Little Green Footballs

Oklahoma Tornado Updates - 37 Confirmed Dead So Far

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:19:44 PDT

Here's another thread to keep up on events in Moore, Oklahoma, with some sad news from the Associated Press:

BREAKING: State medical examiner's office: 37 killed in Oklahoma tornado; death toll expected to rise -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

UPDATE at 5/20/13 6:05:13 pm

BREAKING: State medical examiner's office: 51 killed in Oklahoma tornado, with children among the dead -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

UPDATE at 5/20/13 6:23:09 pm

Closeup video of the monster from a storm chaser:

YouTube

UPDATE at 5/20/13 6:38:28 pm

Tornado Causes Massive Destruction in Oklahoma

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:54:00 PDT

The huge tornado that touched down today near Moore, Oklahoma, has caused terrible devastation; here's a shot from MSNBC of one area of completely leveled homes and buildings.

UPDATE at 5/20/13 2:21:21 pm

More photos of the destroyed areas:

UPDATE at 5/20/13 2:27:11 pm

Worst tornado damage I have seen since Joplin. Picture of what's left of a daycare in Moore, Oklahoma. Brings tears. twitter.com/StormCoker/sta...

— Georgia Storm Chaser (@StormCoker) May 20, 2013

Ben "Friends of Hamas" Shapiro Yells "Culture of Intimidation!"

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:04:43 PDT

Here's Ben "Friends of Hamas" Shapiro peddling the angry black man meme today like a rabid weasel. "CULTURE OF INTIMIDATION!" he yells.

I think young Ben is honestly intimidated. Cowed, even. His dissent is being chilled. You can tell by the giant 73-pixel all-caps screaming headline.

Also featured today at the hate site that Andrew Breitbart built, Judicial Watch is filing Freedom of Information Act requests to find out how much the black President is spending on his vacations.

SECRET SERVICE SUED FOR OBAMA'S HAWAIIAN VACATION DOCUMENTS!!!

This is an ongoing obsession at Breitbart.com. For some unknown reason, they're very, very concerned about how much money this particular President spends on vacations.

UPDATE at 5/20/13 6:43:12 pm

Comments for Ben Shapiro's CULTURE OF INTIMIDATION!

Obammy is so full of sh^t, his skin is brown.

[...]

Look into those Obama eyes at the top. You're looking into the eyes of the Devil.

[...]

A Seething Sadistically Ruthless Communist Monster.

[...]

The Jig is up, Obama!

[...]

Everytime you look at Barack Obama or a picture of him, just realize, you are looking at one smooth talking huckster, hustling, hoodlum. They're all mug shots of a petty slum thug.

[...]

black jeebus has his own cult of hoodrats, deadbeats, mudsharks, homos, and white guilters who consider sullying themselves before a cheap blaq playah to be life's highest virtue.

[...]

If you listen to his commencement speech at Morehead College this past weekend, he is still dividing the people based on RACE. In essence, his speech sounded a lot like Rev. Wright--"God damn America!"

[...]

And what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure. - Thomas Jefferson 13 Nov. 1787

[...]

Check my post history, I've been saying for years that Obama is evil, and I think clearly Satanically empowered. And he is just getting warmed up.

The way to attack this evil being is through his fraud and treason, not his birth certificate (which is evidence of fraud). The truth is that both his parents were American citizens, because is father is clearly Frank Marshall Davis. FMD orchestrated the whole Barack story, and trained him well in his communistic philosophy, which when combined with his true allegiance to his prophet Mohammed, his mother's beliefs and his education in socialism and Marxism, and voila! you have the ultimate sleeper agent to destroy the USA.
Make no mistake, that is his mission, both to his NWO handlers and to his duty to Allah. So, it must be through treason and fraud charges, and unfortunately also through social revolution, that we have any chance to free ourselves for this demagogic reprobate.

[...]

Take this beligerent criminal Holder down now and force MOH-bama listen to rap, watch basketball and play golf for the next three years, hell, right now America would love to offer him early retirement, with a bonus, and a cement parachute...

[...]

Imam Obama needs to resign now .
Impeachment will not be pretty.

[...]

It appears that a citizen's revolution is simmering beneath the surface and is ready to explode. This White House adviser is another Obama Useful Idiot. We have to take back America from the progressives/Marxists as quickly as possible. We have been hit hard by these bottom feeders; The rules of engagement have changed. The gloves need to come off. Let's bloody some noses and administer some pain. America is too valuable to let it go in the tank without a fight.

[...]

All correct, the majority of people will never believe it, for to do so would be (oooohhh) "racist". And in these new times being (oooohhh) racist is the worst thing in the world. If you are White.

