A gadget-lover’s guide to the GOP candidates. [Gizmodo]
Is Ron Paul winning the “web primary?” [ABC News]
China will get its first 3D channel within weeks. [Engadget]
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Willard Romney won the Iowa Caucuses last night by all of eight votes over Richard Santorum. It was so close that Santorum gave a victory speech and Romney gave a concession speech. Since the GOP allots delegates in a proportional format, that doesn’t really matter. It also doesn’t really matter because Iowa doesn’t even technically allocate their delegates until a convention in a few months. I heard someone say about the caucuses last night: “This is like a 20 inning game between the Pirates and Nationals. Interesting, but not really relevant to anything.” At any rate, all the writers for this site were glued to twitter and their televisions last night. Here are some results:
[Google] [TPM] As the pundits and Wednesday morning quarterbacks assess the winners and losers of last night’s Iowa caucuses, one verdict is clear: Our savvy gang of RPs couldn’t shoot straight.
Reviewing their predictions from yesterday, click here for the infamous post, only RP staffer Zack Adams predicted the correct finish of the top 6 candidates, and former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis was the only recovering politician to predict the correct order of the top 3.
Most humiliated was The RP himself. Not only did he forecast a last-minute Ron Paul surge (30 points — come on?!?), but then, after the entrance polls “confirmed” his predictions, he bragged on Twitter and Facebook about how he was whipping fellow RPs Jeff Smith and John Y. Brown, III. We imagine that the RP has crawled back into his spider hole awaiting redemption in New Hampshire.
At least recovering politicians can laugh at themselves. Here’s John Y.’s thoughts from last night when it looked like the RP and Jeff Smith had bested him:
After two years of campaign, hundreds of pundit prognostications, and thousands of cable news sound bites, at long last, what you’ve been waiting for… Our fearless contributors — Contributing RPs, Friends of RP and RP Staff — offer their predictions for tonight’s Iowa caucuses. And you can too — please give us your predictions in the Comments section below. Without further ado…(Click on their name to find out their background)… The RP: Paul 30%; Romney 25%; Santorum 21%; Gingrich 7%; Perry 6%; Bachmann 4%, Huntsman 1%. I don’t think Rick “Man On Dog” Santorum’s organization is strong enough to take advantage of his surge. I also think Paul’s support is underestimated in the polls because his grassroots support is so fervant, and the tin foil hat crowd among his followers are fearful of pollsters. Remember Pat Robertson? Michael Steele: Click here for his exclusive-to-The-RP report from Iowa. Jeff Smith: Santorum 27; Romney 23; Paul 23; Perry 11; Gingrich 9; Bachmann 6. I think some Bachmann/Gingrich/Perry folks walk in to their caucus, see how outnumbered they are by Sant-mentum, and get on the bandwagon. Jason Grill: Romney, Paul, and Santorum will finish first, second, and third. The order though is more “up in the air” than George Clooney was in his recent Oscar nominated movie. Organization and friends twisting other friends arms at the caucuses will decide the order of the top three. If Romney finishes third that WILL be news and change the race somewhat moving forward. He will be seen as an even weaker front runner if this happens. Also, it will be interesting to see where Perry and Gingrich finish tonight. Keep a lookout for their percentages at the end of the night. A fourth place finish for Perry over Gingrich will signal a potential showdown with Romney in South Carolina. Lastly, I am anxious to see how Huntsman finishes in next week’s New Hampshire primary after skipping Iowa. Mark Nickolas: Paul (25%); Romney (23%); Santorum (22%); Gingrich (11%); Perry (10%); Bachmann (6%). Iowa requires a level of commitment from supporters unlike anywhere else. Those with the best state organization and strongest levels of commitment do especially well (Paul and Paul). Also, since Independents and Dems can participate if they want to cross over — as Indies did for Obama in ’08 — that’s likely to help Paul the most. Nefarious (aka loyal) Dems are going to support anyone but Romney to ensure a protracted GOP race, with Paul and Santorum benefitting most. Rod Jetton: I think Ron Paul will just nip Romney and Rick Santorum will get third. Newt probably finishes in 4th. The Ron Paul forces are dedicated and with his numbers going up they and their friends have started believing he can win. They will turn out and surprise all the experts. Greg Harris: Santorum – 26%; Romney – 25%; Paul – 21%; Gingrich – 12%; Bachman – 8%; Perry – 7%; Huntsman – 1%. Santorum’s diligent grassroots work throughout the State this past year will pay off, resulting in more ardent caucus warriors advocating his case, and moving some on-the-fence Bachman and Perry supporters. Ron Paul’s fanatical base will still assure him over an over 20% showing. The minority moderate voters will hold their noses and back Romney. Read the rest of… The Politics of Pigskin The NFL regular season has concluded and our eyes have turned to the playoffs and the offseason. Peter King