Author: Eric Randall

Insane Clown Posse Won't Take FBI Gang Designation Lying Down

Associated Press

Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, the hip hop duo that makes up Insane Clown Posse is pretty unhappy with the FBI for labeling their fan-base, known as Juggalos, as a "loosely-organized hybrid gang," so unhappy that they're suing.

By Eric Randall

Apr 2, 2012

Carrie Brownstein's Book Deal; John Grisham's Regrets

Today in books: Carrie Brownstein gets a book deal, the last edition of Encylopaedia Britannica is flying off shelves, John Grisham has a humble brag, and precocious kids discover self-publishing.

Comments | 2,223 Views

By Eric Randall

Apr 2, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Monday Columns

Jeffrey Toobin on the Supreme Court, William Kristol on the Republican campagin, John Sununu on picking VPs, Albert Hunt on New Orleans, and Juliette Kayyem on the Jet Blue captain.

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 30, 2012

Keith Olbermann and Current TV Break Up

The New York Times's Brian Stelter reported Friday that Current TV has dismissed cable news host Keith Olbermann after he moved there just over a year ago from MSNBC, and the break-up does not sound amicable.

Comments | 35,014 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 30, 2012

Obama Strengthens Iran Sanctions, But Will the GOP Notice?

President Obama approved a new round of sanctions on Iranian oil Friday in what must have been a complicated judgement call that weighed diplomatic strategy against Iran and gas price-related election year politics.

Comments | 446 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 30, 2012

'Faster-than-Light' Researchers Quit Over Culture, Not Science

The two leaders of the research team at CERN that published a study that showed neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light have resigned a month after an experiment contradicted their results, but they're quick to note that their departure and the research aren't related.

Comments | 1,392 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 30, 2012

Cliché Watch

Where 'Hoodie' Goes, 'Hoodlum' Follows

As American media comments on Trayvon Martin's death, the word "hoodlum" has spiked in usage.

Comments | 1,324 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 30, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Friday Columns

Stephen Carter on the Supreme Court, Fareed Zakaria on shale gas, David Brooks on a moderate Republican, Jim Hoagland on second terms, and Kimberley Strassel on Obamacare pessimism.

Comments | 2,245 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 29, 2012

GOP Passes Paul Ryan's Budget in a Familiar Fight

The House of Representatives passed Rep. Paul Ryan's controversial budget proposal Thursday, voting along party lines (minus ten Republicans who defected), and though this thing won't see the light of day as a law, expect a lot about it in the coming months.

Comments | 472 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 29, 2012

Reuters Loses Iranian Credentials After Female Ninjas Suit

Iran has revoked the press credentials for Reuters reporters in Tehran, the news organization announced Thursday, after Iranian state television said a group of Iranian female ninjas was suing the outlet.

Comments | 1,276 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 29, 2012

IRS Refutes Report of Nikki Haley Being Investigated for Tax Fraud

Haley emphatically denied the Public Record's report on Friday, providing journalists with a letter from the IRS saying they didn't find reason to investigate her father's Sikh community center.

Comments | 11,783 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 29, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Thursday Columns

Juliette Kayyem on Obama and Medvedev, Michael Bloomberg on taxes, David Ignatius on Syria's transition, Ezra Klein on the individual mandate, and Stuart Green on illegal downloading.

Comments | 1,360 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 28, 2012

Mitt Romney's Latest 'Gaffe': Telling a Dull Story

Mitt Romney told a "humorous" story about his dad closing a Michigan factory, prompting the Obama campaign and others to declare it a wealth-related gaffe, but we're not so sure this one's going to give the Romney campaign much trouble.

Comments | 1,638 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 28, 2012

Jet Blue Captain Charged with Interfering with Flight Crew

Clayton Osborn, the Jet Blue captain who ran up and down the aisles screaming about Al Qaeda Tuesday before passengers wrestled him to the ground has been charged with "interfering with a flight crew," a crime with a potentially weighty repercussions.

Comments | 767 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 28, 2012

Rupert Murdoch Wants to Tackle Cable Sports

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is trying to put together a national sports network to rival ESPN, a daunting task, but then, the company does have a history of unseating cable rivals.

Comments | 1,899 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 28, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Wednesday Columns

Jeffrey Rosen on health care arguments, Clive Crook on the World Bank pick, Edwidge Danticat on detaining immigrants, Rachel Maddow on ending war, and Roger Kimball on Hilton Kramer. 

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 27, 2012

Rick Santorum To Debut the Jelly Belly Doctrine

Rick Santorum's campaign is attracting some snickers after announcing he plans to make a major foreign policy speech at the Jelly Belly factory in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Comments | 795 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 27, 2012

Gingrich Meets Some Endangered Animals in Salisbury

We've often noted how much Newt Gingrich loves animals, and now most reporters have stopped following his campaign, he apparently has plenty of time to visit them at zoos.

