Wednesday Open Thread [4.17.13]
Still lots of ink being spilled about the Boston Marathon bombing, and at this point, it looks to me like the news organizations are pretty much just regurgitating what they’ve said over the last 2 days. It doesn’t look to me like there is anything new here. But we did have House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) discussing some details of the FBI investigation. Is he supposed to be talking about this? Hmmm.
This is a week old, but Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is trying to get an investigation into the “False Statements” made by the dark money groups to the IRS— 501(c)4 groups:
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, said at a campaign finance hearing yesterday that there were “numerous instances” in which nonprofit groups may have made false statements to the IRS about whether they planned to be involved in federal or local elections.
Applications for tax-exempt status are submitted to the IRS under penalty of perjury. If the IRS is not well-suited to investigate these “plain vanilla criminal cases,” the U.S. Department of Justice should, Whitehouse said.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t love me enough to see perp walks for these people.
Unusual Hillary Speculation — Could Hillary Clinton Be America’s Thatcher? This is from Margaret Carlson and this piece is something of a mess — largely faulting Hillary for being married to Bill Clinton. Both Hillary and Bill have more than their fair share of issues, but Hillary does have accomplishments, not the least of which is making sure that she was pulling other women up the ladder with her and fighting for women’s issues around the world. Thatcher cared not one whit about other women or the rights or well-being of anyone else, for that matter.
Background checks for more gun transactions looks like it is dead. Note to the Media — hyping the bipartisanship before there was something to show for it is a Big Mistake. And I’m hoping that Democrats add this to the list of stuff that needs to be hung around the GOP’s necks next year.
The Onion takes aim at the New York Post and their coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing today :
And so, as we attempt to begin the healing process, let us not bicker over such trivial matters as the actual death toll and what exactly happened at yesterday’s bombing. After all, is it really important, in the aftermath of an event so disastrous and sad, to pick apart the so-called information surrounding this horrific situation and find out what actually happened?
To think, these poor victims have not even been buried yet, and some people out there are already quibbling over little details like how many people have died or what the basic facts of this tragedy even are. Can’t they see it’s not the time for that discussion? After all, when something awful like this happens, you’re not thinking about getting the facts right, or adhering to the basic standards of reporting, or providing people with the correct information they desperately need in a time of crisis, or respecting the families of those involved, or treating human life itself as sacred, or acting like professionals, or thinking about anything other than the amount of page views your story will attract on the internet. You’re not thinking about any of that stuff, at least I’m not. To dwell on all that stuff would just be crass.
As they say, go read the whole thing.
What interests you today?
Hilarity of the Day — Anonymous has hijacked the Westboro RatBastards’ Facebook page…..
AP is reporting that an arrest in the Boston Marathon bombings is imminent. However, the FBI is saying they have a “face” on video, but don’t know the identity of the person.
Just passing along info.
FOX, USAToday, BBC and others are saying a suspect is in custody. NBC says they can’t claim that yet.
The Video showing the suspect came from Lord and Taylor.
Let’s just hope the media stays calm and doesn’t ruin another life like they did to Richard Jewell. It’s important to get the right person, but it is also important to get the right person.
The Anon WBC facebook hack isnt exactly true. It seems it was a fake WBC facebook page to begin with, http://www.inquisitr.com/622526/anonymous-hacks-westboro-baptist-church-facebook-page-not-exactly/
Also, now apparently there was no arrest of a “dark-skinned male” as CNN gleefully reported and Fox ran with. If the yucks who work there had any shred of integrity left in them, they would all quit instantly.
NBC still says no arrest. CNN backpedaling on their arrest story. Ugh.
NPR is reporting that the Boston Police are saying there is no arrest as reported in the Boston bombing. They have it on their twitter page too.
Pay attention. Here’s my update… we have a dark,light skinned man who may be in custody or not.
Sounds about right. Work in this suspect’s defiance of the laws of physics and I’ll buy you a martini. 😉
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boston-federal-courthouse-being-evacuated
WTF?
People on Facebook are mocking CNN’s apparent misreporting on this (in light of their “new” CNN rebranding):
On another note — my teachers union friends need to read this:
State Rep Louie Gohmert (R-ClownShow) is claiming that radical Islamists can act Hispanic and fool people into thinking they are no threat.
That was fast — the FBI arrested someone in Mississippi (surprise, right) for sending the ricin contaminated letters to President Obama and Senator Wicker.