Fuck its silent in here.......

[J. Walter Weatherman]

In other SCOTUS news, meatball hero Brian Dennehy will sleep a bit more soundly tonight (PDF).

ONIONS

[R-V]

So Roberts may have switched his vote late in the process? Talk about a GAME CHANGER.

http://www.volokh.com/2012/06/28/more-hints-that-roberts-switched-his-vote/

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

So Roberts may have switched his vote late in the process? Talk about a GAME CHANGER.

http://www.volokh.com/2012/06/28/more-hints-that-roberts-switched-his-vote/

Gilling the comments, I have to say there is some choice hilarity down there.

[Gilgamesh]

It appears that the mandate (and the whole law) was poised to be struck down, until that dastardly liberal media (and its socialist buddy/usurper-in-chief) got to the Chief.

It is somewhat redundant, given RV's link, but it has UNNAMED SOURCES CLOSE TO THE COURT!!!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57464549/roberts-switched-views-to-uphold-health-care-law/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

[J. Walter Weatherman]

It appears that the mandate (and the whole law) was poised to be struck down, until that dastardly liberal media (and its socialist buddy/usurper-in-chief) got to the Chief.

It is somewhat redundant, given RV's link, but it has UNNAMED SOURCES CLOSE TO THE COURT!!!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57464549/roberts-switched-views-to-uphold-health-care-law/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

This guy's been on top of the real story since April:

SATURDAY, APRIL 07, 2012

SPECULATION: THIS IS MERELY A GAMING SCENARIO: IF OBAMA THREATENED TO KILL CHELSEA, THEN MIGHT HE THREATEN A JUSTICE OF THE SCOTUS TO SAVE OBAMACARE?

BETTINA VIVIANO CLAIMS THAT IN 2008 OBAMA CRONIES THREATENED TO KILL CHELSEA TO GET THE CLINTONS TO BACK DOWN FROM USING THE BIRTHER ALLEGATIONS AGAINST OBAMA.

IF THIS IS TRUE - REPEAT IF, THEN IT IS EQUALLY POSSIBLE THAT THESE SAME CRONIES MIGHT THREATEN TO KILL ONE OF CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' CHILDREN IN ORDER TO GET HIM TO VOTE FOR OBAMACARE.

THE QUESTIONING ON THE SECOND DAY LED SOME SCOTUS OBSERVERS TO BELIEVE THAT ROBERTS SEEMED MORE LIKELY THAN KENNEDY TO BE A SWING VOTE. IOW: ROBERTS - AND NOT KENNEDY - MIGHT BE THE FIFTH VOTE FOR OBAMACARE.

THIS WOULD EXPLAIN WHY OBAMA MADE HIS SEEMINGLY IGNORANT AND TYRANNICAL ATTACK AGAINST THE SCOTUS.

OBAMA AND HIS COMRADES KNOW - (BECAUSE OF THE DEATH THREAT) - THAT THEY WILL WIN A 5-4 DECISION, AND BY LAMELY ATTACKING THE COURT THEY SUCKERED THE GOP INTO SAYING "WHATEVER THE COURT SAYS IS FINAL."

EITHER THIS IS THE CASE, OR OBAMA'S COMMENTS ABOUT THE IMPENDING DECISION (AND HIS A.P. SPEECH) INDICATE OBAMA IS AN IDIOTIC, MISINFORMED, ARROGANT  AND TYRANNICAL EGOMANIAC AND AN ANGRY POS.

[Gilgamesh]

On the eve of America's independence, here's Deadbeat Dad Congressman Joe Walsh talking about his opponent, Iraq War (and double-amputee) vet Tammy Duckworth.

"Now I'm running against a woman who, my God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, it's the last thing in the world they talk about."

Apologies for the source link.

[Wheezer]

Gallagher? Really?

"Hey, President Obama," he spits out the name like a mouthful of burning hair. "You ain't black. I don't care what you say—you're a latte. You're half whole-milk. It could be goat milk—you could be a terrorist!" I am too busy losing my mind to catch the next joke, which is about Ted Kennedy's brain cancer.

(At least Salon confirms that it is not Gallager II.)

Yeah, he's an angry, angry man.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/gallagher,36622/

Angry, angry = racist and unfunny?

Racist, unfunny and angry.

All told, this may be one of the strangest Q-and-A combos I've ever read:

AVC: Why has prop comedy been stagnating more and more?

G: I told you: an emphasis on the mediocre. You're giving the audience what they want, but, that's, I guess, a reflection on our society. It's so thin, it's a veneer, it's not deep, it doesn't have a moral direction. 'Cause we really don't know, we don't know.

This gives me a new appreciation for Carrot Top.

At least he didn't go batshit crazy.

Probably. Yet.

Just give it about 15 years'd.

Define "batshit crazy"...

Gallagher gets deep.

[Chuck to Chuck]

The Wall Street Journal tells Mitt: Get going or we're done with you.

All of these attacks were predictable, in particular because they go to the heart of Mr. Romney's main campaign theme—that he can create jobs as President because he is a successful businessman and manager. But candidates who live by biography typically lose by it. See President John Kerry.

[Gilgamesh]

The Wall Street Journal tells Mitt: Get going or we're done with you.

All of these attacks were predictable, in particular because they go to the heart of Mr. Romney's main campaign theme—that he can create jobs as President because he is a successful businessman and manager. But candidates who live by biography typically lose by it. See President John Kerry.

It'd help to have a plan for the economy that's simply "I'm not Obama."

[Gilgamesh]

Apropos of nothing, but I'm laying my money down on New Hampshire GOP Senator Kelly Ayotte being Romney's veep pick.

