appic

Royal Wedding Kerfuffle: Syrian Ambassador on Guest List [Updated]

Jeff Neumann · 04/28/11 04:13AM

Leaving Tony Blair and Gordon Brown off the guest list for The Most Important Wedding of All Time was pretty funny. And really, is anyone going to miss them? Doubtful. But the fact that Syria's ambassador to Britain, Sami Khiyami will attend has pissed off some members of parliament, what will the whole massacre of unarmed civilians at the hands of Khiyami's boss and assaulting cities with tanks thing going on there at the moment.

Facebook Keeps Deleting Kate Middleton's Account

Adrian Chen · 04/27/11 11:42AM

It's got to be a difficult time to be named Kate Middleton, what with the constant royal wedding jokes and people talking to you in fake British accents and stuff. Worse still, Facebook keeps deleting accounts of women who share the name of the Most Important Bride of All Time.

New Obama Jobs! Panetta to Defense, Petraeus to CIA

Jim Newell · 04/27/11 10:55AM

Now that Barack Obama has released his long-form birth certificate, let's play What Other Evil News Is He Trying to Distract Us From? Maybe it's this: The AP reports that CIA Director and former Bill Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta will take over for Defense Secretary Robert Gates this summer, while Afghanistan commander Gen. David Petraeus will replace Panetta at the CIA. Does the Obama administration want us talking about this?

Please Run for President, Paul Ryan

Jim Newell · 04/26/11 04:53PM

There is some lightly sourced babble at Reuters today about "desire at the highest ranks of the Republican Party" for House Budget Committee chair Rep. Paul Ryan to launch a presidential bid. This is partially confirmed by more lightly sourced babble on Twitter. There's a slim chance of this ever happening — Paul Ryan, for one, has no interest — but with Obama's poll numbers slinking further into the crapper, Republican elites are still looking for new candidates with scalable support. If they decide he's their guy, they'll force him to do it.

Chuck Norris Plagiarizes Mostly Everything Including Himself

Jim Newell · 04/26/11 04:24PM

The only reason most people bother purchasing Internet service is to read actor Chuck Norris' insane right wing political columns, which are syndicated on an array of terrible liar websites like World Net Daily and Townhall.com. But now you can just print out what's already been written and cancel that service, because he's probably already published everything that would appear in future columns.

Sen. Al Franken Sets Hearing On Secret iPhone Tracking

Jim Newell · 04/26/11 03:02PM

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has stepped up his pressure on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, announcing on Monday that he will hold hearings on the recent revelation that Apple iPhones and iPads are secretly tracking and storing their users' locations.

Dan Snyder Will Never Shut Up

Hamilton Nolan · 04/26/11 10:29AM

Dan Snyder, wealthy scoundrel and owner of an awful football team whose name is a racial slur, is able to blow countless hundreds of millions dollars on high-profile free agents who immediately become bad at the sport of football upon cashing Dan Snyder's check. But oddly, he is not wealthy enough to buy one decent PR adviser who could tell him to keep his stupid mouth shut.

Anti-Legalization Lawmaker Busted for Pot Possession

Max Read · 04/25/11 06:16PM

In February, Rhode Island State Rep. Robert Watson said that his state had its priorities right "if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana." Big surprise: He just got busted for marijuana possession.

Mort Zuckerman vs. the Daily News: An Owner Adrift

Hamilton Nolan · 04/25/11 03:40PM

Last July, New York Daily News editor Martin Dunn abruptly left the paper due to his wife's illness. Kevin Convey, who'd been working as editor of the Boston Herald, was named his replacement. But now, we hear, unsatisfied NYDN owner Mort Zuckerman may already be poking around for Convey's successor.

What Makes People Want to Work for the Huffington Post?

Hamilton Nolan · 04/25/11 02:05PM

In your magic Monday media column: HuffPo hires some more, Elvis Mitchell loses another job, DC ladies discuss The New Yorker, MSNBC sloganizes, Brian Williams jokes, Katie Couric states the obvious, Adweek rhapsodizes, and Reader's Digest's CEO is out.

Why Julian Assange Can't Let Go of His Secrets

John Cook · 04/25/11 01:06PM

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's reputation as a fighter for transparency and destroyer of secrets ought to be thoroughly demolished by today's spectacle of the New York Times literally forcing him to give up the Guantanamo Bay files he'd been hoarding for months.

John McCain Is Getting Soft

Jim Newell · 04/25/11 12:47PM

War monster John McCain, fresh off of his triumphant jaunt to Libya, made a shocking confession on this morning's Today show: He is not ready to drop more American freedom bombs, forever and without any actual plan, in another Middle Eastern country where some citizens have been protesting. Is the old nutter on his meds or something? What ever happened to the angry warrior we'd all come to know and not love? This is a classic gaffe.

Boehner's Law Firm Drops DOMA Defense

Jim Newell · 04/25/11 11:52AM

After the Obama administration announced it wouldn't defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, House Republicans decided to take charge instead. John Boehner hired lawyer and ex-Solicitor General Paul Clement of the firm King and Spaulding to defend it on behalf of the House Republicans at the taxpayer funded rate of $520 per hour. But this morning King and Spaulding dropped the terribly unpopular case, and Paul Clement quit the firm to defend DOMA on his own.