Last night, Barack Obama was as presidential as it gets, delivering a stirring tribute to the victims of this weekend’s shootings in Tucson and issuing a call for us to “sharpen our instincts for empathy.” Watch video here. The Atlantic has a great roundup of reaction to Obama’s remarks, especially on how it differs from yesterday morning’s other big speech, the one with the “blood libel.”
The disturbing story of Jared Lee Loughner, the shooter in Saturday’s attacks, continues to unfold in documents and interviews. Police reports help show how the troubled 22-year-old slowly disintegrated over the past year.
Before the president’s speech, Representative Gabrielle Giffords awoke briefly for visitors, another monumental step in a long road to recovery.
Guess who wasn’t at the memorial? Speaker John Boehner, Giffords’ new boss. He stayed in DC for a Republican National Committee cocktail party, kicking back drinks with his owners political sponsors.
Back home, a man is suing the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Portland Police Bureau for $1.3 million. He says they beat him up, Tasered him and then loosed a police dog on him, even though he wasn’t the fugitive they were looking for, way back in 2008.
In the bench trial for Sandi Day, the TriMet driver last year in Portland’s deadliest transit crash, a defense witness said Day was adhering to her training when she made the risky left turn that took her into a group of pedestrians. Prosecutors also took aim at a witness from the day before who said the pedestrians were drunk and not in the crosswalk. Turns out the witness has applied for a job at TriMet, and is dating and related to TriMet employees. Nice.
Remember how it was warm and wet yesterday? Did you like it? Because it’s probably gonna be that way again today, and for a good long while.
Oh, and while we’re remembering things: Remember the Middle East? It’s still fucked. Hillary Clinton was just there, reminding everyone.
Starbucks continues to find new places to sell its coffee. Seems Howard Schultz has figured out that India has a shitload of people who still haven’t had the pleasure of basting their tongues in the flavor of burnt.
How good is your insurance? Julian Assange, WikiLeaks bad boy, promises to release secret and nasty documents about Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. “if something happens to me or to WikiLeaks.”
And because Sarah Mirk kindly suggested I run this today, open your eyes and weep. This is what a whale threesome looks like (yes, that’s a penis; and so’s the other one):
GOOD MORNING!
MY, THAT’S A WHALE OF A PENIS YOU’VE GOT THERE! (OR IS IT THE PENIS OF A WHALE?)
GOOD MORNING BLOGTOWN!!!!!
IS IT UNSEASONABLY WARM OUT TODAY OR WHAT?
DENIS: MORE CROSS-EYED GERMAN OPPOSSUMS, LESS KINKY WHALE PORN PLEASE.
GOOD MORNING, SMIRK! GOOD MORNING, BLOGTOWN!
HOW IS EVERYONE?!?
I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY! BUT I AM HAPPY THAT WE’RE GETTING TO SEE MORE NON-HUMAN PORN ON /B/TOWN.
GOOD MORNING BLOGTOWN! I’M STILL PISSED AS HELL ABOUT THESE ANTI-BIKE BILLS IN THE LEGISLATURE. BLOOD IN THE BIKE LANES!
MORNING BLOGTOWN. I’M NOT GOING TO CALL IT GOOD BECAUSE MY DOG IS AT THE VET AND I DON’T LIKE THAT ONE BIT. ALSO, THE WHALE THREESOME IS NOT HELPING.
GOOD MORNING! SO SARAH FORCED YOU TO RUN THE CETACEAORNOGRAPHY, EH, DENIS? OR WAS IT THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD?
HAPPY TO HEAR THAT STARBUCKS IS MOVING INTO INDIA. I NEVER TRAVEL ANYWHERE UNLESS THERE’S A STARBUCKS TO RUN TO IF I’M OVERWHELMED BY CULTURE SHOCK. AMERICANO, PLEASE!
GRAHAM, TWO DAYS IN A ROW YOU’VE ‘GOOD MORNINGED’ A DIFFERENT STAFF MEMBER THAN THE ONE WHO PUT TOGETHER THE GMN POST. IS THERE SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW ABOUT?
BLOGZGULS!
HI! NOT A GOOD MORNING IF A B-FAM’S PET IS ILLIN! SORRY, BRUCE WANG. I WAS GOING TO ATTEMPT TO CRACK WISE ABOUT BLUBBER FETISHES AND/OR WHALES VAGINAS BUT I’LL REFRAIN! GOOD LUCK TO YOUR POOCH!
GOOD MORNING ALL!
CETACEAORNOGRAPHY IS MY NEW WORD OF THE DAY. LET’S SEE IF I CAN WORK IT INTO THE CONVERSATION AT THE OFFICE SOMEHOW.
ALSO: THAT WHALE IS VERY POORLY ENDOWED (SORRY, BUT SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT).
ALSO ALSO: I AM NOW HOPING THAT SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO JULIAN ASSANGE, SO WE GET THE DIRT ON MURDOCH. ALSO, BECAUSE DESPITE HIS GOOD WORK, HE’S STILL A SELF-AGGRANDIZING TWAT.
GOOD MORNING ALL, AND HERE’S TO BETTER NEWS TOMORROW FOR BRUCE WANG’S DOG.
GOOD MORNING, B-TOWN! AND GET BETTER, B-DUB’S DOG!
AS A VEGAN I AM OFFENDED BY THAT DISPLAY OF WHALE MEAT!
GOOD MORNING BEEZIES! I AM SENDING LOTS OF ALL CAPS LOVE TO BW’S PUPPOE! KEEP US UPDATED PLEASE!
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE. I HOPE YOUR DOG DOG GETS BETTER BW.
BWANG- BEST WISHES TO YOUR DOG.
GOOOD MORNING EVERYONE!
I WILL PRAY WHILE I DO YOGA FOR THE PUPPY TOO TILL HE GETS OUT OF THE NAZI VET.
PLEASE PRAY TOO THAT I CAN INSTALL CHROME AGAIN IN MY COMPUTER TODAY PLEASE. AM RUNNING ON A BORROWED PC ONE. AND ON IE. EW.
I AGREE WITH ROM, IS THERE SOMETHING THAT WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
GOOD LATE AFTERNOON B-TOODLEDOODLES! I HAVE BEEN OUT OF TOWN, BUT I’M BACK TO TAKE MY PLACE AS LAST IN LINE!