In another edition of “Old People Who Don’t Get Technology,” American politician New Gingrich wants to rename cell phones because they do more than make calls these days. Sorry to break it to you Newt, but we already have a name for them “hand-held computers.” We call them smart phones. No, you can stop searching on Yahoo! It’s not a new term. It’s been around for a while.
I’m puzzled too that no one in Gingrich’s camp broke the news to him earlier or at least tried to explain to him why making a YouTube video to try to explain the necessity of creating a new name for the cell phone was a bad idea. Then again, this is the guy who promised to put a colony on the moon by 2020 during his 2012 Republican party presidential candidacy run.
Everyone knows Barack Obama is charming and charismatic. What you might not have known is that the POTUS is pretty damn hysterical.
At last night’s White House Correspondents’ dinner, President Obama’s jokes were a hit with the the star studded crowd. He poked fun at everything from Michelle’s bangs, to CNN to the Beyonce/Jay-Z Cuba scandal. Not only should he tell jokes more often, but he should definitely try out that new haircut.
What do you think of Obama’s speech??
Only in America.
After two days of debating helium legislation in the House, Republican Hank Johnson of Georgia had enough. He decided the best way to end the pointless debate was to get up and give a sarcastic speech about the merits of helium – and it could not have been more hilarious.
While his spokesman insisted it was all a joke, let’s not forget this is the man who once expressed concern that increased military presence in Guam would cause the island to capsize. Joking or not, I’m just glad somebody is bringing attention to the fact that there are more important things to be dealt with than whether or not comedians should have the right to use helium in their stand up performances. Plus, his puns were spot on.
Wednesday was a historic day in New Zealand as the government finally passed legislation legalizing gay marriage.
It wasn’t just the crowd gathered outside, however, who were ecstatic to hear the news. In what is probably one of the most heartwarming videos I have ever seen, the entire House of Representatives broke out singing the love song “Pokarekare Ana” in Maori, a language spoken by indigenous tribes in the country.
I’m not one to watch televised coverage of parliamentary debates (I prefer Keeping Up With the Kardashians), but this is a must see. Just try to make it to the end of this video without cracking a smile.
If only the rest of the world – I’m looking at you, USA – would follow New Zealand’s lead, we could all be singing too!
Just when you thought Tina Fey called it quits with Sarah Palin, she brings back her impression of the former governor for our enjoyment.
Fey has been asked numerous times to do her famous impression of the politician but has said no. She even shot down the opportunity during this year’s Golden Globes saying that it was gone. It took an appearance on Inside the Actor Studio and its host James Lipton to get her to go back into the mindset of Sarah Palin.
As usual, Fey killed it. She satirized the conservative view on same sex marriage and gun control, and even doled out a little fashion advice concerning Palin’s famous ‘do (“Well, I’m a fan of the bump-it.”).
Tina Fey, you are my hero.
Trisha Paytas got such a poor reception after her YouTube declaration in support of Mitt Romney you might wonder why she bothered uploading another political-themed video. Of course, you can’t discourage a Republican with such unbridled enthusiasm (even after a loss) and little knowledge U.S. politics to infect the Internet.
In the video, the stripper turned Internet star explains how Romney still WON in her world because he’s way hotter and richer than Obama. You could even call her a #groupie4lyfe.
“Congratulations to all of you who wanted him to win,” she said to Obama supporters. “Now you can all go have frivolous sex over the next four years and take birth control and have abortions and YAY!”
Considering her former profession you’d think she’d understand the importance of protection for any unintended dangerous situations but that’s a whole other debate. She went one step further and implied everyone watching her video would hate it because they’re clearly all unemployed Obama supporters on welfare (Romney supporters are too busy with their important jobs to watch her videos).
In the end there’s no use getting upset over such an asinine video except if you think about the people who take it seriously. Plus, according to Paytas, the world is going to end in December just like the Mayans predicted so we won’t have to put up with her YouTube channel much longer.
