Here you all were, grimly deciding whether to join the Romney, Pawlenty, or Huntsman for President fan clubs, but still hoping in vain for a white knight to come along and win your heart immediately and forever. Well, good news: Rudy Giuliani, a 1990s mayor, may still run for president. Hosannah in the highest! The search is over, and we should just anoint him King of America right now, since he's interested.
The Obamas hung out with the Windsors today. Buckingham Palace's wind dynamics raised an important question: If the First Lady of the United States of America had a Marilyn Monroe moment, would journalists photograph it? Or would they turn their lenses away out of respect and/or shame? Or would the Secret Service swoop in and destroy their cameras one by one, like so many Hollywood bodyguards?
Two crew members on the set of Peter Jackson's much-delayed production of The Hobbit were treated at the hospital yesterday after an explosion inside a New Zealand workshop. Apparently the two were "drilling a statue" when the accident occurred. It's good to hear that they're both doing well, but the last thing this movie needs is something else that will keep it from getting to theaters. [Image via AP]
Vertically-challenged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad either has some pretty bad luck when it comes to being near oddly-timed explosions, or someone doesn't like him. Last August, someone tossed a grenade set off celebratory fireworks next to Ahmadinejad's motorcade. And today, at the inauguration of an oil refinery, an explosion killed two people right before Ahmadinejad was to give a speech. State-run media says it's no big deal. And, it turns out, someone should have listened to the damn Germans:
Wikipedia is one of the most important websites on the internet. It's also one of the most self-important. Now, Wikipedians are trying to get the site listed alongside the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids on the UN's "world heritage list."
Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and ambassador to China, is already a Serious Presidential Candidate, according to something we wrote a few hours ago. Do you have any questions about this mysterious man that no one's heard of? Well five minutes at the website of Horizon PAC, Huntsman's campaign-in-waiting, should clear all of that up, since it features several vague, poem-ish musings on life and politics that don't even mention Huntsman's name.
Here's an advisory for prospective summer visitors to California: The state must release around 32,000 prisoners under a new Supreme Court decision to help mentally ill inmates. It is one of the largest prisoner releases in U.S. history. Exciting.
No one wants to run for president anymore, can you believe it? Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels decided not to run over the weekend, following the exits of Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, Haley Barbour, and some other people. This means, according to our news media, that there are only three "serious" — as in, capable of beating Barack Obama — Republican candidates remaining. Let's briefly discuss them so you can make your pick, right here and now!
Michael Steele, the former one-term Republican lieutenant governor of Maryland, has a new job on television! No, not at Fox News. That network has abandoned him ever since his tenure as head of the Republican National Committee only netted their party 63 seats in the House of Representatives last year. Instead, Steele will be picking up his analyst checks at MSNBC, home of the cable news Left.
More details of yesterday's tornado in Joplin, Missouri, have emerged after a press conference there early this morning. Officials said that 89 people are confirmed dead, and a Fire Department spokesman told reporters that the tornado had "cut the city in half." The path of the tornado was a mile wide and six miles long, and it destroyed much of the St. John's Regional Medical Center.
Yesterday, for about the hundredth time, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was supposed to sign an agreement to step down after three decades in power. And, unsurprisingly, he backed out for another bullshit, concocted reason. However, instead of just saying "no," he decided to surround the U.A.E. embassy in Sanaa — where the U.S. ambassador and at least four other diplomats were gathered — with hundreds of armed men. From the Times:
In your finally Friday media column: America's love affair with political media knows no bounds, Twitter will get reporters fired, Katie Couric leaning towards ABC, Elizabeth Spiers has eyes everywhere, and Kurt Andersen's, um, indie bistro of words.
