Señor Jehuda, aka "El Blogo de Liberto", is an attorney and media professional with a background in TV marketing and production, copywriting, independent filmmaking, and spontaneously speaking perfect Spanish. A proud Texan who recently escaped from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, he spends far too much time thinking about movies - especially since his job requires it. Jehuda is also a contributor at YesButHowever.com and PJ Lifestyle.
A little late in coming, for an update, but bears mentioning 6 days after the fact: “Former UNM President F. Chris Garcia was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center this morning on charges of promoting prostitution, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, according to Bernalillo County Detention Center records.”
So who takes the cake? UNM or Columbia? I’m not talking academics, either.
THR: Mark Halperin suspended from MSNBC for calling POTUS a “dick”.
To be fair, Ed Schultz got suspended for his name-calling of Laura Ingraham. But given that the ‘S’ in MSNBC sometimes actually stands for ‘State-run’, I couldn’t help myself with the 1984 reference.
Team Obama starts sweating : “The president’s reelection team, once hoping to run on a ‘Morning in America’ theme now doesn’t have that luxury. No wonder, the president’s advisers over the past month have been making moves that suggest they’re awfully concerned about his prospects”.
Read the whole thing.™
Related: Oil prices skyrocket. Looks like releasing all those barrels from the Strategic Reserve didn’t quite do the trick…
BBC”s Mark Kermode finds a way to express his feelings about Transformers 3.
I suppose he was unable to make his point with a series of face-palms.
Why does this all remind me of the Obama administration?
At Patterico‘s, Aaron Worthing spots 13 clear factual errors within Richard Stengel’s essay on the Constitution. Simply embarrassing. It’s like Time‘s editors went on vacation and put the interns in charge. (Via Dan Collins)
Remember back in the day – before the Tea Party movement was around to make the Ruling Class feel threatened – how the Constitution was a living, breathing document? Now Time Magazine is asking whether it still matters and shows it half-shredded on its cover. Funny how things change. And boy, are they changing. Just not like anyone expected…
NYT: The Lawyer Surplus, State by State.
Not quite a dime a dozen, but I suppose things could eventually get to that point if the schools keep churning out these many J.D.’s…
THR: Splashy Sarah Palin Movie Shuts Out Hollywood.
And who can blame it? It wasn’t just Hollywood that got shut out, though: “Reporters from around the country that have descended upon tiny Pella, Iowa for the premiere of the Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated on Tuesday night were in for a rude awakening: So scarce are the tickets that there’s no room in the theater for journalists.”
Odds are most of them didn’t really want to be there, anyway.
UPDATE: Related: Anti-Sarah Palin doc promises dishonest hit job.
Well, to be more precise, it came from Sweden: Genderless pre-school bans “him” and “her”.
The name of the institution will make you chuckle…
Andrew Stuttaford reviews a classic book on totalitarian art.
Backwards ran the rhetoric: Nicholas Kristoff extolls the virtues of “Our Lefty Military” and puts it out as a model to imitate by society at large. Hmm. Why does that sound familiar?
Snark aside, I think Kristoff is missing the forest for the trees when he refers to the U.S. military as a “model of compassion”. One of the reasons why employment benefits in the military are far more generous than those offered in the private sector is that the Pentagon doesn’t have to make a profit to stay “in business”, as it were. But if people like Kristoff are starting to look to the military for political direction, the elite Left must be experiencing more uncertainty than anyone could have imagined. And really, who can blame them?
Next thing you know, Kristoff et al. will call for a reinstatement of the draft, all in the spirit of fomenting the adoption of a “model of compassion”. Heck, Kristoff even – ever so subtly – gives the ROTC program a compliment in that piece, so you really can’t rule anything out.
UPDATE (June 23): Looks like Kristoff is not the only member of the elite Left who is now embracing what he and his confreres told us for years to reject. Is this what happens when your ideology hits a dead end at every turn?
2008 local news report profiles the gangsters Janice Hahn freed in L.A.:
Rape, murder, and automatics! Oh, my! Those are some of the issues in CA-36. Making TRUSA’s attack ad an issue instead is a desperate attempt by Hahn’s campaign and her supporters to help her avoid responsibility for what were evidently some very poor policy choices.
At its most elemental, that’s what any election should be about: can this candidate cut it? If so, why? If not, why not? Otherwise, voters have nothing to go on but abstracts and empty words when it comes to judging the candidates courting their vote. And we know what happens when you vote on nothing but abstracts and empty words.
THR: Premiere of Olbermann’s re-incarnated Countdown beats CNN in target demographic. 179,000 viewers to 89,000.
Keep in mind CurrentTV is carried by few cable systems; as opposed to CNN, which can be seen everywhere.
