Today's edition of quick hits:
* Syria: "President Obama on Monday threatened military action against Syria if there was evidence that the government of President Bashar al-Assad was moving its stocks of chemical or biological weapons. It was Mr. Obama's most direct warning of American intervention in Syria, where Mr. Assad's military is fighting an 18-month-old rebellion."
* Afghanistan: "Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Afghanistan on Monday for discussions on the progress of the war, including an intensified wave of insider attacks by Afghan forces on NATO service members, even as New Zealand became the latest coalition partner to announce an accelerated troop withdrawal."
* Mars Curiosity rover can shoot lasers. If that's not cool, I don't know what is.
* Long overdue: "Augusta National Golf Club, the private club that hosts the Masters and has come under attack over the past decade because of its all-male membership, announced Monday that it had added two female members: Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, and Darla Moore, the South Carolina businesswoman."
* Mitt Romney wants Todd Akin to give his future a closer look: "Mitt Romney on Monday stopped short of calling for Rep. Todd Akin to resign his bid for the U.S. Senate, as several other Republicans have done, but said the Missouri congressman should take 24 hours to think through things for his family and country."
* Fox has decided, however, that the Akin scandal just isn't important.
* The happiest man in America today? Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), whose naked swimming in the Sea of Galilee probably would have been a big story were it not for Akin's rape comments.
* And Newsweek confirmed today that it made no effort to fact-check Niall Ferguson's stunningly wrong piece on the president. A spokesperson for the magazine said it relies on writers "to submit factually accurate material."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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Wow. Just wow. Tina Brown and Newsweek rely on the writers to be 'factually correct' rather than fact-checking?
That explains a lot.
Who else has this 'policy'?
New York Times and Washington Post.
Local public radio stations give contributors a complimentary subscription to Newsweek - which just goes straight into recycling since my own station could not seem to cancel it. I called and cancelled it today, AND sent a link to one of Steve's posts about this today to the woman at my station who may have some influence on getting this whole arrangement with Newsweek cancelled.
I am also happy to report that the nice woman at Newsweek customer service wanted to know the reason for the cancellation. Tina Brown is going to own this debacle.
Good stuff, guys... The last article I read in Newsweek was a three-parter titled "The Diffusionists Have Landed."
You can Google that one; it's about mythical Old World/New World contacts that were said to have occurred before 1492.. The archaeological community is still reeling from that one, and the HIstory Channel and some other cable producers have benefitted from being able to sell bad fiction as "legitimate history and science.,"
Glenn Beck even got in on the act... He was obviously diversifying after his gold-selling enterprises kind of petered out...
Bunk sells, unfortunately...
Just shows how far Georgia has come in joining the 20th Century. Don't know about Darla Moore, but Augusta National hit the trifecta with Condi. They get a woman, they get a black, and they get a lesbian. Augusta National must have had their board of directors taken over by some of the 15 progressives in the state of Georgia.
But they got a republican and a banker - Bastards....
Yup, note to self: Run right out and get a subscription to Newsweek. That way I don't have to research anything...
And Newsweek confirmed today that it made no effort to fact-check Niall Ferguson's stunningly wrong piece on the president. A spokesperson for the magazine said it relies on writers "to submit factually accurate material."
This is truly amazing. I know personally as a matter of fact that in 1995 Newsweek had fact checkers that went through every article, just like every other non-fiction newspaper and magazine does to this day. If this is indeed the case now at Newsweek, it forfeits all reputation as a serious news source. There's probably more fact checking done at the Hot Air blog than is done at Newsweek. The magazine deserves to die.
Time to officially change their name to Newsweak.
;-)
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
Akin ,Yoder......Repub's really letting their freak fly & it's only Monday
And this is just one reason why after 30 years of being a loyal reader, I stopped subscribing.
Yoder owes Akin a dinner-out and a few drinks......
Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, and Darla Moore, the South Carolina businesswoman.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Condoleezza Rice one of the individuals who led us into that misbegotten war in Iraq which led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians? Didn't she also advocate for torture at Guantanamo (aka: waterboarding, aka: enhanced interrogation)?
As far as I'm concerned, rather than being accepted into Augusta National, she should be accepted into The Hague. Unfortunately, the modern press sees accusing one of being a war criminal as untoward while actually being a war criminal is okay.
"We, like other news organisations today, rely on our writers to submit factually accurate material," Newsweek spokesman Andrew Kirk told POLITICO.
OH MY GOD!!!
This is a scandal. We already know that many politicians have low standards for the truth. Now we know that the press' standards aren't much better.
It's no wonder that Romney lies so much. He knows that the press is full of hacks.
An interesting story in MN re: Marriage Amendment:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/166567506.html
Interesting, that reminds me of jury question I was asked, would you use your employer as prejudging the case? (My boss's boss' brother was a named an arresting officer)
No, but they might hold it against me based on my vote.
Skinny dippin' KY is my representative in the 3rd district in Kansas. Republicans are slashing school budgets, dreaming up all manner of barriers to artificially tip the polls their way, and legislating that rape victims just set another place at the table. Drunk and naked tea-partiers are jumping into open bodies of water and I'm supposed to act all surprised? It gets even better though. KY's been carrying this little transgression around with him for over a year - right on past the primaries on August 7th. "Did he win the primary?", you might ask. Yeah, kind of. He ran unopposed. Can someone throw us a life raft!?!
It's ok, the trip for the large number of republican congress critters was sponsored by AIPAC. To criticize the congressman for what occurred during an AIPAC trip is a sign of anti-semitism and should not be tolerated.
What's all this trashin' skinny dippin'??
It feels good to get in the water and not have a mess of stupid "clothes" interferin' with your stroke.
NUDE SKINNY DIPPING LIBERATION FRONT
I thought for sure FOX would add a -D after Akin's name in that chiron (?) scrolling thingie.
No. That would be reserved for the skinny dipping congressman during the AIPAC paid for junket to Israel.
So how are Romney and the GOP going to finesse Paul Ryan's partnering with Akin on personhood amendment and on redefining 'forcible rape' in bills before the House?
Just like Mitt's taxes, Ryan's requests for stimulus funds, Ryan's cheerleading for a previous stimulus (on economic grounds) around 2002, they'll simply ignore the facts. By pulling anything and everything off the table, no questions will be allowed - thus eliminating potential gaffes. Makes everything nice and neat, no?
I am simply astounded to see so many Democrats enamored with the Obama Magic Show. Let's watch fervently for 4 very long years as Obama spends trillions of our dollars and accomplishes almost nothing. But now with the election at hand, watch as the Magician focuses our attention on other, very minor things, instead of our failing economy. Obama is truly a master of illusion!
That, my friend, is boilerplate nothingness. That is like a troll-school homework comment that is a week late so you banged out the most generic and irrelevant piece of Obamaphobia you could come up with just to avoid getting an F.
Well, no F for you as you obviously turned something in, but it's a D- for sure because beyond just showing up, you really didn't accomplish anything. Actually, being a Master of Illusion sounds kind of cool. I'll raise it to a D because you somewhat complimented your oppressor.
GONG!!! Silly Wabbit.
So Newsweek simply trusts its writers without checking them. Okay, now that you know you cannot rely on Ferguson "to submit factually accurate material," the next question is will you fire him? Seems like the least you could do.
Newsweek has been swirling the drain for years.