If you’ve been following the story of the Benghazi “talking points” emails, you know that it’s now been confirmed beyond any doubt that Republican sources fed false information to the media, especially to ABC News’s Jonathan Karl. Karl claimed that he had “obtained” these emails, and we now know that this was completely untrue — he was quoting the words of his anonymous source, who lied to him. He did not “obtain” or even see the actual email in question.

The ethical thing to do at this point would be to correct and retract the story, and reveal the name of his dishonest source. But that’s not the path Karl is choosing:

On the Sunday, May 19 edition of CNN’s Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz read a statement from Jonathan Karl, chief White House Correspondent for ABC News in response to his reporting on altered emails related to the Sunday talk show talking points following the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012. Karl now expresses regret about his original reporting on May 10th on the Benghazi emails. The statement reads:

“Clearly, I regret the email was quoted incorrectly and I regret that it’s become a distraction from the story, which still entirely stands. I should have been clearer about the attribution. We updated our story immediately.”

-Jonathan Karl, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent

Amazing. ABC News should be ashamed of this kind of egotistical ass-covering. Their credibility is at stake, and they’re letting their anonymous right wing sources get away with lying to them.

Via: ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Addresses Criticism on Reporting of the Benghazi Talking Points Controversy - CNN Press Room Blogs

Also see:
Jon Karl got played by a confidential source and now ABC News has a big Benghazi problem » Pressthink

NASA scientists recorded the biggest explosion from a meteorite impact seen on the moon in eight years of monitoring.

The lunar burst was caused by a 40-kilogram boulder-sized rock slamming into the surface at about 90,000 kph. It generated a flash 10 times brighter than anything seen before, which came from the thermal glow of molten rock at the point of impact.

More: Watch the Biggest Explosion Ever Seen on the Moon

Fred is a personal stop motion short. It got finished thanks to many friends, bank loans, and credit cards. I devoted spare time between jobs, moving the sets and puppets from one city to the next zig-zagging the west coast from LA to Seattle.

I know, right? Another one, just a day later? But this one actually will make it possible for me to update the types of auto-embed content the LGF Pages bookmarklet can identify — without making you re-install the bookmarklet to take advantage of the new features.

When you open this new version of the bookmarklet, it “phones home” to littlegreenfootballs.com no matter which site you’re on, and gets a file with the information it needs to find embedded video and audio in the current page. The cool thing about doing it this way is that it lets me add new embed types to the file on our server, and the bookmarklet automatically starts using them the next time you open it — no reinstallation necessary any more!

To get the new extensible version of the bookmarklet, reinstall it one more time by first deleting the old one (either by dragging it off the bookmark bar or by right-clicking and choosing “Delete”), then dragging the button labeled “Create a Page” (at the top of the right sidebar) to your bookmark bar in its place.

A trouble-shooting tip: if you click the bookmarklet and no window (or tab) opens, it’s probably because popups have been blocked by the browser. Most browsers have popup blocking on by default. The easiest way to handle this is to turn popup blocking off entirely; you can also allow popups on specific sites in the browser’s Preferences, but for posting purposes it’s a nuisance to do this for every site you might want to post something about.

The technical details

This new bookmarklet is actually calling our brand spanking new API (version 0.1, a one-day old baby), using the JSONP technique to get around the Javascript same-origin policy that would normally prevent this kind of cross-site access.

This happens in the jQuery.ajax() method beginning at line 27. It makes a call to the API at:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/api/0.1/postRegex

jQuery handles all the details of the JSONP call (with its necessary callback function), parses the JSON response, and returns the data in the object lgf — in this case it consists of two regular expression definitions that are used on lines 34 and 36.

Stop the presses! Wouldn’t you know that as soon as I post this new version, I discover an even better way to get this done? Instead of JSONP, the bookmarklet now uses the new hotness, CORS, to do away with the callback function and the other JSONP kludges, and use pure unsullied JSON as Crockford intended.

I’ve updated the code below; the API now goes to version 0.2, so I can still support the JSONP method as well.

