Just because Virginia Heffernan writes that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is “a skilled and even advanced Twitter player” doesn’t make it so. Weiner on Twitter was like an amateur pianist on an improv tear. He posted sometimes dozens of times a day, trying out the conventions of Twitter as if he were practicing themes and variations. He especially liked the hashtag and @-reply tricks that help...

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This copyrighted cartoon is licsened to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

It’s a not-so-widely acknowledged fact that lots of tea partiers actually can’t stand one another. That’s true of the leaders of Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express, two of the movement’s most influential groups. …Chris Good, Atlantic But that’s not the whole story, according to Good. Mitt Romney’s candidacy is already dividing activists, and the sniping has already...

Everyone knows about cocaine and Coca Cola. But are we equally aware of the history of lithium in 7-Up? Seth Fletcher, author of, “Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars and the New Lithium Economy,” fills us in: [Lithium] was used as sort of a curative in the late 19th century. I mean, it was a mineral water. And it was added to soft drinks. Actually, 7-Up was originally a lithiated beverage,...

Like most politicians, China’s capitalist/communists are convinced that recent news coverage involving hacked Gmail accounts and the arrest of artist/democracy activist Ai Weiwei mean only one thing: Beijing needs better public relations. According to this editorial from China’s state-run Huanqiu, China suffers a negative public image because it has allowed a hostile Western media to characterize...

The second Sarah Palin email dump, “e-mails Ms. Palin sent as governor, mostly using private accounts, you” is less than an hour away. The first, dated from January 2007 to September 24, 2008 that were copied to, directed to, or from Todd Palin and seven members of then Governor Sarah Palin’s staff, including Governor Palin, is available here. Taking a page from the blogosphere, the MSM is...

Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

After months of scrambling to contain an astonishing series of natural and manmade catastrophes, this editorial from Japan’s Nishinippon Shimbun warns Japanese officials that while they’ve been overwhelemed with domestic issues, the global situation has been evolving rapidly and mostly without any influence being applied by Tokyo. The Nishinippon Shimbun editorial says in part: Even as the Japanese...

The scandal involving Rep. Anthony Weiner has had an immediate impact on members of Congress: there is a notable decrease in their number of Tweets.

WASHINGTON — At what point do we decide that a political system has become decadent? The breaking point for me was the Anthony Weiner story. I mean, really. Perhaps it is old-fashioned, but I have been suspicious of politicians tweeting from the moment it became vogue. Do we really need to encourage them to limit their thoughts to 140 characters or make them think we want the same details about...

Is Mexican President Calderon too cozy with the United States and its involvement in his country? La Jornada columnist Javier Jimenez Espriu writes that Calderon’s apparent self-comparison to staunch U.S. ally Winston Churchill and rumors of U.S. military activities in Mexico are causes of great concern. For Mexico’s La Jornada, columnist Javier Jimenez Espriu writes in part: I’m worried by...

Why are there so many poor, unemployed, uneducated and socially dysfunctional people in the U.S. – once the undisputed wealthiest and most advanced nation on earth? The U.S. has a huge number of demoralized, disengaged, and disheartened people. The recent economic news is nothing to celebrate when it may indicate a deeper economic and political crisis to come. On an average or median per capita basis, the...

When are politicians going to learn that (a) lying in a digital age about digital stuff is a lose-lose situation and (b) to keep their trousers (virtual or analog) zipped? “To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. I’m deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife, and our family, my constituents, my friends, my supporters and my staff,” he said, claiming he’d posted the...

Now here’s a creative way to defeat terrorism without violating anyone’s civil liberties. British intelligence has hacked into an al Qaeda website and replaced bomb making instructions with a cupcake recipe. The cupcakes are reportedly favorites of Ellen Degeneres. More here .

Update: Weiner just confessed that he did what he was accused of. He did take the original picture and he did intend to send it as a direct message (IE a private email) and accidentally sent it as a tweet (IE a public posting). He also confessed that sent many pictures and had online ‘relationships’ with many women over the last 3 years and that he has continued some of these after his marriage. It’s...

Those dirty green hippies at GE have some news: Solar Cheaper Than Fossil Power in Five Years. Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. Yes, this is the same GE that makes reactors.  They know where the future is and it’s not nuclear...

Brian Fairrington, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

As if failing to apologize for Obama Care Massachusetts style, being a serial flip flopper and belonging to the wrong cult weren’t enough Mitt Romney now believes in science. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change. “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe...

The Pentagon has decided that computer sabotage from another country can be considered an act of war. And the U.S. can respond with military force: The Pentagon’s first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors,...

China’s desire to buy up farmland makes Brazil uneasy: China has become Brazil’s biggest trading partner, buying ever increasing volumes of soybeans and iron ore, while investing billions in Brazil’s energy sector. The demand has helped fuel an economic boom here that has lifted more than 20 million Brazilians from extreme poverty and brought economic stability to a country accustomed to periodic crises. Yet...

Last week the largest defense contractor in the world and the United States government’s top technology information provider battled off a “significant and tenacious” cyber attack, Lockheed Martin Corp announced Saturday. And, the Huffington Post Reports, the Department of Homeland Security has now confirmed it: Hackers launched a “significant and tenacious” cyber attack on Lockheed...

Update of Saturday story: Twitter, Gag Orders and The British Press : See Related Storify The Sunday London Telegraph has a screaming headline: Twitter reveals secrets: Details of British users handed over in landmark case that could help Ryan Giggs The problem is this: nothing in the story supports the assertion. The Telegraph listed five Twitter accounts as targets; three are managed by South Tyneside Councillor...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The updated number of Joplin, Missouri, residents killed by last Sunday’s massive tornado is 132; 156 people are still unaccounted for. Joplin authorities say the bulldozers will not come out until every missing person is found.

Regardless of ‘Belief,’ Climate Change is Real by Tina Dupuy According to Oakland, California’s Harold Camping, the Rapture was supposed to hit American Samoa (the location of the International Dateline) at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. Despite what all the billboards claimed, that would have been 11 p.m. PST on Friday for the west coast. And from there the Rapture was to roll across the globe to...