[...]

If he were a White President this would make news headlines and there would be an aggressive attempt to impeach him. This jug-eared mul@tto disgusts me to no end.

[...]

No matter how this ends for Obama, he wins and we lose, at least for a while, probably a long while.

He has already insinuated his socialist poison into America's arterial vein (he's the needle). Impeachment, WHICH SHOULD BE A FULL-COURT PRESS REPUBLICANS, will result (without doubt) in riots and more, bringing deeper damage.

Obama is all about damage. He feeds on it, he rejoices in it. But still, he is nasal debri and needs to be blown away ('impeached' trolls, it's a metaphor). We simply need to be prepared for the bloody nose that will follow.

[...]

Don't hold your breath for the already Terrified of the Spy the sniffling white
mice GOP to even dare to speak of Impeachment, Our only hope is for the
loyal to the constitution Military to move on the Spy arrest him and drag
this Enemy Spy and his alien communist regime in front of a Tribunal they
are the only ones who have the authority and power to save us.

[...]

My Fellow Americans:
It is time to rise up and put and end to this...or it won't stop. The repukes have known and did nothing to help.
It is time to choose!

[...]

Wether it was his totally proven fake phony cover story past of the sick joke
of him being a 'lawyer' or as the closeted rat collaborator Hannity calls him a
'constitutional lawyer' to his birth fable of being born american in the commie
controlled state of hawaii. Everything about the Spy is one deceitful lie wrapped
in endless lies wether its his gun running to his allies in Benghazi to his laughable
Sandy Hook false flag to the aid he gave to the Boston attacker's Saudi commander
escaping the country on a USAF plane before the Boston PD could question him for
theres only one conclusion you can come to that we have an Enemy Spy as our
president a sadistically ruthless communist monster who's capable of anything
including as Benghazi and Boston Proved of Mass Murder.

[...]

Obama is racist, pure and simple. African Americans are simply food for his subjugate-and-control machine.

The Progs who continue to excuse and cover for the crimes of this administration are willing dupes who feed on intellectual and moral dishonesty for breakfast, lunch and dinner (which may explain their dour and petulant personalities).

They are complicit racists as well.

[...]

Oballah doesn't want the USA to prosper, he wants it on it's knees, a third world sh*t hole, just like Kenya, I hope we can back away from the precipace he and his minons have created!

[...]

What is intimidating about a liberal? I don't get it. Why are we not fighting back twice as hard? A study came out last week that shows conservative men are more muscular. I'd say it's way past time to start kicking a$$.

Obamas Planning Trip to Africa This Summer

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:46:04 PDT

I can hardly wait to see the comments at right wing blogs about this.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama plan to travel to Africa in late June and early July, the White House said Monday.

The first couple plans to visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3,the National Security Counsel said on Twitter. The White House hasn't yet released an official announcement of the trip.

Via: Obamas to Africa This Summer

Jack Shafer: Why the Underwear-Bomber Leak Infuriated the Obama Administration

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:55:27 PDT

Reuters columnist Jack Shafer has a very interesting piece on the AP leak investigation, taking a position that's rather contrary to the rest of the media:

The AP story that has so infuriated the government described the breakup of an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula plot to place an underwear bomber on board a U.S.-bound airliner. Published on the afternoon of May 7, 2012, the story patted itself on the back for having heeded the White House and CIA requests to not publish the previous week, when the AP first learned of the operation. The AP states in the article that it published only after being told by "officials" that the original "concerns were allayed." In a chronology published in today's Washington Post, we're told that the CIA was no longer resisting publication of the AP story on the day it hit the wire (Monday) and that the White House was planning to "announce the successful counterterrorism operation that Tuesday."

That may be the case, but the government was still incensed by the leak. In fact, it appears that officials were livid. As my Reuters colleagues Mark Hosenball and Tabassum Zakaria reported last night, the government found the leak so threatening that it opened a leak investigation before the AP ran its story.

Now, what would make the Obama administration so furious? My guess is it wasn't the substance of the AP story that has exasperated the government but that the AP found a source or sources that spilled information about an ongoing intelligence operation and that even grander leaks might surge into the press corps' rain barrels.

At the risk of making the Department of Justice's argument for it, a leak once sprung can turn into a gusher as the original leakers keep talking and new ones join them, or as the government attempts to explain itself, or as others in the government begin to speak out of turn. From what I can tell, all of the above happened after the AP story appeared.

Read the whole thing...

