“And to all the folks who are here, don’t let your robots wander off anywhere.” — Pres. Obama, today, speaking at the White House Science Fair.
“There was a lot riding on that particular race in Nevada and it was interesting, because the numbers were much, much greater than you thought,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News. “And a lot of people are giving me credit for that. And I will accept that credit.” — Trump says he deserves credit for Romney’s decisive Nevada win - The Hill
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I’m a critic of Citizens United. I’m a supporter of an amendment to reverse it (among other things). I’m even (sort of) a supporter of an amendment to declare “corporations are not persons.” But I am not a supporter of any amendment that purports to declare “Money is not speech.”
My former dean, Geof Stone, explains why in this piece in the Huffington Post. Stone’s work as a First Amendment scholar actually set the framework for the Court’s core First Amendment jurisprudence (not the Citizens United bit, but the content neutral/content based, etc. bit).
I would urge all who care about this issue to think through his piece carefully. My view has been that we need to attack the problem, not with radical changes that would have loads of unintended consequences, but with targeted responses, that would actually address the problem the Court has created.
So, e.g., with this issue: Imagine a city council passed a resolution that said no one could spend more than $100 on a race for City Council (aka, an incumbency protection resolution). If “money is not speech,” how is that successfully attacked?
Passed a HUGE milestone over the weekend. Thank you everybody!
“A woman at Romney’s Grand Junction rally asked press to tell camp’s DJ the music has swear words & “it’s not appropriate for Mitt Romney.” — @PhilipRucker
“Recently, Berinsky [YouGov’s Adam Berinsky] polled the question again, focusing on Republicans to see if their attitudes have changed in ten months since the president released his birth certificate. Far from getting better, Republicans have actually doubled-down on the belief that Obama is foreign born:” —
“NBC fumbled and the NFL lied because a performer known as M.I.A. felt it necessary to flip off millions of families. It is unfortunate that a spectacular sporting event was overshadowed once again by broadcasting the selfish acts of a desperate performer.” —
The Parents Television Council would like you to know that it does not approve of M.I.A. flipping them the bird last night. Also, nobody cares what the PTC says. (via shortformblog)
LOL.
(via michaelhayes)(via michaelhayes)
![shortformblog:
producermatthew:
There’s a word for that particular seat that Mitt Romney is riding on, right? What’s it called again?
[Getty Images / h/t @shortformblog]
Mitt Romney’s “Dukakis moment?”](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyzfelJ1uS1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg)
There’s a word for that particular seat that Mitt Romney is riding on, right? What’s it called again?
[Getty Images / h/t @shortformblog]
Mitt Romney’s “Dukakis moment?”
Antarctica’s 19-Mile Ice Crack Will Produce New York-Sized Iceberg | TPM Idea Lab
The Big Apple is about to get some competition down south. A New York City-sized iceberg will eventually split off of Antarctica as a result of a 19-mile long crack on a glacier on the Western part of the world’s southernmost continent, according to NASA.
The crack was first observed up-close on the Pine Island Glacier in mid-October 2011 by NASA scientists working on Antarctica, the agency explained.
Later in November, NASA’s Terra AM satellite — the same one that reportedly suffered “interference” from the ground that was speculated to be the result of Chinese hackers — snapped a photo of the crack using its ASTER instrument, a high spatial resolution instrument that serves as an orbital “zoom” lens, which can close-up on land features with incredible detail.
“You ask me, [Obama] should have put that mother-f*!cker on ice and defrosted his ass Nov. 1.” — Samuel L. Jackson on Osama bin Laden - @davecatanese
A recent New York Times article revealed that politicians are using Twitter to monitor the press, raising the question should political journalists change their behavior on Twitter?
The article, written by Ashley Parker of The New York Times, describes how Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign staff uses Twitter to not only engage with constituents but also to monitor reporters. Michael Falcone of the ABC News summed up well with this tweet, “Romney camp treats Twitter as an “early warning signal” for bad press.”
Parker writes “Mr. Romney’s aides say they can get a sense of where a story is headed before it is published simply by reading reporters’ Twitter messages.” His aides collect tweets sent from the press corps and use them to prep Romney for possible questions at press conferences. The staff also engages with reporters directly, sending “Twitter-inspired lecture[s], ranging from a simple “not cool” to something angrier,” Parker writes.
This could be a game changer for reporters covering the debates and elections. If candidates’ aides are monitoring their movements on Twitter this closely (perhaps using Muck Rack Pro), reporters could be giving their hand away to campaign staffs without even knowing it. With many reporters just getting used to covering debates and political campaigns on Twitter, however, it could be hard for them to adopt even newer tweeting practices.
What do you think? Should journalists be cognizant of the fact that campaign staffs are monitoring their tweets and alter their behavior or proceed as normal?
“14. Get ready: During the halftime show, there is going to be a loud Madonna debate. Someone is going to say she is too old. Someone is going to say she looks great. Someone is going to claim she doesn’t have one classic song. Then six people will shout, “LUCKY STAR!” And everyone will agree, because “Lucky Star” is totally great.” — Jason Gay on the 21 Rules of Surviving a Super Bowl Party - WSJ.com