takes his MMQB column in the same directions and prepares us for the storylines and drama to come. [Sports Illustrated] The NFL Playoffs. Here are your final conference standing and playoff schedule to guide you through them. [Yahoo! Sports] Black Monday is traditionally the day after the last regular season Sunday on which organizations decide to make coaching or management changes and we see a slew of firings. Here is a ticker to help you keep track of who your favorite team may be looking at to fill their newly vacant coaching position. [CBS Sports] ESPN’s John Clayton and Jeffri Chadiha receptively break down the AFC and NFC using a Q&A format. [Clayton][Chadiha] On the amateur side of America’s game we have hit the home stretch of bowl games. There are only 6 games left including the national championship. Follow the link to get up to date on previous results and previews on the upcoming bowls. [ESPN]
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is mad the the NBA didn’t have his team play in DC–he wanted to meet the President. But, when you are Mark Cuban, you can pretty much do whatever you want, so he scheduled a meeting between his team and Mr. Obama himself. [ESPN Dallas] Deadspin is famous for taking sports journalism to places it never deigned to go before–like publishing leads about major NBA trades put out by rappers who haven’t been famous for years. [Deadspin] Sacramento Kings 2nd year player Demarcus Cousins and coach Paul Westphal don’t get along, and never really have. The coach released a statement last week saying that Cousins would be staying home for a road trip because of Cousins’ trade demand. Cousins, for his part, denies requesting a trade. Here is a “debate” between a couple of Kings fans about what to do. [Sac Town Royalty] Who doesn’t love those NBA commercials where they paste enlarged heads of stars onto small bodies? I know I do. The latest one is set to “Happy Together” by the Turtles. It’s supposed to imply that “all is well” with the NBA’s players and owners. Does anybody actually believe that? [The Big Lead] Time Warner Cable and Madison Square Garden have been in a contract dispute for a long time now, and fans in New York city paid the price last week when they began missing Knicks games. Here is a good rundown of what is happening. [All Sports Everything] Two of the best college games of last weekend were played within a 80 miles radius of my apartment this weekend–when #3 Kentucky beat #2 Louisville, and when #15 Indiana took down #2 Ohio State. For my money, those teams are out of order, and should be Kentucky-Ohio State-Indiana-Louisville. But nobody asked me. Here are game rundowns by the victor’s blogs. [Kentucky Sports Radio] [The Crimson Quarry] For example, President Clinton’s Welfare-to-Work initiative in 1999 kept us from looking critically at the 1%.
In only a couple of months OWS (Occupy Wall Street) has turned our attention completely around, from looking down on the poor to looking down on the super rich.
Those supporting the 1 % are attempting to denigrate the OWS in many ways, including calling out law enforcement to support them and disperse those who are calling out for justice: economic, social and political.
Our Constitution sides with the 99%, saying that “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” (No, it doesn’t mention tents.)
Had the OWS not existed when the Bank of America added a $5.00 fee to credit card holders, the public would have grumbled but would have succumbed. And the same with Verizon’s “Convenience Fee” and November’s “Bank Transfer Day.” But the 99% has encouraged the public to revolt.
Remember, our “Civil Rights” were not successfully achieved in two months.
 U-Turns!Driving in California is like being in the middle of a really bad video game where you never seem to figure out how to beat the system.
Fortunately, U-turns are all the rage out here and are great at minimizing time lost by inevitable driving mistakes.
And thank goodness for GPS systems. I have been so dependent on mine today that we are actually developing a relationship of sorts.
She–t…he monotone, always cool as a cumber, pleasant yet motherly voice from my GPS– has told me today at least a dozen times, “Take the next legal U-Turn.” A few minutes ago she said, “Take a right and then take the next legal U-Turn.”
I responded emphatically to her, “Lady, I was born ready to take the next legal U-Turn.” And I think I meant it.
And at some level, I think she heard me and smiled in that way that only the GPS voice-overs can smile to themselves.
Oh, and I know she has to always say “the next ‘legal’ U-Turn” but just once I’d like to hear her say, “Take the next U-Turn….Notice I didn’t say ‘legal’ either. I can’t explain it, I just want to be bad today.”
That would be cool. And I’d pay an extra dollar a month for the possibility of that happening. And I could say back, “Don’t worry sister, I already did.”
BREAKING NEWS: Expect two new fashion lines from renowned fashion stylist, Rachel Zoe, this upcoming year! [The Cut] Drinking while shopping = a lot of money spent! [New York Times] Holiday shopping continues despite recession! [The Cut] Check out this amazing video that details 25 ways you can tie your fashion scarves! [SHEfinds] |
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