Watch it here
Should we be concerned that this voting machine in Pennsylvania seems to be altering votes? This morning a man from Pennsylvania uploaded a video of a defective machine that wouldn’t allow him to select Barack Obama. Every time he tried to select the Democrat option it would highlight Mitt Romney instead.
The voter “centralpavote” who replied to comments on Reddit, explained what happened:
I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine. Next I deselected her and started at the top of Romney’s name and started tapping very closely together to find the ‘active areas’. From the top of Romney’s button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside Obama’s name was all active for Romney. From the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the Obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose Obama. Stein’s button was fine. All other buttons worked fine.
Beyonce and her hubby Jay-Z have always been pretty outspoken in their support for President Obama. If they weren’t famous and lived next door to you they’d probably be that annoying couple with a slew of “Progress” signs on their lawn. But alas, they’re famous so they campaign in even more AWESOME ways.
While Jay-Z was out singing about how he has “99 Problems but Mitt Ain’t One” at a Columbus campaign rally, Bee was drafting a beautiful handwritten letter for the Prez, which she published on her website. The two are already chummy with Obama as they hosted a campaign fundraiser at Jay’s 40/40 club in NYC for Obama supporters to meet he President (tickets cost $40,000 per head!).
This is what the Internet took from last night’s presidential debate, after Obama responded to Mitt Romney’s comment that the US Navy is smaller now that at any time since 1917. Obama said: “We also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.” Obama also called Romney out on the fact that the military is not a game of Battleship where we’re counting ships.
If Romney and Obama played a game of Battleship, who do you think would win?
In honour of the nearing general election, Jimmy Kimmel headed to a local elementary school to ask students about their political views. We always talk about how children are the future but they seem to be much more interested in playing with an iPad than the recession. Jimmy talked to the students about whether or not their record is clean enough to run for president and how Joe Biden Bindum Bite ‘Em got his name.
George Clooney was arrested today for something much more dignified than arrest by texting and driving or throwing an iPhone.
The actor and his father were hauled away at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. Clooney, along with a few other protesters, were warned three times not to cross a police line outside the embassy. When they did, they were handcuffed and placed into a U.S. Secret Service van. Will we ever see him again?
Clooney and the protesters accuse Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir of provoking a humanitarian crisis and blocking food and aid from entering a key border region with South Sudan.
It’s very likely that Clooney knew the likelihood of getting arrested, so it served as a perfect photo op to draw more attention to his cause. So don’t feel bad… it kind of went according to plan. Clooney is just taking one for the cause.
While he was being arrested, scores of fans activists cheered him on. George Clooney is (somehow) even more awesome than before.
Watch the clip below:
Lil Wayne was interviewed by Vibe which got really political. Wayne discusses life for blacks in America, and says that right wing Americans dislike blacks.
“You learn from what the right-wing is doing and you take something from it,” he said. “I feel like as a people, the most that we can do is better ourselves and learn. Then look at yourself and ask, ‘Am I the person they’re talking about or am I not?’ You have to make the most of who you are because the Republicans are never going to like us.”
Wayne also believes right wing attacks against Obama are motivated by his race rather than his political policies.
“I don’t think I have to say that for everybody to know that,” he said.
Interestingly, Wayne does support the tax polices of right wing America. So, there is something at least.
Rapper Lupe Fiasco has called President Obama a “terrorist” during a television appearance, reports Rolling Stone.
Blasting the U.S. president during an appearance on CBC’s ‘What’s Trending,’ the rapper attacked the president’s foreign policy and declared him to be a “terrorist.”
“To me, the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America,” Fiasco said. “I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s causing the other forms of terrorism. You know the root cause of terrorists is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists.”
Fiasco went on to say that has no desire to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
“I don’t get involved in politics,” he said. “It’s meaningless. If I’m going to say I stand behind this person and write on a piece of paper that says, ‘Yeah, I stand for this person,’ then I have to take responsibility for everything he does cause that’s just who I am as a human being. So politicians aren’t going to do that because I don’t want you to bomb some village in the middle of nowhere.”