[Gilgamesh]

TPD...

Let the robot meme continue.

"Lemon. Wet. Good."

-- Mitt Romney, quoted by ABC News, when asked how a glass of lemonade tasted.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

http://sharpwriter.deviantart.com/art/Ronald-Reagan-Riding-a-Velociraptor-312025579

"Mr. Gorbachev, I tore down that wall" The famous speech President Ronald Reagan gave after he destroyed the berlin wall. He rode he most trusty steed into battle...a raptor which he had the CIA clone for such an occasion. Practice Reaganomics today and buy this print to show your love for 'merica!

[J. Walter Weatherman]

This blow-by-blow postmortem of the reporting on the SCOTUS ACA ruling is beyond burlesque. 7137 words covering just over 8 minutes worth of mass media "action".

It's like a detailed after action review of "wait... who the fuck cares?"

And yet, some of it is oddly interesting.

It seems, for one thing, that CNN's media empire resembles nothing so much as a sprawling Soviet doomsday device. Once that first domino fell, there was no stopping the chain reaction:

In the press room, the CNN producer is still on the conference call with the network executives.  Within moments of having confirmed that the mandate was invalidated – a couple of seconds, at most – he reads two-thirds of the way down page 3 of the syllabus, "Chief Justice Roberts concluded in Part III-B that the individual mandate must be construed as imposing a tax on those who do not have health insurance, if such a construction is reasonable."  He immediately recognizes that the Court has turned to an alternative defense of the government, and says into both phones, "Wait, wait."

But it is already too late.  CNN has been carefully orchestrating its transformation into a shockingly efficient news distribution company.  They have been planning to saturate every screen in reach with this story as fast as possible, and the producer's initial go-ahead pulled the trigger.  On the air, Wolf Blitzer is sending the coverage to the Courthouse steps.  And as planned the reporter is putting her phone down to go on the air, which cuts herself off from the only CNN employee with access to the opinion.

No less important, the network's web and social media teams are plugged directly into the call through CNN central.  They immediately publish unequivocal tweets and a breaking news email saying that the mandate had been invalidated.

CNN had also converted itself into an integrated circuit in which its electronic media teams were tied directly into the broadcast operation.  But not anticipating the possibility of an error or confusion, its first web, electronic, and Twitter reports did not hedge.  And the network did not have a clear plan to reverse the circuit on the electronic-media side and tell readers that its initial reports may have been wrong.

"Wait, wait."

And, even as I'm wondering in what world any of this could really matter, I have to admit that I hadn't considered this angle:

... At 10:07:32 – 52 seconds after the Chief Justice began speaking – Bloomberg issues an alert:  "OBAMA'S HEALTH-CARE OVERHAUL UPHELD BY U.S.SUPREME COURT."  Bloomberg is first, and it is right.

Because the Act is important to stock prices, stock traders will have a very rare opportunity to arbitrage the conflicting media reports and the fact that no one outside the Court has the opinion. The market had been betting against the mandate surviving.  That would have been bad for hospitals (which would lose revenues) and good for many insurers (which could be more selective in their customers).  Now hospital stock prices begin to spike:  Hospital Corp. of America, the nation's largest private hospital chain, quickly rises from $27.38 to $29.35.  Many insurance stocks start to tumble:  United Health Group falls from $58.69 to $55.73.

And many millions of dollars were gained and lost in the markets based on which media reports traders and investors happened to be watching.

There's also a certain entertainment value found in a Gilling of their own live blog:

10:08:30 – SCOTUSblog

On the blog, readers are starting to taunt us via our comments feature (there ultimately will be 13,500 comments over the course of the Live Blog):  Guest, "CNN was first, guys..."; Bill, "Fox is already announcing decision"; yolanda, "TV just announced the decision beat you to it"; Guest, "Fox News beats soctusblog...."

...

Opponents of the Act, having seen the television reports, are incredulous and vocal in their responses:  Guest, "WHAT???"; Guest, "no reports says its gone!"; Republican, "OMFG"; Tim, "No it isn't"; Ryan, "Bullshit"; Guest, "apparently you have it wrong"; Sarika, "IT IS NOT SURVIVING AS A TAX!!"; Fred, "It sounds like you guys are spinning this thing.  Knock it off and read the law!"

Others have seen enough to know that they need another news source:  Guest, "I'm outta here.  Turning on TV"; David, "I won't be back to this site."

And some indicate we are simply too late, and that Fox and CNN's earlier reports are res judicata on other journalists:  John, "They already struck it down"; Guest, "The mandate is GONE."

This guy's schadenboner is so firm you'd think he'd just pwned Chuck Todd on Twitter or something.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Gentlemen, smg, and non-entities, I assure you that I am not particularly long for this world. The remark isn't really even timely. I would nonetheless urge you to truly take this in, all the same.

Update:

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/charity_money
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/09/oatmeal.html

[Gilgamesh]

Senator Lindsay Graham is right!  (Apologies for it being from HuffPo)  Very sorry.

Key quotes:

Mitt Romney shouldn't be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because "it's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday.

"As long as it was legal, I'm OK with it," Graham said. "I don't blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage. I blame us for having it so complicated and confused. Pick a rate and make people pay it."

"I want to end the game," Graham said. "I want to make it so simple that you know what you owe, and if you don't pay, we're going to whack the heck out of you. It's a game, and people play the game to their advantage. Sometimes they lose when they play the game. I've got no problem with people playing the game, as long as they don't cheat."

Bravo.

Also, I blame Michael Scott for this.