We’ve had a lot of highs and lows this week. An intellectual high to the futuristic feat of landing a rocket on a comet, and a mind-numbing low to Kim Kardashian’s oily butt that “broke the Internet.” But we have to focus. To warm up for a much anticipated game Saturday against South Carolina, we bring you a please-please-let-the-stars-align-so-we-can-have-a-shot-at-going-to-the-SEC-championship edition of...
Darts & Laurels
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced his pick for the attorney general spot being vacated by Eric Holder. Obama selected Loretta Lynch, a New York federal prosecutor known as a strong defender of civil rights. In its rush to demean and tarnish Lynch’s image in any way possible, the conservative media quickly jumped on a supposed news bombshell: Breitbart posted a story with the headline “Obama’s Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch represented Clintons during Whitewater.” Whitewater refers to the real estate scandal that surfaced during the Clinton administration. There’s only one problem: The Loretta Lynch who represented the Clintons is a completely different person. Before the article was completely removed, Breitbart issued what might be the worst correction of all time: They put the word “corrected” at the end of the headline and placed the following sentence at the end of the article: “Correction: The Loretta Lynch identified earlier as the Whitewater attorney was, in fact, a different attorney.” A journalistic-malpractice-on-steroids DART to Breitbart.
Two years ago, Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon received horrible medical news: Simon was diagnosed with stage-4 colon cancer and was told he had only three to six months to live. Regardless of exactly how much time Simon has left, he is making the most of it — he recently announced his plan to donate his entire $100 million fortune to charity. In a time when the fabulously wealthy are less likely than ever to give to charity, it’s nice to see Simon setting an example, even under such awful circumstances. We’re giving a giving-done-right LAUREL to Sam Simon.
The Kardashian family was in the news this week for ridiculous reasons, as usual. Most notably, Kim appeared in Paper Magazine flaunting her assets in full-frontal fashion. However, not content to cede the spotlight to her sister, Khloe decided to post a massively offensive meme on her Instagram. The post featured a picture of Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian with the text: “The only KKK to ever let black men in.” Though, in a situation involving a Kardashian, that’s probably not much of a surprise. A why-are-you-famous-again? DART to Khloe Kardashian.
In the aftermath of a massive victory by Republicans in last week’s elections, the Democratic Party has begun a process of soul-searching in preparation for the next round of elections in 2016. One of the major reasons for the failure of Democrats to gain any traction at the national level is their inability to project a strong, clear and unified message. In a striking departure from their usual apologetic weakness, Democrats made the wise decision of appointing Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Ma., to a Senate leadership position. Warren will be responsible for articulating and promoting Democratic messages and policies. In terms of a passionate political advocate and someone who connects with ordinary Americans, it’s hard to do better than Warren. A finally-moving-in-the-right-direction LAUREL to Senate Democrats.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 11/13/2014]
