It’s been an especially bad week in America. Adding insult to injury, the Senate failed to pass a gun control measure expanding background checks — a bill that’s been highly anticipated since the Newtown massacre.Celebrities took to Twitter to condemn the Senators and NRA lobbyists who worked to shut down the bill.Aaron Paul retweeted “Breaking Bad” cast member Bryan Cranston:[embedtweet id="324947583946596353"]Actress Elizabeth Banks tweeted a link to an article that shared the Twitter handles of the senators who voted to block the bill:https://twitter.com/ElizabethBanks/statuses/324870675972120576And many other celebs vocalized disappointment and anger and ridicule:[embedtweet id="324704403934281728"][embedtweet id="324642787339427840"][embedtweet id="324620966653210624"][embedtweet id="324654247587229696"][embedtweet id="324630844021026816"][embedtweet id="324633175450083329"][embedtweet id="324635220978585600"]Continue Reading… … Read More
Must-see morning clip: Jay Leno takes another jab at NBC execs
After calling them “snakes” and slamming the networks ratings on Monday and Tuesday night, Jay Leno took another cheap shot at NBC execs on Wednesday night’s show, calling them “extinct.”"According to several reports, scientists say they are getting closer and closer to being able to do Jurassic Park-style cloning of extinct species,” Leno said during his opening monologue. “Imagine that. Things that were once thought to be extinct could be brought back from the dead. So there’s hope for NBC. It could turn around.”Leno’s vitriol comes as the New York Times reported Leno is on his way out as the “Tonight Show” host, to be replaced by Jimmy Fallon.Watch Leno’s recent insult, at 3:46:Continue Reading… … Read More
And You’re Ugly, Too
British police investigated Tim Loughton, a Conservative member
of parliament, for six months after he described a constituent as
“unkempt.” Kieran Francis had written Loughton about some problems
he was having with his local council. Loughton ;wrote
him back, siding with the council. Francis said the term
“unkempt” was obviously a racist insult, since he claims to be of
Romany descent. Police ultimately decided not to file charges of
malicious communication against Loughton. … Read More
Brickbat: And You’re Ugly, Too
British police investigated Tim
Loughton, a Conservative member of parliament, for six months after
he described a constituent as “unkempt.” Kieran Francis had written
Loughton about some problems he was having with his local council.
Loughton
wrote him back, siding with the council. Francis said the term
“unkempt” was obviously a racist insult, since he claims to be of
Romany descent. Police ultimately decided not to file charges of
malicious communication against Loughton. … Read More
Duma blasts press mogul over MP-critical column
The scandal broke over the weekend as one of the leaders ofparliamentary majority United Russia party promised theeditor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets and one of its authorswould “answer harshly” for an opinion piece published in thenewspaper’s Saturday issue.The article entitled ‘Political prostitution changes its gender’attacked three female MPs – Irina Yarovaya, Olga Batalina andYekaterina Lakhova – for changing positions several times in thecourse of their political careers (sometimes this meant alsoswitching from one political party to another).Top United Russia official general council Andrey Isayev repliedby two Twitter posts, saying he and his comrades did not intend toforgive or forget the journalists, and promising that the responsewill be harsh.The tweets were immediately widely circulated by various Russianjournalists who understood them as direct threats and an attack onthe freedom of speech.Moskovsky Komsomolets owner and Editor-in-Chief Pavel Gusev, whois also the chairman of the Moscow Union of Journalists, hasdemanded that the Prosecutor General’s Office check Isayev’sstatements and make a conclusion as to whether or not these can beseen as threats.Gusev insisted that the article contained not a single insultand the ‘political prostitution’ phrase was “a quote from theworks of great [Vladimir] Lenin,” who used it to describecertain politicians who also changed their views with time.The head of the All-Russian Union of Journalists, VsevolodBogdanov, supported his colleague, but said that the situation mustbe discussed by a public panel, not a law enforcementagency. Isayev replied with a statement that he was protecting thedignity of three women, felt nothing wrong about it and was readyto defend his position before any institution.The female MPs described in the column agreed that the articlewas an insult, but held differing opinions as to what theappropriate reaction to it should be. They also said that they sawclear signs that reporters were working on an order from someunspecified forces that were apparently unhappy with the women’spolitical stance and activities in the Duma.The conflict eventually reached the lower house. MP ValeryRashkin (Communist Party) addressed the State Duma chairman with arequest to give an appraisal to Isayev’s statements. The head ofopposition parliamentary party Fair Russia, Sergey Mironov, alsosaid that the MPs must be ready to answer for their statements andbe more careful when addressing mass media.On Tuesday the State Duma approved an official address demandingthat Pavel Gusev apologize for the article and also that he bepurged from the Moscow Union of Journalists. In the address the MPsalso stressed that it was unacceptable for the mass media to abusetheir right for the freedom of press.The statement reads that the Moskovsky Komsomolets article was“overstepping all boundaries one can think of in its cynicism,lack of objectivity and downright rudeness.” It also said thatinsults to MPs were at the same time a challenge towards thecitizens who voted for them.Gusev, however, remained adamant in his position.“I am not going to apologize before anyone because I have notinsulted anyone. Andrey Isayev must apologize before thejournalistic community. I have nothing to apologize for,”ITAR-TASS quoted Gusev as saying. … Read More
“The Americans” gets entangled in psychological spy games
I want to pay “The Americans” a compliment, but to do so, I have to start with an insult. I was really aggravated and bored with the first half of last night’s episode —“Trust Me”— in which first Phil and then Elizabeth appeared to be captured by the FBI, who torture them, and Phil especially, in the hope they will confess their true identities. I was bored and aggravated because it just so obviously could not be the FBI that had captured them. That’s a plot point we’re not going to see for a few seasons, at least, because it will mean the show is pretty much over. And besides, the Russians had just realized they had a mole in their outfit: clearly they had captured Elizabeth and Phil, and were testing them to make sure they hadn’t flipped. (This is a particular spy-genre trick I’ve seen before, like in that bad-but-sort-of-fun to watch Colin Farrell-Al Pacino movie “The Recruit”; also, if the Russians meant it, they would have kept Phil and Elizabeth for more than an afternoon.) This is, in fact, what had happened, but when Elizabeth and Phil figured out it was the KGB doing the physical and psychological assaulting, “The Americans” got original and dark.Continue Reading… … Read More
McCain: ‘I call people jerks all the time… it’s supposed to be fun’
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Wednesday refused to apologized for calling a constituent a jerk, saying that he used the insult “all the time” and “it’s supposed to be fun.” At a town hall event earlier in the week, the Arizona Republican had become frustrated after the…
