MEDIA MATTERS: Citing no evidence, Sean Hannity twice stated that 20,000 people gathered to protest health care reform at a GOP rally on Capitol Hill — a claim he later walked back drastically — while MSNBC reported that Capitol police estimated the crowd at only 4,000; prior to the rally, Hannity said crowds at the event — which he and other Fox News figures heavily promoted — would be “massive.” Conservative media previously inflated crowd estimates for the 9-12 March on Washington. MORE
NOBAMA: Top Afghanistan Envoy Cables White House That None Of The Plans On The Table Are Workable
WASHINGTON POST: Karl W. Eikenberry’s memos, sent as President Obama enters the final stages of his deliberations over a new Afghanistan strategy, illustrated both the difficulty of the decision and the deepening divisions within the administration’s national security team. After a top-level meeting on the issue Wednesday afternoon — Obama’s eighth since early last month — the White House issued a statement that appeared to reflect Eikenberry’s concerns. “The President believes that we need to make clear to the Afghan government that our commitment is not open-ended,” the statement said. “After years of substantial investments by the American people, governance […]
TRAGIC: Cops Seize 600 Primo Pot Plants In North Philly, Say They Have No Plans To Sell It To You Or Me
INQUIRER: Officers responded to a 911 call reporting “a strong odor of weed” on the 3000 block of North 7th Street and found the front windows of the dwelling “completely masked and the strong scent of marijuana,” said Capt. Debra Frazier, of the narcotics unit. Inside, police discovered a .38 caliber handgun and 600 plants [NOT pictured, above], “from seedlings to plants well over 6-feet-tall,” Frazier said. “There was no furniture, no sources of entertainment, nothing but marijuana plants” growing hydroponically under large lights. Frazier estimated the seized pot had a street value of $5 million. MORE PHAWKER: Seriously, $5 […]
STROKE: Dad Vail Regatta Threatens To Row To NJ
DAILY NEWS: Thousands of rowers descend on the banks of the Schuylkill every year to participate in the Dad Vail Regatta – the country’s largest college regatta, which has been held in Philadelphia since 1953. But in 2010, rowers might find themselves competing in Rumson, N.J., on the Navesink River. Increased operating costs and the weak economy’s impact on the regatta’s corporate sponsors mean that last May’s regatta may have been its last in Philadelphia. “The regatta, due to several unforeseeable contributing factors, is facing discontinuation as a Philadelphia-based event,” warned a Nov. 2 letter from the Dad Vail Regatta […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: Scrapple TV News
All the news that shits. With your host, A.P. Ticker.
SEXUAL PERSONAE: BoysWhoLikeGirlsWhoLikeBoys
NEW YORK TIMES: In recent years, a growing number of teenagers have been dressing to articulate — or confound — gender identity and sexual orientation. Certainly they have been confounding school officials, whose responses have ranged from indifference to applause to bans. Last week, a cross-dressing Houston senior was sent home because his wig violated the school’s dress code rule that a boy’s hair may not be “longer than the bottom of a regular shirt collar.” In October, officials at a high school in Cobb County, Ga., sent home a boy who favored wigs, makeup and skinny jeans. In August, […]
PEAK OIL: It’s Later Than You Think
[“Operation Oil Freedom” by SHEPARD FAIREY] TREEHUGGER: World oil reserves are far lower than officially reported, the situation far more serious than publicly admitted, and we’re already past peak oil. That’s the word from two anonymous IEA whistleblowers, The Guardian reports. To add insult to industry, the figures were deliberately massaged, at least in part, to appease the United States: Apparently the IEA was concerned that reporting the true reserve numbers — and keep in mind that determining oil reserves is as much art as science — it would trigger a buying panic. The US enters the picture encouraging the […]
TV: Shit My Dad Says Twitterer Gets CBS Deal
THRFEED: Twitter sensation Shit My Dad Says is headed to television. CBS has picked up a comedy project based on the Twitter account, which has enlisted more than 700,000 followers since launching in August and has made its creator, Justin Halpern [NOT pictured, above], an Internet star. “Will & Grace” creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are on board to executive produce and supervise the writing for the multicamera family comedy, which Halpern will co-pen with Patrick Schumacker. Halpern and Schumacker will also co-exec produce the Warner Bros. TV-produced project, which has received a script commitment. The comedy’s title will […]
STUDY: 2,266 Vets Died Of No Insurance In 2008
PNHP: A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. That figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001. The researchers, who released their analysis today [Tuesday], pointedly say the health reform legislation pending in the House and Senate will not significantly affect this grim picture. […]
EARLY WORD: Still Bill After All These Years
Just the Two of Us. Ain’t No Sunshine. Lean on Me. The man who wrote the songs that defined a decade walked away from showbiz without a look back. For 23 years, Bill Withers shunned the spotlight and refused all interviews — until filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Vlack convinced him to tell his surprising story. Still Bill gives us an inside look at Bill Withers’ life and personality, tells why he stopped performing at the peak of his career and who he is today. An amazing portrait of an icon who never gave up his soul. First Person Arts […]
SWEET JESUS: J-Lo’s Ex Is Shopping Spanking Vid
PEOPLE: Jennifer Lopez has filed a $10 million lawsuit against ex-husband Ojani Noa, whom she claims is violating a confidentiality agreement in place since 2004 by shopping around a sexy honeymoon video the two made in 1997. MORE NEW YORK POST: The hot footage, which reportedly also includes scenes of an embarrassing, ugly argument between J.Lo and her mom, is allegedly part of a movie titled “How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story.”The National Enquirer reported that it had seen 11 hours of Noa’s footage of Lopez and that the kinky material included: * A sizzling […]
THE WORM TURNS: Judge Rules Against Credit Bid In Inky/DN Auction, Paving Way For Local Ownership
INQUIRER: Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. can bar its lenders from using $300 million in debt they are owed to try to purchase the company at auction next week, a federal judge ruled today. The decision by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno reverses a ruling by Chief Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Raslavich. Lawyers for the company’s senior lenders — which include Angelo, Gordon & Co., the CIT Group, Wells Fargo and Eaton Vance (Citizens Bank put the deal together) — had argued that it would be unfair if they had to bid cash, like other potential buyers, for property that served as […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR As an American journalist in Japan, Jake Adelstein uncovered a world unknown to many of the Japanese public, let alone to foreigners: the world of organized crime. For 12 years, he investigated for Japan’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shinbun. In his final story, Adelstein went toe-to-toe with one of the country’s most notorious crime bosses, a discovery that led to death threats for him and his family — death threats that have yet to be lifted. His new memoir about his experiences is called Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan. After leaving the […]