Little Green Footballs: Week in Review

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:47:42 PDT

Here's a look back over this week's numerous fake scandals and right wing wild goose chases -- and this is not an exhaustive list by any means:

Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a 'Fallen Eagle'

Heritage Immigration Study Co-Author: 'I Do Not Apologize'

National Review Defends White Nationalist-Linked Heritage Immigration Expert

Pat Buchanan Calls for 'Southern Strategy' Against Latinos, Immigrants

White House Email Contradicts Weekly Standard/ABC Benghazi Leaks

WaPo Fact-Checker Says Obama 'Got Away With' Stating a Fact

Republicans Oddly Silent Over DOJ Raid on AP Records

Stephen Colbert on the Heritage Foundation Immigration Study

Pickering and Mullen Don't Trust Darrell Issa - and They Shouldn't

GOHMERT!

Glenn Beck's Crazy Crypto-Racist Rant of the Day: Whites Lynched by KKK Would Be Tea Partiers Today

CBS Evening News: Republican Sources Caught Doctoring Emails

Umbrellagate! Daily Caller Cooks Up Another Stupid Scandal, Commenters Spew Vile Racism

Colbert Report: Why Does Eric Holder Hate Louie Gohmert's Asparagus?

Glenn Beck: AP and IRS Scandals Are Just Cover-Ups for the Benghazi Cover-Up

ABC's Jonathan Karl: Yes, the Story Was False but It 'Entirely Stands'

ABC's Jon Karl Posts to Twitter, Still Refuses to Retract False Story

Drudge Report Falsely Attributes Quote to President Obama: 'I'm a Black Man'

Drudge Report Falsely Attributes Quote to President Obama: "I'm a Black Man"

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:39:44 PDT

And now, Drudge Report is getting into the false quotation game.

This morning, President Obama gave the commencement speech at Morehouse College, a historically African-American university; it was an inspiring speech calling on members of the African-American community to be good role models and strive to do what's right.

So naturally, the right wing media are completely losing their shit again. This is Drudge's take on it, and notice that he went frame by frame through the video until he found what he obviously thought was the most unflattering image possible:

Here's a transcript of the prepared speech -- the words "I'm a black man," which Drudge put in quotation marks, do not appear in the speech. The link for Drudge's headline goes to a Washington Post article, and the words "I'm a black man" do not appear in that article either. Drudge simply made it up.

Pure-D race-baiting dishonesty from the right wing. In other words, business as usual.

UPDATE at 5/19/13 6:10:13 pm

Breitbart hack Matthew Boyle is fake outraged:

Sorry to break it to you Mr. President, but your race is IRRELEVANT to all the problems and scandals facing the country right now.

— Matthew Boyle (@mboyle1) May 19, 2013

ABC's Jon Karl Posts to Twitter, Still Refuses to Retract False Story

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:52:58 PDT

Posted a little while ago on Twitter by ABC News's Jonathan Karl:

In case you missed it, I sincerely regret the error I made describing an email from Ben Rhodes. 1/2

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 19, 2013

I should have stated, as I did elsewhere, the reporting was based on a summary provided by a source. I apologize for the mistake. 2/2

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 19, 2013

The facts are:

[Item List]

Jonathan Karl clearly does not intend to retract his story, even though he lied outright about the circumstances and passed on false information from a Republican source. And just as clearly, he does not intend to reveal who gave him this false information.

It's impossible to see this as anything other than a complete lack of journalistic ethics. Not to mention simple decency. What a disgrace.

ABC's Jonathan Karl: Yes, the Story Was False but It "Entirely Stands"

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:36:49 PDT

If you've been following the story of the Benghazi "talking points" emails, you know that it's now been confirmed beyond any doubt that Republican sources fed false information to the media, especially to ABC News's Jonathan Karl. Karl claimed that he had "obtained" these emails, and we now know that this was completely untrue -- he was quoting the words of his anonymous source, who lied to him. He did not "obtain" or even see the actual email in question.

The ethical thing to do at this point would be to correct and retract the story, and reveal the name of his dishonest source. But that's not the path Karl is choosing:

On the Sunday, May 19 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz read a statement from Jonathan Karl, chief White House Correspondent for ABC News in response to his reporting on altered emails related to the Sunday talk show talking points following the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012. Karl now expresses regret about his original reporting on May 10th on the Benghazi emails. The statement reads:

"Clearly, I regret the email was quoted incorrectly and I regret that it's become a distraction from the story, which still entirely stands. I should have been clearer about the attribution. We updated our story immediately."

-Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent

Amazing. ABC News should be ashamed of this kind of egotistical ass-covering. Their credibility is at stake, and they're letting their anonymous right wing sources get away with lying to them.

