Author: Trish

AT&T Can’t Help Itself

Trish

Social media was awash in messages of remembrance of 9/11 on the 12th anniversary of one of the saddest days of loss in America. Many of the tributes were heartfelt but a bunch had a “just phoning it in” quality.* Condescending Corporate Brand Page, for example, found a horse groomer posting a picture of a horse with the New York skyline clipped into its coat.

But AT&T’s tweet of a man’s hand holding up a smart phone to take a picture of the beams of light that mark Ground Zero was the popular winner for Worst 9/11 Tie-In Tweet or Facebook Post. One Twitter user noted, “Not an occasion for product placement, AT&T.”

As is almost always the case, the original sin could have been forgiven; the ones that follow are harder to overlook. In this instance, that sin would be AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s apology tweet, which included this line:

I consider that date a solemn occasion each year, a time when I reach out to those I was with on that awful day, share a moment of reflection for the lives lost and express my love of country.

Really Randall? It’s a day you “reach out?” Like to maybe, “reach out and touch someone?” Oh wait, that was AT&T’s long-running advertising slogan. Doh!

We agree with marketing and technology consultant David Berkowitz when it comes to companies trying to “engage” with us in social media.

“Unless you’re bringing something of value, the easy thing is just to keep your mouth shut.”

* Pun intended.

Breaking News: George Zimmerman is Still an Asshole

Trish

No doubt he was standing his ground after feeling threatened.

George Zimmerman was taken into custody in Central Florida this afternoon after his estranged wife called police saying he threatened her and her father with a gun, according to Lake Mary police.

Police say they were called to a house on Sprucewood Road on Monday afternoon after a report that Zimmerman was involved in an altercation with another person with a threat involved. WKMG-TV reported the incident happened at his wife’s parents home.

The Onion: Poll Supports Sending Congress to Syria

Trish

The Onion* proposes the only good solution to the Syria problem.

The New York Times/CBS News poll showed that though just 1 in 4 Americans believe that the United States has a responsibility to intervene in the Syrian conflict, more than 90 percent of the public is convinced that putting all 535 representatives of the United States Congress on the ground in Syria—including Senate pro tempore Patrick Leahy, House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and, in fact, all current members of the House and Senate—is the best course of action at this time.

“I believe it is in the best interest of the United States, and the global community as a whole, to move forward with the deployment of all U.S. congressional leaders to Syria immediately,” respondent Carol Abare, 50, said in the nationwide telephone survey, echoing the thoughts of an estimated 9 in 10 Americans who said they “strongly support” any plan of action that involves putting the U.S. House and Senate on the ground in the war-torn Middle Eastern state. “With violence intensifying every day, now is absolutely the right moment—the perfect moment, really—for the United States to send our legislators to the region.”

“In fact, my preference would have been for Congress to be deployed months ago,” she added.

*A source for satire.

If You Have a Sister, Be Thankful She’s Not Like Liz Cheney

Trish

In 2004, Dick Cheney proved that even conservative Republicans are one gay child away from a sensible view on marriage. In 2012, Liz Cheney is proving that Republicans will sell out a sibling to win a primary.

— LOLGOP, National Memo columnist, noting that Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney declared herself against marriage equality in an effort to prove she is even more conservative than incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi. Cheney’s sister, Mary, is openly gay.

Zimmerman is the Gift that Keeps On Giving in Florida

Trish

$200,000 – $300,000

Amount George Zimmerman is asking the state of Florida to reimburse him for hiring expert witnesses, providing depositions, and other trial costs aside from attorney’s fees. Zimmerman was acquitted after he profiled, stalked, and finally shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year. Since the trial, Zimmerman has been pulled over for speeding in Texas, and forced his lawyers to apologize after he was photographed taking a merry tour of the factory that made the gun he used to kill Martin.

Bringing “I Blame Obama” to a New Level

Trish

29%

Louisiana Republicans who blame Pres. Obama for the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Obama was eight months into his term as a freshman senator when the disaster struck, but only 28% of the state’s GOP voters blame George “Doin’ a helluva job Brownie” Bush, despite the fact that he was actually president at the time. The other 44% said they can’t say who was at fault, or more likely, can’t admit it was Pres. Bush.

Breaking News: Pensito Review Uncovers Stunning Evidence That Rightwing Radio Host Is Right — Bin Laden Situation Room Pic WAS Photoshopped

Trish

Some people laughed when American Family Association member Bryan Fischer claimed that the famous photo taken in the White House Situation Room during the raid that captured and killed Osama bin Laden was Photoshopped. Fischer said that Obama was added in later because his head appears smaller than anyone else’s in the room, but Pensito Review has found evidence, after scrutinizing the photo anew, that there does indeed seem to be something amiss in the famous shot that only the use of Photoshop can explain.

Even Seniors Are Starting to Dislike Republicans

Trish

Remember when Republicans held their noses and voted for Mitt Romney in 2012? The results showed that really, really hating Candidate A isn’t enough to overcome feeling pretty meh about Candidate B.

A new poll, from a Democratic polling group, shows the same scenario heading into 2014.

Just 28 percent of voters 65 and older had a favorable view of the Republican Party in a national survey conducted last month by the Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, versus 40 percent who had a positive view of the Democrats. That’s a reversal from a poll Greenberg conducted in early 2011, when 43 percent of seniors saw Republicans favorably and 37 percent saw Democrats that way.

“It is now strikingly clear that [seniors] have turned sharply against the GOP,” Erica Seifert, a senior associate at Greenberg’s firm, wrote on the company’s website this week. “We have seen other voters pull back from the GOP, but among no group has this shift been as sharp as it is among senior citizens.”

And yet, seniors still say they will vote Republican. For now.

[…]

Watch the Earth Get Hotter Before Your Very Eyes

Trish

This video is posted by climatecentral.org, but was produced by NASA. It begins in 1880, the first year of the modern record of global temperatures, and shows how the world has heated up in the past nearly century and a half. Note though, how fast the change comes at end, as greenhouse conditions begin to take hold. Bluer shading indicates below normal temperatures while red tones indicate higher ones.