give former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a run for her money, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. "

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2004

February 5, 2014

Cable ratings for Tuesday are here! See whether MSNBC continued to dominate among young viewers

Tuesday's numbers (Feb. 4, 2014):

7pm
Greta 284K
Hardball 272K

8pm
O'reilly 419K
Hayes 290K

9pm
Kelly: 403K
Maddow: 343K

10pm
Hannity 296K
O'Donnell 253K

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/02/05/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-february-4-2014/234606/

February 4, 2014

DIA chief: no evidence Snowden spies for Russia

NSA apologists had been accusing Snowden of such role. Another fail for them.

Via progressive journalist Dan Froomkin:

https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/430727828834123776

February 4, 2014

NYT's public editor: Our story "overstated" evidence of Christie's link to lane closures

Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor, criticized a story written by Kate Zernike which reported evidence of Chris Christie's knowledge about the closures of lanes in "Bridge-gate".

The Metro editor expressed "regret" over the handling of the story too, saying:

"“But should there have been an editor’s note? Perhaps. I regret not suggesting that.”

Another excerpt:

"In the digital age, news evolves before our very eyes. A story breaks and goes online with perhaps a few rough paragraphs. Soon after, more details are added, new angles explored and writing is tuned up. Finally — at least in organizations like The Times — a thorough and polished version makes its way onto the web and into both print and the archives.

It happens every day, all day.

But what about a case in which an early version of a story says something that proves to be, if not untrue, then at least overstated?"

"Some sort of notice was due to the reader that the initial story had changed in a substantial way.", she said.
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/as-the-latest-christie-story-evolved-the-times-should-have-noted-a-change/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

February 4, 2014

New York Times' Kate Zernike under fire for coverage of Bridge-gate

The New York Times made several changes to a story by Kate Zernike that originally suggested evidence agaisnt Chris Christie's knowledge about the lane closures in Fort Lee (i.e. Bridge-gate).

Today the Washington Post reports:

"its editor was forced to issue this extraordinary statement to the Huffington Post: ‘We’ve made probably dozens of changes to the story to make it more precise. That was one of them. I bet there will be dozens more.’”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/02/03/new-york-times-defends-christie-story-governor-was-trying-to-change-the-discussion/?hpid=z3

The media has been said to sacrifice journalistic accuracy and ethics for the sake of pushing a more traffic-friendly scandal-oriented angle, reminiscent of the pseudoscandals aimed at Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Today progressive media critic Bob Somerby penned an entry titled " Zernike changes her basic account again!"

My personal opinion is that I couldn't care less about accuracy, since Christie is not a Democrat. If Christie's chances of becoming President decrease as a result of this, I approve of the way media reports are being built.

February 3, 2014

Rapper DMX vows to "whip my d**k out and piss on (George Zimmerman)...right in his muthaf**kin face"

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/25600/20140202/dmx-shares-his-feelings-on-george-zimmerman-rapper-says-he-would-piss-on-him.htm

February 2, 2014

Florida Poll: Hillary 64%, Warren 5%

Wow.