Via: ABC News' Jonathan Karl Addresses Criticism on Reporting of the Benghazi Talking Points Controversy - CNN Press Room Blogs

Also see:
Jon Karl got played by a confidential source and now ABC News has a big Benghazi problem » Pressthink
What do Jonathan Karl and James O'Keefe have in common?

Watch the Biggest Explosion Ever Seen on the Moon

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:01:38 PDT

YouTube

NASA scientists recorded the biggest explosion from a meteorite impact seen on the moon in eight years of monitoring.

The lunar burst was caused by a 40-kilogram boulder-sized rock slamming into the surface at about 90,000 kph. It generated a flash 10 times brighter than anything seen before, which came from the thermal glow of molten rock at the point of impact.

More: Watch the Biggest Explosion Ever Seen on the Moon

The Best Short Animated Film You'll See Today: "Fred"

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:45:06 PDT

Vimeo

Fred is a personal stop motion short. It got finished thanks to many friends, bank loans, and credit cards. I devoted spare time between jobs, moving the sets and puppets from one city to the next zig-zagging the west coast from LA to Seattle.

Tech Note: Yet Another LGF Pages Bookmarklet Update

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:39:59 PDT

I know, right? Another one, just a day later? But this one actually will make it possible for me to update the types of auto-embed content the LGF Pages bookmarklet can identify -- without making you re-install the bookmarklet to take advantage of the new features.

When you open this new version of the bookmarklet, it "phones home" to littlegreenfootballs.com no matter which site you're on, and gets a file with the information it needs to find embedded video and audio in the current page. The cool thing about doing it this way is that it lets me add new embed types to the file on our server, and the bookmarklet automatically starts using them the next time you open it -- no reinstallation necessary any more!

To get the new extensible version of the bookmarklet, reinstall it one more time by first deleting the old one (either by dragging it off the bookmark bar or by right-clicking and choosing "Delete"), then dragging the button labeled "Create a Page" (at the top of the right sidebar) to your bookmark bar in its place.

A trouble-shooting tip: if you click the bookmarklet and no window (or tab) opens, it's probably because popups have been blocked by the browser. Most browsers have popup blocking on by default. The easiest way to handle this is to turn popup blocking off entirely; you can also allow popups on specific sites in the browser's Preferences, but for posting purposes it's a nuisance to do this for every site you might want to post something about.

The technical details

This new bookmarklet is actually calling our brand spanking new API (version 0.1, a one-day old baby), using the JSONP technique to get around the Javascript same-origin policy that would normally prevent this kind of cross-site access.

This happens in the jQuery.ajax() method beginning at line 27. It makes a call to the API at:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/api/0.1/postRegex

jQuery handles all the details of the JSONP call (with its necessary callback function), parses the JSON response, and returns the data in the object lgf -- in this case it consists of two regular expression definitions that are used on lines 34 and 36.

UPDATE at 5/18/13 5:08:19 pm

Stop the presses! Wouldn't you know that as soon as I post this new version, I discover an even better way to get this done? Instead of JSONP, the bookmarklet now uses the new hotness, CORS, to do away with the callback function and the other JSONP kludges, and use pure unsullied JSON as Crockford intended.

I've updated the code below; the API now goes to version 0.2, so I can still support the JSONP method as well.

(function() {
	var j = '1.9.1', d = document;
	if (window.jQuery === undefined || window.jQuery.fn.jquery < j) {
		var done = false, s = d.createElement('script');
		s.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/' %2B j %2B '/jquery.min.js';
		s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(){
			if (!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'loaded' || this.readyState == 'complete')) {
				done = true;
				jQuery.noConflict();
				lgfPost();
			}
		};
		d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
	} else {
		lgfPost();
	}
	function esc(s) {
		return escape(s).replace(/\%2B/ig, '%252B');
	}
	function lgfPost() {
		(window.postPage = function() {
			jQuery.ajax('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/api/0.2/postRegex').done(function(lgf) {
				var f = q = w = '',
					u = esc(location.href),
					d = document,
					t = esc(d.title),
					s = esc((d.selection) ? d.selection.createRange().text : d.getSelection()),
					ob = jQuery('iframe').filter(function() {
						return this.src.match(RegExp(lgf.regex.embed, 'i'));
					});
				if (ob.length && !u.match(RegExp(lgf.regex.sites, 'i'))) {
					f = esc(ob.eq(0).attr('src'));
				}
				q = (
					'u=' %2B u %2B
					'&t=' %2B t %2B
					'&f=' %2B f %2B
					'&s=' %2B s
				);
				w = (
					'width=670,' %2B
					'height=820,' %2B
					'scrollbars=1,' %2B
					'status=1,' %2B
					'menubar=1,' %2B
					'location=1,' %2B
					'resizable=1'
				);
				window.open('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?' %2B q, '_blank', w);
			});
		})();
	}
})();

