As NewsBusters previously reported , MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Monday got duped by a satirical website quoting from their spoof article about Sarah Palin advocating an attack on Egypt as if it was a serious commentary. On Tuesday, proving once again that it takes a lot of rationalizations to be a liberal these days, Maddow blamed her mistake on Fox News's Glenn Beck and other prominent conservatives (video follows with partial transcript and commentary): In a lengthy segment which began with Maddow bashing conservatives such as House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.), former President George W. Bush, and former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, the MSNBCer went after this evening’s real object of disaffection: RACHEL MADDOW: For some folks, opportunity is always, opportunity is always knocking when it comes to their chosen policies. But for some folks, opportunism is not about pushing for a specific policy. It's about choosing every occasion as the right occasion to push for their favorite idea, for their favorite story. Like for example the idea, the story, that it's the end of the world. Maddow then played a clip from Monday’s “Glenn Beck” show wherein he spoke about what’s going on in Egypt as being “the coming insurrection.” After its conclusion, she commented: MADDOW: As opposed to the other times the coming insurrection was upon us, now, the people protesting against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, now that means that the coming is upon us because China is going to take over New Zealand. Also, the Muslim world is one country now. More of Monday’s “Beck” was aired, followed by additional comments from Maddow: MADDOW: Mr. Beck and for others who see a direct ratio between their own success and how afraid they can make their audiences, it turns out that an uprising in Egypt is even better evidence of this being the end of the world than say the last evidence we had, which was President Obama passing Wall Street reform last July. Yet another “Beck” clip was aired, this one a rant against, as Maddow said, FinReg, followed by more commentary by the MSNBCer: MADDOW: “Wall Street reform. Your republic is over!” The mainstream Right and Republican Congressional leaders are generally sort of supporting what the Obama administration is doing right now in regard to Egypt and diplomacy. They are being relatively cautious and diplomatic. But to the right of them, within a span of one week, it went from protests on the streets of Egypt to China is going to take over New Zealand. It went from protests on the streets of Egypt to Barack Obama supports the secret annihilation of Israel and so do you. It went from protests on the streets of Egypt to this was all some secret plot hatched by unions. After more than six minutes of conservative/Beck bashing, Maddow finally addressed her pathetic gaffe from the previous evening: MADDOW: And if you are wondering, yes, this is all an elaborate excuse slash explanation for us believing that ChristWire.org was something other than satire yesterday. The clip of her gaffe from Monday was shown followed by: MADDOW: Yes, those folks asking [Sarah Palin] to invade North Africa it turns out are writers for a satirical website called ChristWire.org, which is really actually very excellent. Props to them for a brilliant piece of satire, shame on us for believing it, but in a world where China taking over New Zealand is what passes for real analysis on the situation in Egypt, how do we know that's not satire, too? This was followed by a clip of Beck saying, “This is the coming insurrection. This is what I have been warning about.” And that was Maddow’s explanation for getting duped by a satirical website: in her view, conservatives – especially Glenn Beck – are saying all kinds of crazy things. As a result, it’s become difficult for her to know what’s real and what’s a spoof. If this is the case, then maybe she should stop reporting on what conservatives are saying. If she can no longer discern between fact and fiction, serious commentary and satire, she can’t possibly be trusted or taken seriously about anything, for who knows what her next source will be and whether or not it’s actually legitimate. Maybe more importantly, how can anyone on television – Rhodes scholar or not! – be deserving of the public’s trust if she blames her own mistakes on others not at all involved in her program? Sadly, this is par for the course on MSNBC as well as other liberal media outlets. These are the same people that disgustingly blamed conservatives for the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Minn.) last month. They’re used to pointing fingers at others without merit. Nice job, Rach. I knew you'd address your gaffe, but had no idea you'd blame other people for it.