(function() {
	var j = '1.9.1', d = document;
	if (window.jQuery === undefined || window.jQuery.fn.jquery < j) {
		var done = false, s = d.createElement('script');
		s.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/' + j + '/jquery.min.js';
		s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(){
			if (!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'loaded' || this.readyState == 'complete')) {
				done = true;
				jQuery.noConflict();
				lgfPost();
			}
		};
		d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
	} else {
		lgfPost();
	}
	function esc(s) {
		return escape(s).replace(/\+/ig, '%252B');
	}
	function lgfPost() {
		(window.postPage = function() {
			jQuery.ajax('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/api/0.2/postRegex').done(function(lgf) {
				var f = q = w = '',
					u = esc(location.href),
					d = document,
					t = esc(d.title),
					s = esc((d.selection) ? d.selection.createRange().text : d.getSelection()),
					ob = jQuery('iframe').filter(function() {
						return this.src.match(RegExp(lgf.regex.embed, 'i'));
					});
				if (ob.length && !u.match(RegExp(lgf.regex.sites, 'i'))) {
					f = esc(ob.eq(0).attr('src'));
				}
				q = (
					'u=' + u +
					'&t=' + t +
					'&f=' + f +
					'&s=' + s
				);
				w = (
					'width=670,' +
					'height=820,' +
					'scrollbars=1,' +
					'status=1,' +
					'menubar=1,' +
					'location=1,' +
					'resizable=1'
				);
				window.open('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?' + q, '_blank', w);
			});
		})();
	}
})();

An alternate title for this post might be, “The Recursive Conspiracy Theories of a Raving Freakazoid,” as our favorite right wing nut sandwich just continues to chase his own paranoid tail. Here he is opining that the AP and IRS “scandals” are really just attempts to cover up the Benghazi cover-up, because “that is literally where the bodies are buried.”

Via: Right Wing Watch.

I’m about to sling some code at you here, so watch out. There’s a new improved version of the LGF Pages bookmarklet, and if you have an LGF account you can install it by deleting the old one (if you already installed it) from your browser’s bookmarks bar, then dragging the “Create a Page” button to the bookmarks bar in its place.

The new version extends our exclusive auto-embed feature to add Scribd.com and SoundCloud to the auto-detected embed types. If you open the bookmarklet on any page containing an embedded Scribd document or SoundCloud audio file, it will be automatically added to your Page. If you want to test it out, here’s a page at Right Wing Watch with an embedded SoundCloud file: Radio Host Frequented by Gun Activists Calls for Shooting of Bush Family & Obama, Sexual Violence Against Hillary Clinton | Right Wing Watch.

Here’s the source code for the bookmarklet, in the interest of full disclosure. (Also because I want to test the latest version of our source code formatter.)

There are a couple of interesting tricks in this one; notice the method of loading jQuery by injecting a script tag into the page. I’ll leave the rest as an exercise for the nerds amongst us.

The bookmarklet source code:

(function() {
	var j = '1.9.1', d = document;
	if (window.jQuery === undefined || window.jQuery.fn.jquery < j) {
		var done = false, s = d.createElement('script');
		s.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/' + j + '/jquery.min.js';
		s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(){
			if (!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'loaded' || this.readyState == 'complete')) {
				done = true;
				jQuery.noConflict();
				init();
			}
		};
		d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
	} else {
		init();
	}
	function esc(s) {
		return escape(s).replace(/\+/ig, '%252B');
	}
	function init() {
		(window.LGF_post = function() {
			var f = q = w = '',
				u = esc(location.href),
				d = document,
				t = esc(d.title),
				s = esc((d.selection) ? d.selection.createRange().text : d.getSelection()),
				ob = jQuery('iframe').filter(function() {
					return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i);
				});
			if (ob.length && !u.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)) {
				f = esc(ob.eq(0).attr('src'));
			}
			q = (
				'u=' + u +
				'&t=' + t +
				'&f=' + f +
				'&s=' + s
			);
			w = (
				'width=670,' +
				'height=820,' +
				'scrollbars=1,' +
				'status=1,' +
				'menubar=1,' +
				'location=1,' +
				'resizable=1'
			);
			window.open('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?' + q, '_blank', w);
		})();
	}
})();

And here’s the minified version created with Google Closure Compiler:

(function(){function b(b){return escape(b).replace(/\+/ig,"%252B")}function d(){(window.LGF_post=function(){var a=q=w="",d=b(location.href),c=document,f=b(c.title),c=b(c.selection?c.selection.createRange().text:c.getSelection()),e=jQuery("iframe").filter(function(){return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i)});e.length&&!d.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)&&(a=b(e.eq(0).attr("src"))); q="u="+d+"&t="+f+"&f="+a+"&s="+c;w="width=670,height=820,scrollbars=1,status=1,menubar=1,location=1,resizable=1";window.open("http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?"+q,"_blank",w)})()}var f=document;if(void 0===window.jQuery||"1.9.1">window.jQuery.fn.jquery){var e=!1,a=f.createElement("script");a.src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js";a.onload=a.onreadystatechange=function(){if(!e&&(!this.readyState||"loaded"==this.readyState||"complete"==this.readyState))e= !0,jQuery.noConflict(),d()};f.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(a)}else d()})();

(Click below if you can’t see the MP4 video above.)

The mind-numbingly stupid right wing fake outrage of the day: yes, now they’re even going after the President for asking Marines to hold umbrellas for himself and the Turkish Prime Minister. I just can’t even.

The hacks at wingnut propaganda site The Daily Caller lead the charge, but it’s on every single right wing blog and media website, of course, because they do this stuff in lockstep unison like good little authoritarians: Obama Breaches Marine Umbrella Protocol | the Daily Caller.

Did Obama “breach protocol?” Let’s see what the Marine Corps has to say about it:

Seeing a Marine with this particular accessory is “extremely rare,” Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Greg Wolf explained, but because the president’s the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, if he says “hold my umbrella,” it’s permissible.

The sad thing is that this laughable story actually ended up on the front pages of the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and the Los Angeles Times.

This is why the wingnut lockstep army does this kind of freakishly moronic outrage-mongering — because the mainstream media enables it.

Meanwhile, again as usual, the commenters for the Daily Caller’s rage-inducing article are, yes, spewing all kinds of vile racism. They got the subtext right away — it’s a white man holding an umbrella for a black President.

I thought afro-sheen was waterproof?

[…]

Just another occasion where Obama shows his “superiority” to any and everyone around him. Shameful.

[…]

Just another example of the illegitimate Kenyan illegal alien’s arrogance, ignorance, and contempt for the military - and the Marine Corps in particular.

[…]

Next they’ll be carrying shopping bags for Michelle as she strolls ‘Miracle Mile’ looking for a bargain.

[…]

I would roll that umbrella up and shove it where the sun don’t shine. Kenyan Fraud. III%

[…]

The MONKEY BOY BATH HOUSE QUEEN WOULD MELT if SHE GOT WET!!!!!

[…]

Too funny! The first black man given the opportunity to run the most powerful country on earth and he turns out to be no different than all the other two bit corrupt black dictators around the world. For all the world to see no less. Way to go BO!

[…]

Someone…please throw some shoes at this Kenyan clown!!

On and on it goes — currently there are more than 1700 comments, almost all spewing hatred and deranged conspiracy theories. The right wing base in all its glory.

Also see:
Guest Post From a U.S. Marine About Barack Obama’s Shocking and Disgusting Use of an Umbrella

SCOTT PELLEY: Also at his news conference today the president called for tighter security for U.S. diplomatic facilities to prevent an attack like the one in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Of course, Benghazi has become a political controversy. Republicans claim that the Administration watered down the facts in talking points that were given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for television appearances while Mr. Obama was running for reelection. Republicans on Capitol Hill claim that they had found proof of this in White House e-mails that they leaked to reporters last week. Well, it turns out some of the quotes in those e-mails were wrong. Major Garrett is at the White House for us tonight. Major?

MAJOR GARRETT: Scott, Republicans have claimed that the State Department under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The White House released the real e-mails late yesterday and here’s what we found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by Republicans. One e-mail was written by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes. “We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation.” But it turns out, in the actual e-mail Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read “We need to resolve this in a way that respects all the relevant equities, particularly the investigation.” Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an e-mail written by State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version notes Nuland discussing: “The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities of al-Qaeda.” The actual e-mail from Nuland says: the “…penultimate point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings…” The C.I.A. agreed with the concerns raised by the State Department and revised the talking points to make them less specific than the C.I.A.’s original version, eliminating references to al-Qaeda and affiliates and earlier security warnings. There is no evidence, Scott, the White House orchestrated these changes.

More: Wow, This Is Pretty Epic

Also see:
WH Benghazi Emails Have Different Quotes Than Earlier Reported

Via: Boing Boing