Glenn Beck: AP and IRS Scandals Are Just Cover-Ups for the Benghazi Cover-Up

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:12:17 PDT

YouTube

An alternate title for this post might be, "The Recursive Conspiracy Theories of a Raving Freakazoid," as our favorite right wing nut sandwich just continues to chase his own paranoid tail. Here he is opining that the AP and IRS "scandals" are really just attempts to cover up the Benghazi cover-up, because "that is literally where the bodies are buried."

Via: Right Wing Watch.

Tech Note: LGF Pages Bookmarklet Supports Scribd and SoundCloud

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:26:40 PDT

I'm about to sling some code at you here, so watch out. There's a new improved version of the LGF Pages bookmarklet, and if you have an LGF account you can install it by deleting the old one (if you already installed it) from your browser's bookmarks bar, then dragging the "Create a Page" button to the bookmarks bar in its place.

The new version extends our exclusive auto-embed feature to add Scribd.com and SoundCloud to the auto-detected embed types. If you open the bookmarklet on any page containing an embedded Scribd document or SoundCloud audio file, it will be automatically added to your Page. If you want to test it out, here's a page at Right Wing Watch with an embedded SoundCloud file: Radio Host Frequented by Gun Activists Calls for Shooting of Bush Family & Obama, Sexual Violence Against Hillary Clinton | Right Wing Watch.

Here's the source code for the bookmarklet, in the interest of full disclosure. (Also because I want to test the latest version of our source code formatter.)

There are a couple of interesting tricks in this one; notice the method of loading jQuery by injecting a script tag into the page. I'll leave the rest as an exercise for the nerds amongst us.

The bookmarklet source code:

(function() {
	var j = '1.9.1', d = document;
	if (window.jQuery === undefined || window.jQuery.fn.jquery < j) {
		var done = false, s = d.createElement('script');
		s.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/' %2B j %2B '/jquery.min.js';
		s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(){
			if (!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'loaded' || this.readyState == 'complete')) {
				done = true;
				jQuery.noConflict();
				init();
			}
		};
		d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
	} else {
		init();
	}
	function esc(s) {
		return escape(s).replace(/\%2B/ig, '%252B');
	}
	function init() {
		(window.LGF_post = function() {
			var f = q = w = '',
				u = esc(location.href),
				d = document,
				t = esc(d.title),
				s = esc((d.selection) ? d.selection.createRange().text : d.getSelection()),
				ob = jQuery('iframe').filter(function() {
					return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i);
				});
			if (ob.length && !u.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)) {
				f = esc(ob.eq(0).attr('src'));
			}
			q = (
				'u=' %2B u %2B
				'&t=' %2B t %2B
				'&f=' %2B f %2B
				'&s=' %2B s
			);
			w = (
				'width=670,' %2B
				'height=820,' %2B
				'scrollbars=1,' %2B
				'status=1,' %2B
				'menubar=1,' %2B
				'location=1,' %2B
				'resizable=1'
			);
			window.open('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?' %2B q, '_blank', w);
		})();
	}
})();

And here's the minified version created with Google Closure Compiler:

(function(){function b(b){return escape(b).replace(/\%2B/ig,"%252B")}function d(){(window.LGF_post=function(){var a=q=w="",d=b(location.href),c=document,f=b(c.title),c=b(c.selection?c.selection.createRange().text:c.getSelection()),e=jQuery("iframe").filter(function(){return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i)});e.length&&!d.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)&&(a=b(e.eq(0).attr("src"))); q="u="%2Bd%2B"&t="%2Bf%2B"&f="%2Ba%2B"&s="%2Bc;w="width=670,height=820,scrollbars=1,status=1,menubar=1,location=1,resizable=1";window.open("http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?"%2Bq,"_blank",w)})()}var f=document;if(void 0===window.jQuery||"1.9.1">window.jQuery.fn.jquery){var e=!1,a=f.createElement("script");a.src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js";a.onload=a.onreadystatechange=function(){if(!e&&(!this.readyState||"loaded"==this.readyState||"complete"==this.readyState))e= !0,jQuery.noConflict(),d()};f.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(a)}else d()})();

Colbert Report: Why Does Eric Holder Hate Louie Gohmert's Asparagus?

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:26:55 PDT

(Click below if you can't see the MP4 video above.)

