In your pleasant Thursday media column: Mark Halperin's Obama's-a-pussy flashback, Ashton Kutcher vs. the Village Voice, Greta Van Susteren calls for more outrage, an angry subject sues David Grann, and Brits are coming for you news.

  • Per today's fun Mark Halperin dick-retracting, a tipster reminds us of some precedent: in 2008, Halperin said in a radio interview (speaking about John Edwards' mindstate), "he thinks Obama is kind of a pussy...He has real questions about Obama's toughness, his readiness for the office." He apologized profusely for that one, too. So now he's had to apologize for calling Obama a pussy and a dick. And while we're on the subject, the fact that Mark Halperin felt the need to say today, "I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President" is a great indicator of the warped relationship between politicians and "journalists" in DC. Apologize to offended MSNBC viewers if you want, but don't offer a "profound apology" to the guy you just called a dick. Own that shit, Mark Halperin. The DC political press corps is so craven, god.
  • Ashton Kutcher is having a Twitter fight with the Village Voice, which is exactly what the Village Voice hoped would happen when it put Ashton Kutcher on its cover this week, for a story about how he and others wildly overestimate the number of sex-trafficked girls in America. 1. The VV story was solid. 2. Unfortunately, Village Voice Media makes a ton of money off sex ads, so its credibility is shit in this department. The fact that Voice wrote the story actually taints an otherwise good story. 3. Regardless, anything for Twitter followers. That goes for everyone.
  • Here's some stupid news about Greta Van Susteren from yesterday, but whatever, Greta Van Susteren hates the news cycle anyhow: Greta was outraged yesterday about a White House pool report not being outraged enough about some guy's sign that read "Welcome Chocolate Obama." Of such things are Pulitzers forged.
  • Peter Paul Biro, a "forensic art expert," is suing New Yorker writer David Grann and the magazine's publisher over Grann's New Yorker story casting doubt on Biro's expertise last year. Adweek notes that Biro "also sued Dan Rattiner the same amount for his follow-up article in Dan's Papers, a weekly newspaper based in The Hamptons." Haha.
  • The British are coming.

[Photo via AP]