In a new twist in the dingbat word game at the heart of the Benghazi scandal, that email that Speaker Boehner demanded in a grandstanding stunt yesterday doesn’t actually use the phrase ‘Islamic terrorists’ as he claimed.
On the spectrum of Korea-related crises, this doesn’t rank very high. But the spokesperson for South Korea President Park Geun-hye, who just finished up her official visit to the United States, has been fired for a “disgraceful incident,” but details are sketchy on what exactly happened. The Washington Post and others are reporting that police are investigating a groping incident at the W Hotel in Washington. South Korea news outlets report that the victim was an intern working for the South Korean embassy in Washington and the incident occurred Tuesday evening while embassy staff were drinking at the hotel bar.
In desperate effort to change the subject, Cleveland authorities arrange an ‘accident’ in which a semi truck carrying hotdogs overturns on the highway spreading hotdogs far and wide.
Video after the jump … Read More
Minnesota Republican lawmaker breaks down in tears as state House passes gay marriage law.
It’s not the first time we see it. But rightwing paranoia and the business model of the right-wing noise machine really is the de facto ally and saving grace for all Democratic administrations. I’m not sure he gets the full extent of it. But Joe Scarborough is on the right track when he says that “if a lot of people on the far right hadn’t overplayed their hand on Benghazi and were screaming before they knew what they were screaming about, I think we would all be much harder on the administration right now.” Watch.
IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups during 2012 election.
I’m really curious to hear more about this. When I first saw this, I wondered whether it was maybe a politic but unmerited apology in response to mau-mauing from conservative groups. But the article says that “low-level workers” in the Cincinnati office of the IRS were flagging organizations with the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for additional review. If it’s as simple as that, that’s pretty bad.
A first responder at the West, Texas plant explosion, who was appeared in multiple media interviews after the explosion, has been arrested for possessing a ‘destructive device.’
We’ve gotten a number of well-reasoned and thoughtful responses to my post yesterday on non-citizen voting and the concept of citizenship itself. First from TPM Readers AK and JC, US expats living in Toronto …
As long time readers, my partner and I were surprised and disappointed in your response to the New York proposal. It seems to be based more on a gut response than any evidence around civic engagement (one of us is currently working on a PhD centering on civic engagement and community development, so this isn’t exactly uninformed opinion). We are US citizens living in Toronto for the next several years (see aforementioned PhD program), so perhaps we offer a useful perspective on a similar situation. Not to conflate the two cities, but there are enough similarities that comparisons are in several ways apt. Sitting here on the other side of the border, unable to contribute to the governance of a city we’ll call our home for enough years that we’ll be materially affected by the decisions of local policymakers, it’s a little easier to see some of the merits to New York’s proposal.
TPM Reader JH says my idea of citizenship is archaic and may be in conflict with the modern principles of human rights …
I write as a practicing academic sociologist, specializing in urban studies, globalization, urban planning and politics, and migration. I have been an avid, daily reader of TPM for years, but never before commented. Re: your post this morning about the NYC proposal to expand voting rights in local elections to non-citizens, I’d just like to make three quick points.
11 year old New Jersey boy shoots 12 year old in the face.