Comedy Central

Daily Caller Cooks Up Another Stupid Scandal, Commenters Spew Vile Racism

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:31:14 PDT

YouTube

The mind-numbingly stupid right wing fake outrage of the day: yes, now they're even going after the President for asking Marines to hold umbrellas for himself and the Turkish Prime Minister. I just can't even.

The hacks at wingnut propaganda site The Daily Caller lead the charge, but it's on every single right wing blog and media website, of course, because they do this stuff in lockstep unison like good little authoritarians: Obama Breaches Marine Umbrella Protocol | the Daily Caller.

Did Obama "breach protocol?" Let's see what the Marine Corps has to say about it:

Seeing a Marine with this particular accessory is "extremely rare," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Greg Wolf explained, but because the president's the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, if he says "hold my umbrella," it's permissible.

The sad thing is that this laughable story actually ended up on the front pages of the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and the Los Angeles Times.

This is why the wingnut lockstep army does this kind of freakishly moronic outrage-mongering -- because the mainstream media enables it.

Meanwhile, again as usual, the commenters for the Daily Caller's rage-inducing article are, yes, spewing all kinds of vile racism. They got the subtext right away -- it's a white man holding an umbrella for a black President.

I thought afro-sheen was waterproof?

[...]

Just another occasion where Obama shows his "superiority" to any and everyone around him. Shameful.

[...]

Just another example of the illegitimate Kenyan illegal alien's arrogance, ignorance, and contempt for the military - and the Marine Corps in particular.

[...]

Next they'll be carrying shopping bags for Michelle as she strolls 'Miracle Mile' looking for a bargain.

[...]

I would roll that umbrella up and shove it where the sun don't shine. Kenyan Fraud. III%

[...]

The MONKEY BOY BATH HOUSE QUEEN WOULD MELT if SHE GOT WET!!!!!

[...]

Too funny! The first black man given the opportunity to run the most powerful country on earth and he turns out to be no different than all the other two bit corrupt black dictators around the world. For all the world to see no less. Way to go BO!

[...]

Someone...please throw some shoes at this Kenyan clown!!

On and on it goes -- currently there are more than 1700 comments, almost all spewing hatred and deranged conspiracy theories. The right wing base in all its glory.

Also see:
Guest Post From a U.S. Marine About Barack Obama's Shocking and Disgusting Use of an Umbrella

CBS Evening News: Republican Sources Caught Doctoring Emails

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:06:22 PDT

Video

SCOTT PELLEY: Also at his news conference today the president called for tighter security for U.S. diplomatic facilities to prevent an attack like the one in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Of course, Benghazi has become a political controversy. Republicans claim that the Administration watered down the facts in talking points that were given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for television appearances while Mr. Obama was running for reelection. Republicans on Capitol Hill claim that they had found proof of this in White House e-mails that they leaked to reporters last week. Well, it turns out some of the quotes in those e-mails were wrong. Major Garrett is at the White House for us tonight. Major?

MAJOR GARRETT: Scott, Republicans have claimed that the State Department under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The White House released the real e-mails late yesterday and here's what we found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by Republicans. One e-mail was written by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes. "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation." But it turns out, in the actual e-mail Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all the relevant equities, particularly the investigation." Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an e-mail written by State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version notes Nuland discussing: "The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda." The actual e-mail from Nuland says: the "...penultimate point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings..." The C.I.A. agreed with the concerns raised by the State Department and revised the talking points to make them less specific than the C.I.A.'s original version, eliminating references to al-Qaeda and affiliates and earlier security warnings. There is no evidence, Scott, the White House orchestrated these changes.

More: Wow, This Is Pretty Epic

Also see:
WH Benghazi Emails Have Different Quotes Than Earlier Reported

Monkey Shares Lollipop With Puppy, Then Bonks Him With It

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:03 PDT

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Via: Boing Boing

Glenn Beck's Crazy Crypto-Racist Rant of the Day: Whites Lynched by KKK Would Be Tea Partiers Today

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:56:57 PDT

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On his radio program today, Glenn Beck uncorked a bizarre rant about the NAACP and Martin Luther King and Booker T. Washington and by the way, 20 PERCENT OF KKK LYNCHINGS WERE OF WHITE PEOPLE! AND THEY'D BE TEA PARTIERS TODAY!

Beck's strategy for defending himself against charges of racism seems to be to confuse the issues so thoroughly that nobody can figure out what the hell he's trying to say. But yeah, he's still a racist pig.

"They are a joke," Beck said of the NAACP, calling them "an affront" to everything that Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, and Booker T. Washington stood for. "You are an affront to their memory. You really are."

Somehow, that discussion then prompted Beck to declare that "20% of the lynchings [carried out] by the KKK were of white people ... and you know what, I contend [that] the white people that were lynched are exactly the kind of people that would be in the Tea Party today."

Via: Right Wing Watch.

GOHMERT!

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:15:21 PDT

Bristling Gohmert

The dumbest man in Congress, Texas Representative Louie "Terror Babies from the Future" Gohmert, got all lathered up yesterday because Eric Holder said, in so many words, that Gohmert didn't know WTF he was talking about when he asked a weird, pointless question about some tortuous Muslim-Christian persecution fantasy he apparently got from World Net Daily. So the hearing wasn't a complete waste.

"Because of political correctness, there was not a thorough enough investigation of Tamerlan to determine this kid had been radicalized," Gohmert said of one of the Boston bombing suspects. "On the one hand, we go after Christian groups like Billy Graham's group - we go after Franklin Graham's group - but then we're hands-off when it comes to possibly offending someone who has been radicalized as a terrorist."

Holder responded by saying that Gohmert didn't have access to all of the facts.

"Unless somebody has done something inappropriate, you don't have access to the FBI files," he said. "I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know."

Gohmert bristled at the suggestion that he was making false statements, repeatedly telling Holder that he "challenged my character."

Pickering and Mullen Don't Trust Darrell Issa - and They Shouldn't

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:58:29 PDT

Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, who oversaw the Accountability Review Board that reviewed the government's response to the Benghazi attack, are clearly unhappy with Republican hitman Darrell Issa and his distorted characterizations of their work: Pickering, Mullen Challenge Issa to Let Them Testify in Public.

The dispute between Issa and the co-chairmen came to a head after neither Pickering nor Mullen attended a May 8 House Oversight Committee hearing on the attacks, sparking a heated back and forth about who was invited and when. The rhetoric intensified Sunday during a highly contentious joint appearance with Issa and Pickering on NBC's "Meet the Press" in which Issa maintained the two "refused to come before our committee." Pickering insisted that he was not invited despite expressing a willingness to testify.

"Chairman Issa sent word back that he might want to take me up some time in the future" Pickering said.

Issa also suggested on the program that Pickering and Mullen meet with the committee behind closed doors so as not to create "some sort of stage show." But the two assert in their letter that a public hearing is a "more appropriate forum" and accuse Issa of changing his "position on the terms of our appearance."

By demanding that the hearing be open to the public, it's clear that Pickering and Mullen simply don't trust the blatantly partisan Issa to tell the truth -- and they shouldn't.

Tech Note: The LGF Pages Popup Window and Google Chrome

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:25:14 PDT

In last night's thread about the new features in our LGF Pages posting bookmarklet, several people mentioned that the Chrome browser was blocking the window from opening.

Here's how to fix that problem:

[Item List]

And you're done! Chrome will now allow the LGF Pages bookmarklet to open a new window (or tab), and all is right with the world.

Tech Note: Automatic YouTube/Vimeo Embedding for LGF Pages

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:50:27 PDT

We have a great new feature to announce tonight: when you click the LGF Pages bookmarklet on any web page that contains a YouTube or Vimeo video, the bookmarklet now automagically grabs that video's information and embeds it in your post.

The LGF Pages bookmarklet could always do this if you opened it on the YouTube or Vimeo website, but now it can sense the presence of these video providers on any web page, and react with aplomb, dignity, and quiet reserve. Ahem.

To use this new feature you will have to reinstall your "Create a Page" bookmarklet. First delete the old one, either by dragging it off the bookmark bar or by right-clicking and choosing "Delete." Then drag that button at the top of the right sidebar labeled "Create a Page" to your bookmark bar in its place, and you're good to go.

Here's a page you can test it on, at Right Wing Watch: Robertson Tells Woman Whose Husband Cheated to Remember 'He's a Man' and Be Grateful She Lives in America | Right Wing Watch.

And here's a screenshot, showing what it looks like when you open the LGF Pages bookmarklet on that page (notice that the video code is automatically generated, along with a link to the original page it came from):

UPDATE at 5/15/13 10:03:22 pm

The first release had a small bug, but it's now fixed. Reinstall the bookmarklet one more time and everything will be groovy.

Live Video: President Obama Makes a Statement

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:21:09 PDT

[Live event concluded.]

UPDATE at 5/15/13 3:27:18 pm

The acting commissioner of the IRS has resigned, and new safeguards will be put in place.

In other news, the White House has released 100 pages of emails and notes on the Benghazi attack.

BREAKING: White House releases 100 pages of emails and notes on Benghazi attacks.

