Friday Cuteness: This Pug Is Sooo Into His Bath

Bath time! Enjoy.  

After a hard week, you don't want to think, and all you need is a little cuteness and warmth.

Maybe a nice bath, too.

So here's a random video of a pug really enjoying his bath.

Hope you have as blissful a weekend as this little guy is having in his bath:

Idiotic Couple Mocks Eric Garner During News Report

Today's New York Daily News
Front Page was graphic, but much
more tasteful than an idiotic
couple mugging for the cameras
behind a journalist reporting on this.  

Gawker calls them America's Worst Couple and it's hard to disagree.

The couple in question were two of those types of idiots who make goofy gestures in the background as a television reporter gives a live update.

In this case, WPIX-TV reporter Allison Kaden was giving an update on demonstrators near the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, which had its lighting ceremony Wednesday evening.

That lighting ceremony happened as demonstrations continued across New York City and elsewhere against a grand jury decision in which a New York cop was not indicted despite fatally choking Eric Garner.

That move was caught on videotape as police tried to arrest Garner on suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes.

Anyway, Kaden was giving her update on the demonstrations and the tree lighting, when a couple moved into position behind Kaden and on camera, the guy cartoonishly pretended to choke the woman, who cartoonishly reacted by waving her arms and faking a scream

What a classy couple. I'm sure they thought they were hilarious.

The Internet is pretty unforgiving, and I'm sure this couple will be identified soon, and all hell will break out. They'll get death threats, lots of flame, lots of harassment on line and elsewhere.

No, this couple doesn't deserve death threats or harassment. But shame on them!

The video of this moronic couple is below, but to soften this up, I also posted an image of the excellent New York Daily News front page today which uses Garner's last words "I can't breathe!" as he was being choked by the cop.

Here's the stupid couple video:

Wacko "Pastor" Says Starbucks Puts Semen From Gay Men In Their Lattes

"Pastor" James David Manning of the Atlah Worldwide
 Missionary Church in Harlem has some unique theories. 

Yeah, the headline of this post is a strange one. But there is actually someone making that claim.

Pastor James David Manning of the Atlah Worldwide Missionary Church wins this year's award for the most creative and out there conspiracy theory of the year. And the decade. And the century.

Manning runs  Atlah in Harlem, It's a virulently anti-gay mess of an organization that ranks right up there with the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.

OK, he hates gays.  But give Manning points for doing this, um, creatively.

Let's just quote a snippet from Manning's  radio show, as provided to us by Raw Story:

"My suspicion is that they're getting this semen from sodomites.......My suspicion is that semen, like cord blood, has millions and millions of little zygotes in it, and it flavors up the coffee. And it makes you think you're having a good time drinking that cup of latte with semen in it."

Manning says he knows this story is true because he read about it in the Inquisitr. 

And he did! I looked it up. Of course, the Inquisitr article informs readers the semen in the Starbucks lattes are fake, as the story originated at the satirical web site Huzlers.com

Inquisitr in turn got the news the story was fake from the well respected rumor-debunking site Snopes.com. 

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.  

The lovely sign Manning put up in front of
his Harlem church earlier this year.  

But hey, the semen in the latte story is too fun to pass up, so Manning decided to run with it.

Hey, it'll get his few extremely gullible followers to give him more money, and he'll get richer and richer.

And he'll continue to enjoy his bigotry.

He does that a lot. Manning has previous told us that President Obama is a homosexual crack smoking demon from Kenya or somewhere who is unleashing these homosexual demons on the nation's black males.

Or something.

The latest development is that Starbucks has apparently sent Manning a cease and desist letter, telling him to shut up about the semen in Starbucks latte, already, since the story isn't true and it puts Starbucks in a false light.

My first thought was Starbucks' cease and desist letter is a little excessive, since who would believe the semen story anyway? But then I've often grossly underestimated the intelligence of some Americans, so the letter from the lawyer was about right.

Upon receiving the letter, Manning has doubled down, as the delightful video below of him indicates. Skip ahead to a little past the five minute mark. The first part of the video is just Manning reading the letter from Starbucks' attorney.

It's hard to follow Mannings' thinking but it appears he thinks Starbucks sent him the letter to scare him into shutting up about the "truth." He says it will backfire, because now he's going to proclaim this news about Starbucks far and wide.

I can't wait! This will be so much fun!

He also warns women against going to Starbucks for a latte, because drinking it will get them pregnant.  I don't know where to go with that remark, other than to be stunned by Manning's complete incompetence in the field of basic biology.

But oh well.

Here's that video I promised:

Seems Like The Most Appropriate Day For This Song

I think I'll let Tracy Chapman unwittingly guest blog here today, since it's an entirely appropriate day for this. And so are the current times in general:

Wicked Scary When A Firetrucks Hits A Helicopter With Blades Turning

Spars fly as a helicopter on the ground spins wildly
out of control at a crash scene in Chile.  

Talk about a situation going from bad to worse.  
In Santiago, Chile recently, a drunk driver crashed into a police car.

According to Jalopnik and 9News.au, police closed off a street to let a helicopter land and help the three police officers who were seriously injured by the drunk driver.

A firetruck was also responding to the crash when it got a bit too close to the chopper, nicking one of its spinning blades.

That made things turn really dramatic, to say the least.

