Donald Trump is as dumb as a box of his hair

By GottaLaff

I'm wondering who controls this ignoramus's mouth, The Donald or his comb-over:

With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore. Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn’t care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America’s stupidity.

Wow! He's right! Except for this:

In reality, China, Japan, and India have all submitted greenhouse gas emissions targets under the Copenhagen Accord, and are leading the United States in the race to build the clean-energy technologies of the future.

And this:

[T]he unprecedented weather patterns that have brought snowfall to every state in the continental United States are the product of a record-hot planet. Following the hottest decade on record, we are now in the hottest winter in the satellite record, and this past January was one of the hottest Januaries on record for the planet. (H/T EcoPolitology)

That "he's right" thing? Pfft, that was just a writer's device... Which, of course, means Trump is wrong.

Or his hair is. One never knows who's doing the talking, because that thing on his head is clearly alive.

Actually, his hair is so very, very wrong:

Poll-itics: Republicans' Bow Wow!

By GottaLaff

Via Greg Sargent:

When the president of the United States is traveling overseas, do you think it is appropriate for him to bow to a foreign leader if that is the country’s custom or is it never appropriate for the president to bow to another leader?

Yes 67%
No 26%

...[A] majority of Repubicans, 53%, says the Bow was appropriate, too, versus only 40% who said it isn’t.

Of course they approved, because it was appropriate. I recently heard a caller to the Stephanie Miller Show who seemed to be very knowledgeable about the subject. He explained that it was customary to have the two parties' eyes meet, so a taller person would naturally bow more deeply than his shorter counterpart.

Then again, there's that whole respect thing. But what do the so-called "critics" know about respect?

The more the media pushes these ridiculous stories, the more they create their own news. This is complete and utter nonsense, and those who were polled were smart enough to realize it.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Videos- Various News Accounts Of Obama Trip To Asia

Raw Video: Obama Mixes and Mingles in Singapore

Snort, in the comments at YouTube someone said that it looked like Starfleet Command. Someone does need to start getting the Prez some calories though, he's awful skinny. Maybe protein shakes?

Video- President Obama's complete speech in Japan 11/14/09

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Video- President Obama's comments in Japan

Mid Day Distraction

Headline of the Day

Karaoke bar marks 25,000th 'My Way'

Imagine living close to that bar...

Obama a Japanese Verb?

Considering "Bushed" definitely was a verb by the end of his administration, I guess this isn't so weird.

It’s not quite the Nobel Peace Prize, but Japanese college students have awarded President Obama something a bit more hip: a place in their vernacular.

Jim Fallows points to reports that a new verb is popping up in Japanese college students’ conversations: obamu (literally “to Obama”).

One blog offers a definition:

obamu: (v.) To ignore inexpedient and inconvenient facts or realities, think “Yes we can, Yes we can,” and proceed with optimism using those facts as an inspiration (literally, as fuel). It is used to elicit success in a personal endeavor. One explanation holds that it is the opposite of kobamu. (which means to refuse, reject, or oppose).

Japanese learn English from Obama speeches

By GottaLaff

::clears throat:: Konnichiwa! Madam Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, and the American people... When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression....

If you're going to learn to speak English, learn from the best:

The speeches of U.S. President Barack Obama have become the favorite way of Japanese students to learn the English language, sales figures show. [...]

[A] compilation of Obama's speeches has sold even better at 500,000 copies, turning the president into Japan's most popular teacher of the English language, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Times said the CDs, released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books, are leading a host of Obama-themed language learning products, including such titles as "Speech Training: Learning to Deliver English Speech, Obama Style"; "Learn English Grammar From Obama"; and "Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails."[...]

[S]tudents say Obama is a good teacher because his English pronunciation is easy to understand.

Imagine if they listened to audio of Barbie McLipschmutz. They'd speak in run-on garble with buckets of fake Alaskan folksiness.

2 Japanese Carrying $134 Billion In U.S. Bonds Detained In Italy

By GottaLaff

Billion, with a B:

Update: June 17th: Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: Bloomberg

Update June 16th: We’ve updated this story $134 Billion U.S. Bond Mystery Continues In Italy

Update: Italy’s financial police said they asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to authenticate $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. government bonds found in the false bottom of a suitcase carried by two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland. A determination is expected within a few days.

Original Post

According to Japan Today, two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. [...]

According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that was searched by the Italian authorities June 3 when they were in Chiasso, at the border with Switzerland, about 50 kilometers north of Milan. [...]

The treasure was in the hands of two Japanese from Italy were trying to enter Switzerland. In a suitcase were 249 bonds of the ‘Federal Reserve‘ American in the nominal value of 500 million each, and 10 ‘ bond Kennedy ‘ of the nominal value of $ 1 billion each, in addition to what is described as very original banking documentation. [...]

Source – Japan Today

Guardia di Finanza – (Italian)

H/t: Fernando

Update: North Korea warning to US and South Korea

By GottaLaff

Those breaking news Tweets come in handy. Now we have the full story:

North Korea has warned that any attempt to shoot down a satellite it says it plans to launch will result in war.

The warning came as the US and South Korea began an annual joint military exercise expected to last 12 days.

North Korea has long described such exercises as provocative but tensions between the two Koreas are now high.

The South and the US believe Pyongyang could be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile under the guise of a satellite launch.

On Friday, the North said that the risk of conflict meant it could no longer guarantee the safety of commercial flights through airspace it controls off the east coast. [...]

In a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Monday, the Korean People's Army warned that it was ready to use force against the South, the US and Japan.

“ Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war ”
North Norean army statement

"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," it said.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war."

The army earlier issued a separate statement saying all military personnel had been ordered "to be fully combat ready" in order to defend the nation. [...]

The army added that it would cut off North-South military communications during the exercise period.

The 12-day military exercise involves about 50,000 US and South Korean troops, in what the two allies say is a rehearsal for the defence of the peninsula, the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says.

But North Korea is always rankled by the annual drill, our correspondent says, claiming that it is a dry run for an invasion and dangerously provocative.

Some observers in South Korea, though, believe the North may be using the exercise as a pretext to clear the skies, our correspondent adds.

Japanese Learn English Using Obama Speeches

I am having some very un PC visions in my head right now.

Aspiring English speakers in Japan have made President Barack Obama's book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller.

In their eagerness to emulate the leader of the free world, aspiring English speakers in Japan have made President Barack Obama's book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller. "The Speeches of Barack Obama" has sold 420,000 copies since its release on Nov. 20 _ an "unprecedented huge hit" for an English-language text, according to publisher Asahi Press.

In Aichi, central Japan, a Buddhist monk has reportedly been playing the president's speeches during his temple service. And dozens of students in an English-language class in Tokyo have been memorizing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech to improve their understanding and pronunciation.

Foreign Poll Favors Obama

Amazing how lopsided it is! Via Taegan.

Eight leading foreign newspapers conducted a poll that finds overwhelming support for Sen. Barack Obama in the United States presidential election. He would win by a landslide in every country surveyed.

Canada: Obama 70%, McCain 14%

France: Obama 68%, McCain 5%

Switzerland: Obama 83%, McCain 7%

Poland: Obama 43%, McCain 26%

Japan: Obama 61%, McCain 13%

Mexico: Obama 46%, McCain 13%

Great Britain: Obama 64%, McCain 15%

Belgium: Obama 62%, McCain 8%

The poll also shows that America "can no longer count on the friendship even of its closest neighbours and allies after eight years of the Bush presidency. Only a minority in the countries surveyed describe relations with the US as friendly."