Of course, 179,000 is not that impressive a number, either. As a TV executive friend of mine once said, “I can open a window and have a bigger audience” (Not really – maybe when I lived in NYC). But this must be something of a humiliation for CNN…
Forbes: The FTC thinks your social media profile should be disclosed to potential employers:
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission gave a stamp of approval to a background check company that screens job applicants based on their Internet photos and postings…This means a search of what you’ve said or posted to Facebook/Twitter/Flickr/blogs and the Internet in general may become a standard part of background checks when you apply for a job.
Now social media demands that you behave with the same prudence your credit report demands. Good times…
Are some pro-Hahn Democrats threatening to make things explosive for TRUSA?
CNNMoney: “Taxpayers have spent $4 billion since 1978 on California’s capital punishment system — and with only 13 executions to show for it. That’s about $308 million per execution.”
Now Californians may have to abolish the death penalty in order to balance the state budget. But given that death row in California is such a joke, maybe it’s for the best. Just another instance of Blue State decline, I suppose…
The recently released anti-Janice Hahn attack ad directed by Ladd Ehlinger was bound to ruffle feathers. Now Turn Right USA, the PAC responsible for the ad, has become the object of a DDOS attack on their website. But have they uncovered the man responsible for the attack?
Sounds like another instance of ‘Freedom of Speech for me but not for thee’, all too common among the oh-so-tolerant Left.
Now the FBI is involved. Stay tuned.
With a redesign and a whole new section.
Incidentally, Prof. Jacobson of LegalInsurrection has also relaunched his blog, at a new url: legalinsurrection.com
No more Google Blogger!
UPDATE: And now there’s also Dan Collins’ new project on the web, The Conservatory, which he’s launched with Joy McCann. I like their style and coverage! Check them out.
Of course he does: Russian president Medvedev wants to see Obama re-elected.
And I bet you Brezhnev was hoping Carter would get re-elected, too…
Related content at Power Line.
The Obama administration has been full of unpleasant surprises for both sides of the political divide. The Left – if not heartbroken – must be stunned.
On the Right, we’re suffering from face-palm overdose. But we did issue many a warning about Obama back in 2008 while the Left and its media apparatch-holes (hi, Journo-List!) did everything they could to cover up or airbrush Obama’s obvious shortcomings.
Well, now we learn that what has been looking like an imperial presidency is run very much like one: NYT: Obama overruled 2 Top Lawyers In Libya War Debate. Turns out that it’s not a war when the president does it! Funny how Obama just keeps channeling Nixon.
Democrats and Lefties everywhere must be are kicking themselves like a jilted girlfriend. But they had it coming. They’ve been sold out and lied to…but then again they sold themselves to the Hope and Change marketing machine and lied to everyone they could about it. Like some Lefties are so fond of saying: You reap what you sow…
Related: More hubris and nemesis news from Ed Driscoll.
Steve Benen: When The Networks Muted Pelosi: “The major cable news networks waited with bated breath for Pelosi to start talking. But the moment she turned her attention to job creation and the middle class, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News immediately decided they were no longer interested…No Weiner. No coverage.”
Can you blame them? It’s not like Pelosi can speak with any credibility about either job creation or the middle class, right? Anything she would have said about Weinergate would have been infinitely more relevant than her thoughts on either topic.
Plus, she’s not Speaker anymore. I know that shouldn’t matter because she’s the minority leader; but I enjoy saying it as much as I enjoy saying she’s the minority leader…
Remember that old Insty intra-meme? ‘Name That Party’, which referred to instances of MSM organs omitting the party affiliation of morally-challenged Democrats whenever coverage was given to their pecadilloes?
The formula evidently has evolved: A headline for a Reuters-sourced article posted on the website of an Indian affiliate of CNN’s is actually referring to Anthony Weiner as a “U.S. Republican”. The article seems to be an edited version of this Reuters item (they share some paragraphs in common).
To be honest, I believe this is the result of poor research from an overseas organ, more than the result of bias. But really, how can anyone mistake Weiner for a member of the GOP? He’s so obviously a Democrat. Republicans in similar circumstances are forced out of office within days and no one steps to make excuses for them or to defend them (not even fellow Republicans); while Weinergate unraveled in a period of about 3 weeks amid an outpouring of support and skepticism from multiple Leftie pundits, Sorosphere apparatch-holes, and liberal glitterati.
Via Jonah Goldberg.
Has Hollywood Stopped Trying?
CHUD compares Mr. Popper’s Penguins (June 17) to The Smurfs (July 29), both of which we included in our list of the Summer’s Nine Worst Movie Trailers… Not only does each one look bad on its own, but shot for shot they “appear to be the exact same movie.”
You mean they were trying before this?
UPDATE: Ed Driscoll links with related content, which I’ll soon be filing under ‘Things I Suspected, But Somehow Also Already Knew’. Thanks!
Some comments in reaction to the new and re-imagined Lara Croft, of Tomb Raider fame: “I want to see her succeed because I see a little bit of me in her. “
The saga of Weiner’s errant wiener has come to an end. Or as a Facebook friend posted: “If you tweet your meat, you lose your seat.”