The collision sent the helicopter spinning violently, eventually flinging off its rotors, hitting a police car, and then exploding.

The helicopter pilot somehow survived, but with multiple fractures. The injured officers weren't further hurt, and were taken to a hospital for treatment.

As Jalopnik noted:

"This is certainly a strong reminder of how terribly things can go wrong for emergency responders. That, and it is a massive testament to the safety structurs built into modern helicopters. I shudder to imagine the G-forces that pilot endured."

I'll say!

Here's the video:

That St. Louis Cops Are SO Sensitive Makes Me Really Suspicious Of Them

St. Louis Rams doing the "Hand Up Don't Shoot"
gesture at their game Sunday.  

The St. Louis Police Officers Association is really, really, really mad at members of NFL's St. Louis Rams for displaying the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gesture in solidarity with those who think Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson should have been indicted for shooting Michael Brown.

Even if you think the grand jury's decision, and the prosecutor's action were proper, isn't the St. Louis Police Officers Association getting just a teensy little bit too sensitive about this?

It's not like the Rams totally stopped a game. They made their statement with their "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gestures, then went on to play their football game.

Boy, the Officers' Association statement on the Rams' protest is certainly flowery enough. And totally wrong in the facts. It reads in part:

"The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood."

Well, no. The Grand Jury was faced with lots of conflicting evidence, and laws that give police wide latitude in shooting cases, and possibly a prosecutor who could have been more aggressive.  With that mess before them,  they couldn't bring themselves to indict Wilson. It was all too muddled.

The Police Association statement gets even worse, in the melodrama department, and full of self pity as it discusses the thoughts of the Police Association Business Manager, Jeff Roorda:

"Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving canceled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out of bounds, to put it in football parlance, Roorda said."

OK, I'll be first in line to thank and appreciate police officers for the hard work and sacrifices they make to keep us safe.

But jeez! Who said Brown was "executed?" He was shot and killed by a police officer under murky circumstances. One of many black people shot by police across the nation under murky circumstances. No wonder people are upset.

I'm not so sure Wilson is exonerated, either. He's not indicted. But did he act as responsibly as he could have? Umm......

Look, Michael Brown wasn't a perfect little angel, but it still seems as if any crime he might have committed didn't exactly deserved death. Darren Wilson isn't a serial killer, but in hindsight, there had to be a way for him to deal with Brown without killing him.

Given the number of police shootings in this country, I can't get behind the assertion that the Ram football players' brief demonstration was "tasteless, offensive and inflammatory" as Roorda suggests.

Roorda's statement also refers to violent "thugs" While he didn't specify race, I have to ask why it seems black criminals so often seem to be referred to as "thugs" by so many people out there,  but white criminals seem to be rarely described as "thugs"

A criminal is a criminal, right?

Anyway, police were asserting last night they received the apology from the Rams they demanded, but the Rams organization is only saying they respect police and want to continue to work with them through difficult times.

And at last report, the NFL won't fine or punish the players who made the gestures, as police have demanded.

From a practical standpoint, it seems the faux outrage by the St. Louis Police Officers Association, justified or not, (and probably not) seems like it would fan the flames of community anger, not tamp it down.

And I thought they said they were protecting the public. Contributing to public outrage doesn't seem to be protecting anybody.

Most cops I know are dedicated, serve the public well and aren't particularly whiny. Roorda, the guy from the St. Louis Police Officers Association, ought to take that to heart. Or take your brand of "protecting and serving" elsewhere.

Except For The Land Mines and Booby Traps, This Property Is Spectacular

This, and 100 acres could be yours for as little
as $250,000, if you don't mind the land mines in the woods. 

There's a beautiful piece of property up for auction in Plainfield, N.H, that includes about 100 scenic acres.

It also has a nice large house that maybe could use a little renovation but has TONS of potential.

The minimum bidding price is $250,000 so this place is a steal.

Yet, at the first auction, nobody submitted a bid.

It could be because the property might be laced with land mines or booby traps. 

Yeah, that isn't the best selling point for real estate is it?

The property in question is the infamous compound of Ed and Elaine Brown, who in 2007 said federal income taxes were illegal and they wouldn't pay them. Ed Brown was trying to demonstrate his belief there was no obligation to pay federal income tax.

That didn't get him very far.

They were put on trial for tax evasion, but stopped showing up for the trial and holed up in their compound for nine months.

They, and some like minded people there, who did not recognize the authority of the U.S. government, stashed homemade bombs, weapons and ammunition.

The standoff was quite a sensation during the summer of 2007. Adding to the drama, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and his wife Joanna had property across the street from the Browns that they stayed at every summer.

The Breyers weren't there that summer, for sure.

The Browns were arrested in October of 2007 without incident and are now serving long prison sentences.

According to TechTimes, federal authorities aren't even letting prospective buyers tour the property:

"Federal officials are banning potential buyers from touring the property over concerns the woods on the property could contain high explosives. During the standoff, Ed Brown told a radio interviewer that police forces raiding the property would die, describing the conflict as "war." However, during his trial, he testified the booby traps in the woodland areas would meant to scare, not harm intruders."

So if you don't mind your wonderful walks through the woods interrupted by land mines blowing off your legs, so you can't walk in the woods anymore, have I got the property for you!