Comments | 1,310 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 27, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Tuesday Columns

Michael Gerson on religion in 2012, Michael Kinsley on health care and the Supreme Court, Ann Curry on hiring veterans, Charles Lane on ideological purity, and Tony Haymet on deep sea exploration.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 26, 2012

Russia Is Mitt Romney's 'Number One Foe'

Calling Russia our "number one geopolitical foe" in a CNN interview Monday, Mitt Romney rather unproductively distracted everyone from focusing on the critique he was making of President Obama.

Comments | 3,289 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 26, 2012

Who Are the Trayvon Martin Witnesses and What Did They Hear?

The Orlando Sentinel reports Monday that witnesses lent support to the version of events George Zimmerman gave police after he shot and killed the unarmed Trayvon Martin, but we're left wondering just who these police witnesses are, what they said, and where they've gone.

Comments | 7,932 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 26, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Monday Columns

Eran Ben-Joseph on parking lots, John Cassidy on Mitt Romney, Lawrence Summers on the recovery, Fred Hiatt on North Korea, and Tom Nassif on guest workers.

Comments | 2,293 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 23, 2012

How 'ObamaCare' Went from Smear to Cheer

Friday marked a small but significant landmark in the now two-year history of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" -- President Obama's team used the word "ObamaCare" -- long the preferred pejorative for the law on the right -- in a campaign e-mail to supporters and asked Twitter followers to use it, too.

Comments | 5,861 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 23, 2012

Belvedere's 'Goes Down Smoothly' Ad Goes Over Badly

Belvedere Vodka is getting some much deserved backlash on social media after they posted an ad on their Facebook and Twitter pages Friday that seems to make light of sexual assault.

Comments | 60,697 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 23, 2012

Newt Gingrich Thinks Obama Shouldn't Act So Muslim

In a quote that's bound to give him a heck of a lot of trouble, Newt Gingrich said, when asked why so many voters continue to mistakenly believe President Obama is a Muslim, that he shouldn't act like such a Muslim.

Comments | 4,463 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 23, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Friday Columns

Eugene Robinson on Trayvon Martin, Howard Kurtz on disinterest in the campaigns, Michael Kinsley on age discrimination, Jack Shafer on covering presidential kids, and Witold Rybczynski on Eisenhower's memorial.

Comments | 2,586 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 22, 2012

People Are Outraged Over Fake Abercrombie & Fitch Website

knock-off website for clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is selling pants using an offensive racial slur, and enough people on social media have been fooled into thinking the site is official that "Abercrombie & Fitch" is a worldwide trending topic on Twitter.

Comments | 7,770 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 22, 2012

Congress Will Once Again Ask Professional Athletes Questions

Dick Durbin announced Thursday that the Senate will hold a hearing to look into practice of paying sports players bounties to injure others, because, of course, Congress loves a good professional sports scandal.

Comments | 448 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 22, 2012

Has a Standoffish Romney Campaign Bred Media Bullies?

With a primary win and a big-name endorsement, Mitt Romney could have had a better news cycle Wednesday had the media not been far more entertained by the gaffe his adviser made about campaigns-as-Etch-A-Sketches. Did his campaign bring it on itself?

Comments | 561 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 22, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Thursday Columns

John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham on Afghanistan, Margaret Carlson on Etch-A-Sketch, Nicholas Thompson on Apple, Nicholas Kristof on psychology and personal politics, and Bill Maher on giving offense.

Comments | 2,414 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Suddenly George W. Bush is Invited to the Party

On Wednesday, political reporters jumped on Mitt Romney's statement that it was George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, who saved the economy in 2008. Why? Because Republican candidates usually do their best to avoid talk of the most recent two-term Republican president altogether.

Comments | 1,747 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Journalist Says His Accidental Interview with a Bono Impersonator Was Inevitable

People are having some fun with the story about notable ambush-video journalist Jason Mattera publishing what he thought was a hard-hitting interview with U2's Bono, but what was, in fact, a hard-hitting interview with a Bono impersonator.

Comments | 11,661 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Michael Kinsley Wrote the Greg Smith Editorial Bloomberg Loved So Much

Politico reported Wednesday that the Bloomberg View editorial criticizing Greg Smith's Goldman Sachs op-ed that Michael Bloomberg thought so highly of was written by Bloomberg columnist Michael Kinsley.

Comments | 1,401 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Uh, No One Knows Whether There Was a Coup in China?

Here's the most disconcerting thing we've read this afternoon: an explainer from Mark MacKinnon, The Globe and Mail's China correspondent, on why reporters can't really nail down hard information about rumors of a coup in China. Wait, a coup in China?

