BY JEFF DEENEY A major piece of recent news (in nerd circles, at least) is that the Atlantic Monthly has gone the way of the Grey Lady and torn down the pay wall standing between non-subscribers and the magazine’s online content. Now the magazine’s archives dating all the way back to 1857 are yours to search, post about on your blog and link friends to favorite articles you might have read a long time ago but almost totally forgot about. It’s not Alycia Lane, I know, but different things make different people’s hearts go pitter patter. A cursory search for […]
BIG BROTHER: Can You Hear Me Now?
According to this report on, of all places, Fox News, not only can the Feds eavesdrop on your cell phone conversations, but they can use your phone as a de facto ‘bug’ even when it is turned off. Apparently, some unnamed backdoor in the phone technology allows them to remotely activate the microphone in your cell phone and monitor everything you say or hear…this caption will self-destruct in five seconds…
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: Philly Mag Publishes Alycia Lane Career Autopsy [On] Lane’s newsroom outbursts: In front of several people, she screamed at a production assistant who was fresh out of college, causing the woman to cry at her desk; another time, while shooting a promo, she got so angry she hurled her earpiece, which ended up hitting a staffer in the forehead. “If she perceives you to be above her, you get tears and doe eyes,” says one co-worker. “If you are perceived to be below her, you get threats and cursing.” The station’s hands-off attitude toward Lane’s […]
CENSORED: U.S. Media Blacks Out FBI Whistleblower
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: “For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch’s London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation,” declares Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers some 35 years ago. “But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts.”So begins a column by Ellsberg at Brad Friedman’s “Brad Blog.” Edmonds is the former FBI […]
TOM CRUISE: Hardcore Hillary Supporter
The proxy war between the Clinton and Obama camp reached a new and shocking low today when Tom Cruise went on Oprah to declare his support for Hillary and then proceeded to kill the titular host — arguably Obama’s most high-profile supporter — with some kind of death ray that shoots out of his fingers. All of this happened on national television and was seen by millions. The fact that none of you have ANY recollection of this only proves just how powerful those Scientologist people really are. Just sayin’. RELATED: Fred Thompson Ends Presidential Bid
STRANGER THAN FICTION: U Can’t Make This Shit Up!
NJ Neo Nazi Radio Host Accused Of Being An FBI Informant Calls It Quits New Jersey radio host Hal Turner [NOT pictured, above] is well known as one of the most vicious neo-Nazis in America, a man who routinely suggests killing his enemies. Railing against President Bush, he told his audience last June that “a well-placed bullet can solve a lot of problems.” He has written that “we need to start SHOOTING AND KILLING Mexicans as they cross the border” and argued that killing certain federal judges “may be illegal, but it wouldn’t be wrong.” In 2006, after he published […]
PAPERBOY: ‘Hipster Art Boys & A Dead Girl’ Edition
BY AMY Z. QUINN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. Hey, we know how it is — so many words to read, so little time to surf for free porn. That’s why every week, PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you, freeing up valuable […]
WORTH REPEATING: The MSM’s Wafer-Thin Skin
Salon’s indispensable Glenn Greenwald got into a dust-up with CNN’s John King after Greenwald called him on the carpet for throwing nothing but softballs in an insufferably fawning interview with John McCain. King’s arrogant response is, to say the least, disappointing for its wounded-ego defensiveness and I-Live-In-A-Bubble-And-Proud-Of-It cluelessness. But beyond that, as Greenwald points out, it is fascinating in its similarity — both in tone and content — to likeminded missives from other aggrieved MSM mandarins decrying the cruelty and irrelevance of the blogosphere. It’s almost like they had a secret meeting and hammered out a boilerplate response to blogger slings […]
MEDIA: The End Of Newspapers As We Now Know It
DEAR PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, We’ve said it before and we will say it again: PEOPLE WHO WATCH AMERICAN IDOL DON’T READ NEWSPAPERS, AND VICE VERSA. This just looks desperate and sad. Very sad. Please make it stop. Yer pal, THE PHAWKER
SHUCK AND JIVE: Limbaugh Plays Homonym Card; BET Prez Steps Over Obama And Fetches For Clintons
RUSH LIMBAUGH: “…Obama is holding his own against both of them – doing more than his share of the ‘spade’ work. Maybe even gaining ground at the moment. Using not only the spade ladies and gentleman—that when he finishes with the ‘spade’ in the garden of corruption planted by the Clinton’s, he turns to the ‘hoe.’ And so the spade work and his expertise using a hoe.” [via CROOKSANDLIARS] PREVIOUSLY: Ever Notice How No Matter What Rush Limbaugh Is Talking About — Iraq, Football, Yummy Oxycontin — It Always Seems To Come Down To ‘How Scary Black People Are’? WASHINGTON […]
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For Your Eyeballs
ATTACK A TASTE OF THE CLONES: FDA Approves Franken-Meat For Humans WASHINGTON – Meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as that from their counterparts bred the old-fashioned way, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday, but sales still won’t begin right away. “Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day,” said Dr. Stephen Sundloff, FDA’s food safety chief. Regardless, it still will be years before many foods from cloned animals reach store shelves, for economic reasons: At $10,000 to $20,000 per animal, they’re a lot more expensive […]
FORBES: We’re Number One!
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] Bill Giles, The P.T. Barnum Of The Phillies, And The Creature He Brought To Life INQUIRER: The Phillie Phanatic is the top mascot in sports, according to a market research group whose findings were reported today on Forbes.com.The Phanatic — which edged out the pioneer mascot the San Diego Chicken for No. 1 on The Marketing Arm’s Davie-Brown Index — “became an instant smash when it debuted for the Phillies in 1978. Leading fans from the top of the dugout, riding around on a motorbike and heckling opposing players was all new at the time, offering […]