I expect Weiner will sublimate his thirst for power and womenfolk (and penchant for lying) in a manner analogous to Al Gore’s reinventing himself as Lord Protector of Planet Earth. Maybe not achieving the same degree of success as Al Gore; and certainly not in the same genre as Al Gore (science fiction), but maybe in erotica or something along those lines.
But he’ll bounce back somehow. Heck, if Elliot Spitzer can get a TV show…
UPDATE: TOM has a robust roundup on this latest development…
MORE: HotAir on Weiner’s next move: Could Weiner escape ethics probe by resigning and running for seat again?
Introducing the Happy Hot Dog Man:
I suspect the congressman would not approve, though.
But wait! There’s more: Related: Why Anthony Weiner Can’t Leave Congress.
UPDATE: Weiner scandal far from petering out: TOM has the latest on that Delaware 17-year old and Professor Douglas has the latest on porn star Ginger Lee’s involvement.
Yes, I’ve been remiss in updating the blog with new posts in recent days. Been busy at home with some home improvement projects. And yesterday was quite a Monday at work. Hopefully this afternoon I made up for it. I appreciate the meager readership I have. Thanks for bearing with me…
Ladd Ehlinger is at it again: “She ran a city program that coddled gang members, paid them with taxpayer money, got them out of jail to rape and kill again.” Now she wants to run for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Who is she? You’ll have to click here to find out.
I’ll tell you right now that she’s been a member of the Los Angeles City Council for about a decade. I lived in L.A. for almost 17 years and I can also tell you that’s not exactly a resume enhancer for her…
UPDATE: The predictable response. What’s so stunning about the ad? The imagery is the same as that of countless hip-hop videos. If the ad is nothing but lies, Hahn should sue for defamation. The fact that all she’s done is call for “condemnation” speaks volumes. Her calling it “sexist towards all women” is hilarious. The ad doesn’t address gender roles in any way or fashion. It’s about bad ideas by Janice Hahn, not about her being a woman. The ad has definitely taken her by surprise. And now she’s bringing even more attention to it. I’m not sure what I think about her Republican opponent’s reaction. I would have said nothing instead of condemning the ad.
TPM’s suggestion that Ehlinger is racist for describing Los Angeles gangs as mostly African American while citing 2005 gang population statistics from LAPD to back up their insinuation is also highly misleading. The statistics they link to are for Los Angeles County gangs, not for gangs within the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County is much larger than the City of L.A.; and a significant number of gang members in the city are African American. Maybe not all of them, but that doesn’t mean most gang members in the city are Latino.
MORE: Related content from TOM.
Can we keep U.S. forces in Afghanistan for decades? Guardian: Secret US and Afghanistan talks could see troops stay for decades.
Insert your own “They told me that if I voted for McCain” line here. Just make sure it’s about lack of transparency and war so that it fits just right.
A major web security FAIL: “Seriously, this is kindergarten level stuff. Really, really stupid.”
And The Daily Show goes out of its way to punish Crowder by targeting his manager.
Classy move from the people behind the Rally to Restore Sanity, isn’t it?
UPDATE: Related content from Ace.
“In discussing how a totally bogus Sarah Palin quote made it into a Politico opinion piece, Hagey reverts to the passive voice, not naming names, not focusing in on anyone’s fault”.
Did Rep. Weiner send obscene photos to a seventeen-year-old?
Wasn’t Mark Foley hounded into resigning for less?
Will Chris Matthews keep blaming “backward” Christian Conservatives over Weiner’s troubles?
And aren’t Dems reaping what they sow?
Stay tuned. This ain’t over yet…
UPDATE: Chris Matthews link was bad. Sorry! Just fixed it.
MORE: Pelosi says Weiner can stay.
It’s not a story by R.S. McCain, but it could be (Fiction or news? You decide).
Douchecanoe Diaries: Featuring the incisive commentary of Dan Collins, whom I know from Twitter well enough to tell you he doesn’t suffer fools well. Which probably explains why the blog is so Joan-Walsh-centric.
Via TOM.
Awesome gallery here.
Via Kottke.
This is a Brooklyn I’ve only seen on film. I rarely visited Brooklyn while I lived in New York back during my college years, but all those movie memories actually make these photos feel strangely familiar. The shot of the Brooklyn bridge in between two rows of buildings has been used in at least one movie that I can recall: Once Upon A Time In America (if not on its poster and promotional materials).
Mediaite: New Weiner Sexting Buddy Emerges. Good times. Sounds to me like the resignation countdown just sped up a bit.
Plus, the obligatory Next Media animation video of the scandal so far.
Next Media is a Taiwanese company about which you can read more here. You’ve seen their stuff before.
Lisa Graas: Why Palin and Bachmann Will Inevitably Butt Heads.
