Daily Archive: February 15, 2016

In honor of #PresidentsDay, here are my one-tweet reviews of every president up to FDR. — Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) February 15, 2016 From: Thirty-Two Tweets For Thirty-Two Presidents | Hit Coffee

As the story goes, Liefeld sent this drawing of a “new character” to writer Fabian Nicieza, who responded that it was nothing but a copy of the DC character Deathstroke. So Nicieza dubbed the character “Deadpool,” because, logically, a deadpool is where you’d be most likely to find people doing the deathstroke.

Much like DC’s character Lobo, Deadpool quickly became a parody of the kind of ultraviolent antiheroes popular at the time, like Wolverine and the Punisher. Also like Lobo, Deadpool became superpopular among irony-blind comics readers, making him (as far as I can tell) the only new non-Turtle superhero to gain mainstream recognition for Stan knows how long. Seriously, if you can think of another superhero that was introduced since Deadpool in 1993 and would be recognizable to your average non-nerd person on the street, I want to hear about them).

From: Deadpool 101 – Who is Deadpool? Why should you see his new movie? Does he even know you’re alive?

{via Zac}

“Well, I believe that if Osama bin Laden had been killed, Al Qaeda as an organization would not have grown to the point where it could have conducted 9/11,” Rubio said. “And my argument was, no, the responsibility of 9/11 falls on the fact that Al Qaeda was allowed to grow and prosper and the decision was not made to take out the leader when the chance existed to do so.”

Todd asked him if that meant he was not blaming Clinton for 9/11.

“No, he made a decision not to take out its leader, which I think ended up being there, the situation that happened with 9/11. And as this was a response to an attack, that the reason why 9/11 happened was because of George W. Bush,” Rubio said. “And my argument is, if you’re going to ascribe blame, don’t blame George W. Bush, blame a decision that was made years earlier, not to take out bin Laden when the opportunity presented itself.”

“So I’m actually still not quite clear,” Todd said. “Are you putting 9/11 on Bill Clinton?”

“No, I’m putting it on his decision not to take out bin Laden, absolutely,” Rubio said. “This is what happens when you have a chance to take out the leader of a terrorist organization, and you failed to do so. And the results are something like 9/11.”

Rubio Clarifies Whether He Thinks Bill Clinton Is Responsible For 9/11 from Talking Points Meme

New Orleans, La., Feb 15, 2013 / 04:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Alligator is permissible to eat on Fridays of Lent, the archbishop of New Orleans assured a conscientious parishioner, and his approval has been backed by the national bishops’ conference.

“Concerning the question if alligator is acceptable to eat during the Lenten season…yes, the alligator is considered in the fish family,” Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond wrote in a 2010 letter provided to CNA by the New Orleans archdiocese Feb. 15.

The archbishop said he agreed with the parishioner that the alligator is a “magnificent creature that is important to the state of Louisiana” and which is also “considered seafood.”

From: Alligator OK to eat on Lenten Fridays, archbishop clarifies :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

But I think I know why McConnell is right out of the gate with a principle he seemingly has no need to explicitly invoke: to normalize the behavior, to stake out the maximalist position early in order to allow it time to become accepted as a given. And more than this, it makes sense for him to do so while the White House is bound by normative rules of propriety and decency to focus on statements and gestures of mourning rather than political brinksmanship.

As I said, there’s no debate here. It’s just a power-play, a refusal to fulfill a straightforward constitutional duty, which no one, not the President or anyone else, has the power to prevent. Let’s not pretend otherwise.

From Playthings: Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo