New report shows who has donated millions to Islamophobic groups since 2001.
You may have noticed we’ve been beefing up the TPM Livewire with a lot more iterative minute-to-minute coverage of late. We’ve got some exciting plans for it that we’ll share with you in the near future, so stay tuned.
But in the meantime, we’ll be covering all the Hurricane Irene news there throughout the weekend. So check it out.
Also, we welcome your reports, video, and photos from wherever you are within the cone of uncertainty. Just be safe.
I’d urge you to read our piece on the protests over a U.S. pipeline to transport the product of Canada oil sands to the Gulf coast in conjunction with Kevin Drum’s piece on our oil-constrained future.
Kevin’s piece is on the economic effects of maxing out worldwide oil production. Our piece is implicitly about the environmental effects. As demand for oil exceeds supply, the quest for more sources of oil becomes more expensive and more environmentally damaging. It’s all related.
Chuck Norris, action hero and international arms treaty expert. OK, not so much on that second one.
Pandora in the second quarter streamed 1.8 million hours of music and had revenue of $67 million but still hasn’t turned a profit.
Take away the far-right Republican field he’s most often compared to and Jon Huntsman hardly looks like a moderate.
As we wait for the ominous hurricane Irene to come ashore (a truly frightening prospect for people almost across the entire East Coast) we’re biding our time over at Twitter trying to work up a treatment for a screenplay with the newly-discovered all diamond planet and Newt Gingrich.
So far I think the best entry we have is from @szorowitz who proposes …
@joshtpm Diamond planet threatens Earth market. Africa sends astronaut (call him Omaba) to destroy planet. US drafts Newt to stop him 1/2
@joshtpm Newt wins battle, claims planet for US, marries Diamond Planet Queen after fiance back on Earth succumbs to planted Ebola virus 2/2
That’s a pretty good plot treatment piled into two tweets. Have to imagine Willis or Affleck get cast in some role. But maybe it lags a little toward the end. Anyway, you got any good ideas? Join us here. And let us know your idea.
Late Update: @mseyfang dubs inhabitants “Blingons”.
Fresh in from the Department of Awesome, a team of astronomers has discovered a planet roughtly 4,000 light years away that appears to be a gigantic, solid diamond.
And the planet is about five times bigger than the Earth.
They could call it Zsa Zsa 1.
This afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a journalists’ Q&A with former Utah Gov. John Huntsman (R) put on by Bloomberg View. I’ll probably write about it more going forward. But I just wanted to share some quick impressions while they are fresh in my mind.
My first impression was that Huntsman comes off considerably better in person than on TV. Not that he comes off badly in broadcast media. But he’d looked a bit like a waif, maybe with a bit of a joker’s grin when I’ve seen him on television. But he cut a considerably more impressive, substantial figure in person. The Obama folks are right to hope he doesn’t get near the nomination. Because I think he’d be a formidable challenger in an economic climate as bad as the one we’re in. At this point most base Republicans would probably vote for one of Obama’s Kenyan 3rd cousins over Obama. So any nominee will have those folks banked. And Huntsman would appeal to moderates and Democrats far better than Perry or I think Romney. Setting aside looks and atmospherics, he’s just clearly a very knowledgable guy. So sounds like I was impressed? Yeah, I was.
What’s the sales pitch? I’m the moderate, reality-based Republican who’s not a total phony who changes his position based on the political considerations of the moment. Read More
Virginia televangelist Pat Robertson, on the earthquake damage to the Washington Monument:
Now there’s a crack in it, there’s a crack in it and it’s closed up. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance or is it just result of an earthquake? You judge, but I just want to bring that to your attention.