While you’re enjoying the filibuster, a look back at a recent Bernie Sanders claim:

“Mr. President, in the year 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income,” Sanders said. “The top 1 percent earned 23.5 percent of all income — more than the entire bottom 50 percent. That is apparently not enough. The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent has nearly tripled since the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, the top 1 percent earned about 8 percent of all income. In the 1980s, that figure jumped to 14 percent. In the late 1990s, that 1 percent earned about 19 percent.”

And the Truth-o-Meter scores it… True.

Bernie Sanders, in viral speech, says top 1 percent earn more than 23 percent of U.S. income [PolitiFact, via Gen JC Christian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmlzklHPgNM

So we had a clever premise in mind — “Suspicious Activities at Walmart” — but as we sat down to compose a list of hilarious! entries, we encountered an Insurmountable Problem:

We’ve only been to a Walmart once in our life.

And really, Greeter gags will only get you so far.

Homeland Security deploys video to Walmarts [Salon/early-warning credit to Jamie Sommers]

Prince’s limo paintballed on way to Palladium! 20,000 students and activists lay siege to Westminster!

This was the terrifying moment that a mob of anarchists attacked Prince Charles and Camilla’s car outside the London Palladium tonight.

The couple were due to attend the Royal Variety Performance, which was taking place very close to the epicentre of a day of violent protest in Parliament Square, when it was swarmed by people supposedly protesting against the rise in student tuition fees.

Protesters had thrown paintbombs at police throughout a day of protests and the burgundy 1977 Rolls Royce Phantom VI was hit by an explosion of white paint on Prince Charles’s side of the car. A window was smashed, two rear panels were dented and the aerial was broken.

Seriously: A tuition increase? While we can’t condone mob violence or desecrating a Rolls, we have to acknowledge that the American public has become a bunch of pansies after decades of oppression by Our Nation’s Plutocrats.

Terrifying moment Charles and Camilla were surrounded by a baying mob and their car attacked in tuition fees riot [Daily Mail UK]

“The Daily Beast has learned exclusively that Sarah Palin is planning her first real foreign trip — a move that could burnish her foreign policy credentials in advance of a 2012 presidential run.”

Another thwarted wannabe terrorist, another FBI affidavit…

We won’t dive as deeply into this one, because now we know what to look for: Was there a plot afoot before the FBI stepped in to aid and abet? Was the FBI protecting us, or just appearing to protect us?

Our story begins, as all stories do, on Facebook:

On September 29, 2010, MARTINEZ made a public, open source posting on his Facebook account stating: “The sword is cummin the reign of oppression is about 2 cease inshallah ta’ala YA muslimeen! don’t execept the free world we are slaves of the Most High and never forget it!” On October 1, 2010, he made another public posting: “Any 1 who opposes ALLAH and HIS Prophet PEACE.Be.upon.Him I hate u with all my heart.” On October 8, 2010, the CHS brought this information about MARTINEZ to the attention of the FBI.

CHS stands for Confidential Human Source, or Freelance Fink. We’re told nothing about the Fink, which is a shame. This being Baltimore, we’re curious which character from The Wire we’re dealing with.

And how did the Fink come across the Perp’s Wall — apparently some days after those posts? The story we’re not being told is actually more interesting than the one on the page.

For that matter, the story on the page is curiously familiar:

Read more »

“Hackers in London apparently affiliated with ‘Operation Payback’ — a group of supporters of Julian Assange and Wikileaks — have tried to shut down SarahPac and have disrupted Sarah and Todd Palin’s personal credit card accounts.” [ABC]