Breaking News Tweets: Riots in Baltimore

Here are some of the latest tweets regarding the riots in Baltimore stemming from the police custody death of Freddie Grey, 25. The pictured images of Anderson Cooper from CNN, the Baltimore Oriole, and Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md). Here they are:

1) The Hill: Maryland Governor Hogan: Things are going to be different today in Baltimore.

2) Talking Points Memo: The right piles on Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake over her quote about letting protestors 'destroy.'

3) National Review (a right-wing publication): If you allow lawlessness to go unchallenged: You get more of it."

4) Mother Jones (a left-wing publication): Rand Paul blames the Baltimore riots on absentee fathers.

5) The Baltimore Sun: Tomorrow's Orioles game will be played at 2:05 p.m., and be closed to the public.

6) Slate: CNN's Baltimore coverage is dreadful and shameful.

7) David Swanson (liberal activist): Send the whole police force and National Guard to Camden Yards. Watch peace break out.

8) Newsweek: Update numbers from Baltimore riots: 202 people arrested, 20 cops injured, 144 cars set on fire.

9) Chicago Tribune: Obama on rioting: 'They aren't protesting, they aren't making a statement, they're stealing.'

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com

Halloween Tweets: Mach Ado About Silly String

Greetings to our lovely blog-readers in Wales, Slovakia and Jordan.

Tonight, we focus on tweets from Halloween night.

1) David Corn (liberal reporter): "Since when did most kids come to feel entitled to two pieces of candy, not one, when they trick and treat?"

2) Brent Watts (Channel 7 Roanoke, Va., weather reporter): "Reports of thundersnow in North Carolina as this system vamps up"

3) Bill Amend (cartoonist of "Foxtrot"): "For Halloween, I've dressed up as a bored middle-aged guy surfing the web while imagining everyone he knows having fun."

4) Mother Jones (liberal magazine): "Silly string is illegal here_but only on Halloween."

5) CNN: "A game company wants to help creator of 'Operator' with his operation costs."

6) Scott Simon (NPR reporter): "Man on streets dressed as what daughters call 'wee wee' for Halloween. Does he think women will this debonair"?

7) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): "A year ago today, I was sworn in Vice President Biden as a Senator from the great state of New Jersey."

http://www.wdbj7.com/

http://www.foxtrot.com

http://www.motherjones.com

http://scottsimonbooks.com/

DC Week (3 of 8): Escape from DC............but, Skyline Drive is Closed Too

With images of 1) Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah, who is one of the most social media savvy members of the House), 2) The Metro line map for Washington, DC, the Red Line is the one used to get to Washington Capitals games and 3) Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who will be appearing on at least one Sunday morning talk show tomorrow.

Here are the tweets:

1) The Hill: "John Boehner spokesman takes flack for calling House Dems 'hostage takers..'"

2) Huff Post Politics: "Conservative shutdown architects hosting fancy fundraiser on debt ceiling day" (which was yesterday).

3) Washington DC News: "Ted Cruz wins religious conservatives 2016 straw poll."

4) Mother Jones (a liberal publication): "Demonstrating the lies of pundits is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel."

5) Politico: "Ken Cuccinelli's campaign released its most brutal ad yet in the very nasty Virginia governor's race." (he is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffe).

6) DC United (the local pro soccer team): "Tailgate is underway. Pick up your tickets and visit the food trucks in Lot 8 as well as Nocha Latina festivities!"

http://chaffetz.house.gov/

http://www.wmata.com/

http://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/

http://thehill.com/

http://www.motherjones.com/

http://www.politico.com

Friday Night Tweets, Contd_. Nixon 2013?

Since it is snowing cats and dogs here in Burlington, NC, (not really where we are, but it is snowing in North Carolina too), we thought we'd post some more Friday night tweets, including one which alludes to a certain deceased Republican president, and no we don't mean Herbert Hoover:

1) WSOC TV @WSOC_TV: Highway patrol responds to more than 300 accidents in the Charlotte area today.

2) Spears YMCA Sports @SpearsYSports: For Sat., Jan 26th, all basketball games at Kernodine Middle School in Greensboro are cancelled.

3) Mother Jones @MotherJones: @boyscouts threaten to boot troop unless they discriminate

4) Sun Devil Gymnastics @ASUGymnastics: "Sun devil spirit is in the arena as the crowd begins an 'A-S-U' chant."

5) The Fix @TheFix: "Seriously....imagine a giant-sized Richard Nixon racing around the Nats Park. That would freaking rule.

6) Top Conservative Cat @TeaPartyCat: Now that Sarah Palin is off Fox News, she can finally devote herself full time to curing cancer.

7)Dane Cook @DaneCook: RT if you think a committed relationship is more of a weekday activity.

It's Election Day in America

One of the most interesting U.S. Congressional races is actually between Cong. Howard Berman (D-Calif., top) and Cong. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). Since the district includes the city of Glendale, Calif., which has the largest Armenian-American population in the country (it should pointed out that I'm a Turkish-American, though also a Democrat, so much for trying to be as objective as Jim Lehrer or Charlie Rose, both of PBS), the Armenian-American actually sponsored a debate between the two candidates. This has lead us to come up with the satirical label "Berman Sherman Armenians," alas, we don't have the monetary funds to copyright the term!

I suppose it is best for me not to make an endorsement in this race, and as it is, it is very easy to get the candidates mixed. In fact, we almost misidentified Berman for Sherman. 

Another interesting Congressional race, in an election being overshadowed by the close presidential election, is between Cong. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), perhaps the most conservative Democrat on The Hill and his challenger Mia Love, an African-American Republican Mormom who is the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. Local newspapers in Utah said that Love actually has a slight polling lead in the race.