Although the statement is a little extreme, I see where he is coming from. I’m very often discouraged from voting as I don’t ever fully agree with the runners and their plans. But I think a vote is better than no vote. You should have a little say in who runs your country.
It looks like another 30 Rock cast member is in trouble with Sarah Palin!
Semi-crazy person Tracy Morgan is being berated for his comments on the SAG Awards red carpet last night. Morgan, who just days ago called the former Alaska Governor “good masturbation material,” used an aside in his interview with Guliana Rancic to shout “Sarah Palin, you’re the hottest MILF in the world!”
Rancic, taken aback, attempted to steer the conversation in a different direction but Morgan would not follow. “She’s a MILF!” he shouted again.
What? He’s just saying what we’re all thinking!
A statement was hurriedly released apologizing for Morgan’s comments, but we don’t think they needed an apology! As if MILF is the worst thing he could have said. Pfft. Palin, we think you got off easy on that one.
The Huffington Post is reporting that the attendance numbers for the Rally to Restore Sanity that took place this past weekend in Washington DC could clock up to 250,000 – just under three times the numbers that came out to Glenn Beck’s rally in August.
Political pundits Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, hosts of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report respectively, hosted the event. The two jointly applied for a rally permit for 25,000 people, a cap that was obviously insufficient. The rally was an interspersion of comedy and politics and included performances from Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy, and (unfortunately) Kid Rock.
The National Mall’s park services estimate that “well over 200,000” people attended the rally, many donning ‘Stewart/Colbert 2012’ t-shirts.
When these numbers are added to the satellite rallies taking place in most major US cities including Chicago and Seattle, attendance records could be off the charts.
It’s nice to finally see some sane political action coming out of the States, especially after Christine O’Donnellgate and the Tea Partiers. Continue your important work, Colbert/Stewart!
Sarah Palin is sending the security of Dancing with the Stars into a tizzy, TMZ reports.
The arrival of the Palinator to watch daughter Bristol compete on the reality show has caused security to bolster their efforts substantially. The network has put the entire lot on “heightened alert.” Officials will be performing random bumper-to-bumper searches on select cars that enter the lot, and the bags of all audience members will the thoroughly rifled through. From there, everything will be passed through a metal detector before the ticketholder will be allowed to take their seat.
Though Sarah’s not technically running for any government position, it’s been decided that for the safety of the audience she should be treated as a government official.
It’s also been reported that should the worst-case scenario happen, Sarah is a higher priority than her daughter! Lolz! That’s good parenting for you.
We’re sure Bristol is a wonderful dancer, but we’d rather spend the broadcast watching her mom chat with Jersey Shore’s Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino! We have a feeling those two would totally hit it off.
Bristol and competition partner Mark Ballas will be dancing to “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” for Sarah and the studio audience. Will you be watching this season of DWTS?
U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the last surviving brother of the political family, died last night after more than a year battling brain cancer, according to CBC. Kennedy, 77, was surrounded by his family in Hyannis Port, Mass. when he passed.
Kennedy was one of the longest serving senators in American history, spending almost a total of 47 years in office. He was originally elected in 1962 when his brother, John F. Kennedy, was president. In 1980, he sought the Democratic party nomination against sitting president Jimmy Carter but his plans were ruined by a scandalous car accident in Martha’s Vineyard in which he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene.
Fans across the globe know that Green Day does not ignore the American political atmosphere as the band writes music with a message and makes sure their listeners stay involved.
Now, Billie Armstrong has told Rolling Stone Magazine that the band’s eighth studio album entitled “21st Century Breakdown” will be another political album.
“A lot of people were born into an unlucky time, the era of George W. Bush,” Armstrong told the magazine. “There is an optimism now with Obama… be aware. Don’t look at this guy as the answer to our prayers. You still need to be involved.”