Comments | 9,889 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Family Wants to Rule Out Drugs in Kony 2012 Meltdown

Kony 2012 filmmaker Jason Russell's family released a statement Wednesday to say doctors believe his very public breakdown last week resulted from "a brief reactive psychosis," continuing their campaign to make sure the public ruled out the possibility that Russell might have been using drugs or alcohol.

Comments | 1,379 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Mitt Romney's Victory Bores the Press

Veteran professional GOP primary watchers are starting to sound a wee bit bored: Mitt Romney won big in Illinois, but because they all saw it coming (it's their job to make accurate predictions, after all) nothing has changed in the presidential race.

Comments | 2,242 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 21, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Wednesday Columns

Dana Milbank on Paul Ryan's budget, Angelo Izama on Uganda, Scot Lehigh on Rick Santorum, Peter Orzag on water shortages, and Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. on hackers.

Comments | 2,759 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 20, 2012

Obama's Now Trying to Look Like a Keystone XL Supporter

CNN reports that President Obama plans to "expedite the permit" for the Keystone XL pipeline's southern portion, which looks like a public play to appear responsive to higher gas prices even as it comes just a few months after Obama blocked the natural gas pipeline's original permit.

Comments | 547 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 20, 2012

Swift Boat Sugar Daddy Now a Big-Time Mitt Romney Funder

The biggest donor to the Romney Super PAC was Bob Perry, most well-known for funding the Swift Boat ads that helped defeat Sen. John Kerry in 2004, notes The Washington Post's Aaron Blake, who made the good catch while looking through the latest FEC filings.

Comments | 690 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 20, 2012

Malia's Trip and De Niro's Quip Show GOP Candidates Reaching for Campaign Issues

Rick Santorum decided Tuesday to politicize the vacation destination of Malia Obama just hours after Newt Gingrich got up in arms over a joke Robert De Niro made about first ladies: Yep, it's been a banner day in the race to manufacture campaign issues.

 

Comments | 3,035 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 20, 2012

Bernanke Schools Ron Paul's Potential Fans on the Gold Standard

We wondered Tuesday morning why Ben Bernanke was offering a live-streamed lecture series to college students on the history of the Federal Reserve, and now we have at least one answer: He's reaching out to young people -- the young people who conveniently make up a core constituency of notorious Fed-antagonist Ron Paul.

Comments | 11,148 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 20, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Tuesday Columns

George Packer on Sergeant Bales, Emily Bazelon on Dharun Ravi, Jeffrey Goldberg on Israel and Iran, Dana Milbank on the Supreme Court, and Bryan Walsh on gas prices.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 19, 2012

Rick Santorum, Meet Your Newest Attack Ad

Mitt Romney's campaign gets a turn at playing the partial-quoting game after Rick Santorum made the mistake of saying, "I don't care what the unemployment rate's gonna be. It doesn't matter to me," at a campaign event on Monday.

Comments | 1,497 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 19, 2012

The New iPad Sold 3 Million Units This Weekend

Apple announced Monday that they had sold 3 million of their new iPads in the opening weekend, blowing away the nearly 1 million iPad 2s they sold when that device launched last year.

Comments | 216 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 19, 2012

Rush Limbaugh Deputizes Himself as the Profanity Police

Rush Limbaugh has added singer Cee-Lo Green to the list of folks he thinks the media is letting off as they criticize the radio show host for his attacks on a Georgetown Law student.

Comments | 1,720 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 19, 2012

Romney's Regulation Swipes on Obama Need a Rewrite

In a speech Monday, Mitt Romney debuted some colorful language -- by Romney's buttoned up standards, at least -- to attack the Obama administration for over-regulation, and, from our vantage, he got a few facts mixed up.

Comments | 1,776 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 19, 2012

Today's Best

Five Best Monday Columns

David Ignatius on Bin Laden, L. Gordon Crovitz on Enyclopaedia Britannica, Noah Feldman on Afghanistan withrdrawal, James Surowiecki on Uniqlo and labor, and Mary Anastasia O'Grady on the Pope's visit to Cuba.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 16, 2012

Uganda's Government Still Not #StopKONY Fans

Ugandan official are putting together a military force to capture warlord Joseph Kony, but they would really like to stop hearing about "Kony 2012" from Westerners.

Comments | 1,276 Views

By Eric Randall

Mar 16, 2012

Why Armond White Wasn't Our Most Cantankerous Critic

This morning we released our ranking of America's most cantankerous film critics, and since then, several people, including winner Kyle Smith of the New York Post, have asked why longtime New York City critic Armond White was left out of our contest.

Comments | 4,569 Views

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