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 15, 2013

Stephen Colbert on the Heritage Foundation Immigration Study

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:43:05 PDT

(If you can't see the MP4 video above, click the following link...)

Comedy Central

Republicans Oddly Silent Over DOJ Raid on AP Records

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:17:34 PDT

Amid all the scandals and freak-outs this week, Republicans are curiously silent about the Justice Department's raid on Associated Press records.

Republican senators who have long been critics of Attorney General Eric Holder were noticeably muted on Tuesday when asked to respond to the news of the Justice Department seizing reporters' records as part of a broader probe into national security leaks.

"Well, I think we need to see how this plays out," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of Holder's biggest critics and who last year demanded that the attorney general resign amid the Fast and Furious gun-running probe. "I have questions about it, but I'm wiling to wait and see how this plays out, whether it was narrowly targeted or whether it was a net that was too broadly cast," Cornyn said.

"I want to see the details -- what was their rationale, why did they do it -- before offering an opinion," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who earlier this week accused the administration of engaging in a "cover-up" in Benghazi. "For me, to rush to a judgment without knowing all the facts is just not appropriate."

Republicans who are reluctant to rush to judgment? Has the Apocalypse arrived?

The political calculation's pretty obvious here; the Republican Party and the right wing media have spent the last couple of decades demonizing the mainstream media, with special vitriol being directed at the AP. It's not going to work for GOP politicians to suddenly flip and start defending the Associated Press now, after all that -- the right wing Tea Party base would break out the tar and feathers and RINO signs.

Tuesday Night Jam: David Byrne & St. Vincent - I Should Watch TV

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:50:40 PDT

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WaPo Fact-Checker Says Obama "Got Away With" Stating a Fact

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:57:36 PDT

This is possibly the strangest and most ridiculous piece yet from Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, as he gives four "pinocchios" (the "most dishonest" rating) to President Obama's completely factual claim that he almost immediately used the T word to describe the Benghazi attacks: Obama's Claim He Called Benghazi an 'Act of Terrorism'.

You can read the whole thing if you like, although I wish I hadn't wasted the time myself. Are we really going to be reduced to parsing the difference between "terror" and "terrorism?" And is this really supposed to be Washington Post-level analysis?

I'll just quote from Kessler's conclusion, to demonstrate how weird this pedantic piece is:

During the campaign, the president could just get away with claiming he said "act of terror," since he did use those words -- though not in the way he often claimed. It seemed like a bit of after-the-fact spin, but those were his actual words -- to the surprise of Mitt Romney in the debate.

Yes, that's right -- Kessler thinks the President "got away" with ... something ... because he stated a fact. Wow.

White House Email Contradicts Weekly Standard/ABC Benghazi Leaks

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:17:58 PDT

Those "leaked" emails about Benghazi talking points first reported by the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, then picked up and trumpeted to the world by ABC News, were apparently distorted and mischaracterized to smear the State Department and the White House.

Imagine my surprise.

ABC News reported that Rhodes wrote: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting." The Weekly Standard reported that Rhodes "responded to the group, explaining that Nuland had raised valid concerns and advising that the issues would be resolved at a meeting of the National Security Council's Deputies Committee the following morning."

Whoever provided those quotes seemingly invented the notion that Rhodes wanted the concerns of the State Department specifically addressed. While Nuland, particularly, had expressed a desire to remove mentions of specific terrorist groups and CIA warnings about the increasingly dangerous assignment, Rhodes put no emphasis at all in his email on the State Department's concerns.

Previous reporting also misquoted Rhodes as saying the group would work through the talking points at the deputies meeting on Saturday, September 15, when the talking points to Congress were finalized. While the previously written subject line of the email mentions talking points, Rhodes only addresses misinformation in a general sense.

So whoever leaked the inaccurate information earlier this month did so in a way that made it appear that the White House - specifically Rhodes - was more interested in the State Department's concerns, and more focused on the talking points, that the email actually stated.

Also see:
Jake Tapper Blows a Hole in Benghazi `scandal'

Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a 'Fallen Eagle'

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:11:50 PDT

Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a "Fallen Eagle"

More: Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a 'Fallen Eagle'

Whitehouse Twitter

The official Whitehouse Twitter account has this as their page, and now the RWNJ Blogs are going berserk with it. It's actually a picture of the ceiling of the oval office taken from the perspective of someone standing facing toward the presidential desk.

Of course, it wouldn't be Jim Hoft without our daily dose of derp, so here it is -- hold on to your hats (and stomachs)...

Islam often makes use of symbolism to flaunt the destruction of non-believers.
Now, Obama does too.

RBS