There is also the high-profile race between Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) and his challenger, Tammy Duckworth, 44, a Democrat, who is a double amputee from serving a combat mission she was serving in the Iraq War in November of 2004, just days after George W. Bush edged John Kerry, another war veteran, for the presidency. Duckworth was recently profiled in "Mother Jones," a left of center publication.

Lastly, we want to commend the Langley High School  12th grade government class in McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, DC. They project that President Barack Obama will win over Mitt Romney by a tally 290-248 electoral college votes. The school, which is nicknamed the Vikings, the same nickname as Northside High School in my hometown of Roanoke, Va. (not my alma mater) and their political forecast was published in the Sunday edition of "The Washington Post."

There is no report, to our knowledge, on whom the Northside Vikings think will win the race, but the school is in Roanoke County, which is considered a swing jurisdiction that slightly favors Republicans.

http://www.howardberman.com

http://www.bradsherman.com

http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.reason.com (a conservative/libertarian publication)

For Our International Audience-Let's Get Our Times Right

The novelist Michael Chabon recently told "Mother Jones," more known for its liberal politics that the problem with the Internet was that it has evolved into a deliberate force for wasting time, and a similar point is apparently being made with Sunday's lead story in the business section of "The Washington Post," about wasted time in the office.

With that in mind, we thought we would keep everyone updated on the current time differences with the east coast of America (Philadelphia, Orlando) and the rest of the world. We should have had this posted an hour ago, but we had to check Twitter and Facebook 'just one more time.'

12:00 a.m.

Philadelphia

Washington, DC

Charlotte, NC

2:00 a.m.

Santiago (Chile)

3:00 a.m.

Sao Paulo (Brazil)

5:00 a.m.

Reykjavik (Iceland)

Dublin (pictured, James Joyce statue)

6:00 a.m.

Frankfurt

Venice

7:00 a.m.

Bursa (Turkey)

Rhodes (Greece, pictured)

Sofia (Bulgaria)

Amman (Jordan)

8:00 a.m.

Jeddah (Saudi Arabia, map pictured)

Baghdad

Sannaa (Yemen)

Nairobi (Kenya)

http://www.visitphilly.com

http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.saudiarabiaembassy.net

http://www.visitrhodes.gr/

http://www.visitdublin.com

Silly Photo to Fill Space- the Tom and Jerry Necktie

One of the items on my Christmas wish list that we published back on Dec. 5 was a Tom and Jerry necktie. We mentioned the same time several months ago when we quipped that a guy can know he's in trouble on a first date if the girl asks: "Which one is the mouse?"

For those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, who were born when Bill Clinton (another saxophone player) was president, Jerry is the mouse (did we really need to say that?! Yes, we probably did).

The Tom and Jerry necktie retails for circa $15 on most online sites, like zazzle.com

An interesting historical note about the characters is that a new incarnation of "Tom and Jerry" appeared on a series with Grape Ape (who looks like a purple King Kong with a baseball cap) cartoons in 1975.

The producers who perhaps later went on to advise George W. Bush (forgive the center-left political humor, kids! and Newt Gingrich if you are reading this) thought it would be a idea to make Tom and Jerry friends instead of the bitter rivals they had been for four decades before. By doing this, they thus ruined the basic plot premise that drove the storyline. A familiar gag that worked as well for kids in Dubai as it did kids in Topeka. And, of course, the new 'toons flopped.

Actually, a Grape Ape lunchbox would be a nifty item to have as well, but there are folks starving on the streets, especially in Detroit (read a depressing, but well-written article in "Mother Jones" about that), so wanting such things seem pointless and trivial.

You can probably find the Tom and Jerry cheaper than $15 if you look hard enough:)

Quote of the Week-Clint Eastwood

Since many poltiical experts from "The Hill" and "The Washington Post" and perhaps even the very liberal "Mother Jones" are forecasting doom and gloom for us Democrats tomorrow (is there still a chance that we can get that open congressional seat in Boise, Idaho?!). we thought we'd show irony by quoting one of Hollywood's few conservatives Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood, 80, is still directing films and his latest one "Hereafter" with Matt Damon has garnered lots of critical acclaim. But Eastwood was actually chastisied by the pro-life crowd especially arch conservative film critic Michael Medved because of a certain plot twist in "Million Dollar Baby," a boxing film that gave Hillary Swank her second Oscar. (Eastwood won his second directing Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby." His first came from helming "Unforgiven.")

Here is the quote from Dirty Harry himself:

"I don't believe in pessimisim. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will."

Hmmm.....does this mean I still might have a chance to go out with Jennifer Love Hewiit?!

My Christmas Gift Wish List 4 Next Year (Satire)

1. Zhu Zhu Hamsters (pictured)
2. Che Guevara t-shirt
3. Glock 19 gun
4. Mister Potato Head
5. "The Wire" box set*
6. Chuck Norris' "The Delta Force" on dvd (pictured)
7. $50 Starbucks gift certificate (pictured)
8. The Octagon Hot Dog Converter**
9. First issue of "Hot Stuff" ***
10. Subscription to "Mother Jones" (pictured)



*-Indirectly suggested by comic strip artist Keith Knight ("The Knight Life")
**-Actual product! We looked for an image on the net, but couldn't find one
***- Not sure, how much it is worth, but it's (significantly) more than 10 cents!

Chuck Norris' far-right column is carried in the Greensboro, NC, alt weekly "Yes Weekly" which also features liberal columnists like Alexander Cockburn.

There are actually 53 Starbucks in Istanbul, Turkey!

It took a lot of time to post this entry as well as the companion entry on my sister blog "The Daily Vampire." Hope you enjoy it. Numbers five, seven and nine would be great actually! Perhaps my rich uncle in Bethasda, Maryland, can get one of them for me............