First Cuppa Coffee – March 28th, 2012: Hating Jane Fonda Edition

More hoodie news… By now you’ve certainly heard about Fox News Geraldo Rivera’s insightful analysis that wearing a hooded sweatshirt is hazardous to your health. Ol’ Gerald (that’s his new handle with the Fox homies) been taking the O’Reilly advanced news analysis course for dummies and is obviously ready for graduation.  In recognition of his his efforts, Fox even went so far as to pull “hoodies” from its shameless commerce division.  But wait! There’s even more!

This is the story that will not die…  Now Gerald has issued a half-hearted apology. We originally thought it was in response to his son saying that he disagreed … “Dad’s an asshat”… But noooo. The real reason for the Foxonian Flip-Flop ™ is that the National Rifle Association’s introduction of its neighborhood watch hoodie, complete with special pocket designed to conceal a handgun.  Now that’s an appropriate good capitalist response!

Oklahoma saves the day… The Oklahoma Senate has killed a bill that would require politicians throughout the state to be drug tested along with people receiving temporary public assistance.

Prometheus opens up the airwaves… The Federal Communications Commission announced that it will clear a backlog of over six thousand pending applications for FM translators, which are repeater stations that rebroadcast distant radio stations. The decision will allow for the first new urban community radio stations in decades, limiting low power stations can only be licensed to non-profit organizations, with only one license per customer. Currently repeater stations are primarily used to repeat signals broadcast by corporate and religious radio operators — many of which rake in big listening audiences for right-wing syndicated talk shows.  The Center for Media Justice is part of a national partnership with Prometheus Radio Project (which led the battle with the FCC) and Color of Change to try and identify organizations across the country — social and racial justice organizations — that could potentially benefit from owning and running their own radio stations. Organizers hope to see a coordinated infrastructure of radio emerge in the coming decade.

 Are you willing to pay for news on the internet?…  In celebration of its first anniversary of using a “limited paywall” business model, the New York Times has modified its policy of allowing internet users 20 free stories per month by reducing the threshold to 10 stories. Users who pass the limit are asked to pay a monthly fee to read content. And the Los Angeles Times has decided that it, too, will start charging users for content. Interestingly enough, the Washington Post has publicly decided not join the “paywall” club.  Post Ombudsman Patrick B. Pexton explained the reasoning last week in an article that was remarkable, not just for its policy pronouncements, but for the insiders view that it provides on the economics of the mainstream media on the internet.  By the way, if you google “[Newspaper Name] paywall”, you’ll find lots of handy tips for getting past those pesky toll booths… but you’ll still be using lots more keystrokes to get where you want to be…

Number one sign that Newt’s run out of cash… Supporters who want their picture taken with the candidate are being charged $50 for the privilege.  Airline miles and discount gas station couples are being accepted in addition to cash.

Hollywood gone wild… The mighty righties of the left coast are just going crazy after hearing the news that Jane Fonda has been cast to play the role of dearly sainted Nancy Reagan in an upcoming Director Lee Daniels pic. The Butler will tell the story of Eugene Allen, the White House butler whose career started with Harry Truman in 1952 and ended in 1986 with Ronald Reagan. The ghost writers over at Breitbart’s Big Hollywood summed up their displeasure with a NSFW outburst that we’re printing anyway: “this is nothing more than Lee Daniels and Hollywood’s way of looking out over at the 60% of America they hate and saying, ‘Fuck you.’”