Continue reading …Do you believe what you’re seeing? 9to5Mac along with iFixYouri repair say they’ve got the new iPad 2 display. Better yet, they’ve got the purported part number: LP097X02-SLN1, compared to the original iPad’s LP097X02-SLA3 display. It’s said to be lighter and more than 1-mm thinner than the original while featuring a thinner bezel as well — right, just as the rumors and our own sources have said. Such a display would also enable some tapering of the edges in line with those milled aluminum dummies we’ve seen. The big mystery is still the resolution which a 9to5Mac commenter claims to have extracted from the part number to reveal its LG Phillips 9.7-inch XGA 1024 x 768 H-IPS display origins ( same resolution as the current iPad, if true). Unfortunately, we have no way to confirm this. One more pic of the part number details after the break. Continue reading iPad 2 display leaked? iPad 2 display leaked? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …About 100 sled dogs were killed after bookings dropped for a tour operator following the 2010 Olympics. The event was described in documents awarding compensation to a worker, claiming post-traumatic stress disorder after shooting the dogs. (Feb. 1)
Continue reading …Point and shoot cameras are tricky to hold still, but the powers that be thought up a crazy fix — build bending, sliding, transforming grips right into the body of the camera. Sony’s patented the idea you see immediately above, which turns the sliding lens cover into a handle using tiny hinges (or perhaps electrorheological fluid , we’re not sure). Amazingly enough, the basic concept actually isn’t new: Sony itself references a Fujifilm patent whose cover-turned-grip protects the rear LCD instead. Neither look terribly comfortable, but which would you rather choose: a pocketable camera that snaps stable single-handed shots, or one that monopolizes your fingertips? Take a gander at one of Fujifilm’s proposed designs after the break. Continue reading Sony, Fujifilm patents are half-camera, half-origami Sony, Fujifilm patents are half-camera, half-origami originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …A city that prides itself on withstanding every blow from Mother Nature tried to duck Tuesday as a colossal blizzard walloped it, prompting the first declared snow day at public schools in 12 years and grounding planes at both airports. (Feb. 1)
Continue reading …Hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million people gathered at the Tahrir Square on Tuesday, chanting insults to a leader they lived in fear of for much of the past 30 years. Tuesday attracted the largest and the most diverse crowd of a week of demonstrations, men and women, young and old, workers and unemployed, all camped in the heart of the city demanding the ouster of Husni Mubarak. Al Jazeera’s Dan Nolan reports from Tahrir Square.
Continue reading …Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. “The men and boys communed, shared, laughed, cried, introduced themselves to strangers, formed new relationships, testified to sons, grandsons, confessed, rejoiced, wrote notes and letters to their wives, girlfriends, and mates.” -Haki Madhubuti, October 16, 1995 When Egyptian demonstrators announced an indefinite strike and called for a “million man march” in Cairo to topple President Hosni Mubarak’s crumbling regime, it evoked another “million man march” that occurred sixteen years ago. On October 16, 1995, hundreds of thousands of black men gathered together for a rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The theme of this massive and peaceful…
Continue reading …Look, let us just sum up the Galaxy S 4G for you: it’s a Vibrant with Froyo, a front-facing camera, and Inception . After reading through the new details T-Mobile’s outed on its latest HSPA+-equipped Android smartphone today, that’s really the best way to describe it… and let’s face it, Avatar (which, you might recall, came bundled with the Vibrant) was getting kind of old and played out anyway. Naturally, like T-Mobile’s other video call-capable devices, the front-facing camera will make use of Qik ; other preinstalled third-party apps will include Kindle , doubleTwist with AirSync , and T-Mobile TV for streaming content from ABC, Fox, PBS, and others. You’ll also get a slight battery capacity bump from the Vibrant to 1650mAh, undoubtedly to counteract the effects of the beefier radio. Revolutionary, no; evolutionary, quite! We don’t have a date or a price yet, but the carrier says we can expect it this month. Follow the break for the full press release. Continue reading T-Mobile promises Samsung Galaxy S 4G for launch this month T-Mobile promises Samsung Galaxy S 4G for launch this month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Though it was technically announced back at CES , T-Mobile just barely talked about the LG G-Slate there, spending more time chatting up Dell’s Streak 7 and letting Motorola’s Xoom get virtually all of the Honeycomb attention. Well, that’s changed today with a handful of official new details: turns out the G-Slate features a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of internal storage, both a gyroscope and accelerometer, and — this is key — stereoscopic rear-facing video cameras capable of 1080p 3D capture, one of which doubles as a 5 megapixel still camera with LED flash. There’s also a third 2 megapixel camera up front for video chat over T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network or WiFi. Going back to that 3D business for a moment, you’ll need glasses (it’s unclear if they’re active or passive) to enjoy recorded or downloaded 3D content on the G-Slate’s 8.9-inch display — but you’ll also be able to output 1080p video over HDMI to the external display of your choice. Pricing is still an open question, but the companies are now comfortable enough to say that we can expect it “this spring,” so go ahead and start thinking about all the blooming springtime plant life you’ll be filming in three glorious dimensions. Follow the break for the full press release. Update : While T-Mobile hedges its bets with a “spring” launch, LG says that it’ll be hitting US soil in March as one of the first Honeycomb tablets. The honor of being first will almost certainly go to the Motorola Xoom — Google’s in-house “dogfooding” tablet . Gallery: LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available this spring Continue reading LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated) LG G-Slate fully detailed by T-Mobile: 3D viewing and recording, available March (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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