In his column today, David Brooks invokes Alexander Hamilton in a completely dishonest way. Brooks writes:

[T]he federal role has historically been sharply limited. The man who initiated that role, Alexander Hamilton, was a nationalist. His primary goal was to enhance national power and eminence, not to make individuals rich or equal.

[... T]his nationalism meant that policy emphasized dynamism, and opportunity more than security, equality and comfort. While European governments in the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on protecting producers and workers, the U.S. government focused more on innovation and education.

[...]

Disco Queen Donna Summer has died of lung cancer at age 63. She was diagnosed just 10 months ago.

MTV details her legacy. R.I.P., and our condolences to her husband and children.

On March 31, the Miami Herald touted its own reporting in the Trayvon Martin case as an example of fact-based and neutral journalism, highlighting the work of reporter Frances Robles as an example.

As new details emerge, we work hard not only to get the information right but to put it in the proper context of our overall coverage.

I think it failed today. First, Frances Robles published an article about a "crude" 2005 My Space page belonging to George Zimmerman which included unflattering comments about "Mexicans." Then she followed up with a second article that includes a response to her first article by Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump. Crump is quoted as saying Zimmerman's My Space page is further evidence of Zimmerman's racism, his pattern of profiling, and even of his ill will and malice (which not so coincidentally is the necessary mental state for second degree murder.) [More...]

Who watched President Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner? I'm watching the tail end now. He ended with saying he had more material prepared, but had to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew. They didn't look too amused.

Jimmy Kimmel is on now. You can watch live here. [ more}

A new season of American Guns airs tonight on the Discovery Channel.

It's a show about Denver Gunsmith and former law enforcement officer Rich Wyatt and his family, who own and operate Gunsmoke. Among other things, Gunsmoke teaches people how to properly use guns in self-defense.

The Wyatts are your typical suburban family who just happened to own one of the premiere firearms facilities in the world. Rich Wyatt and his wife Renee own Gunsmoke, located outside Denver, Colorado, where they buy, sell and trade guns - from hand canons to hunting rifles. And if you don't see what you want, they'll build one for you - from nothing more than a block of metal. Gunsmoke has the largest and most experienced group of gunsmiths in the state. When the Wyatts aren't building or selling guns, they're shooting them. No gun leaves their shop without being test fired by the family first. They - and the one-of-a-kind and historic guns they make and sell - are featured in Season 2 AMERICAN GUNS, premiering Wednesday, April 25th at 7PM Mountain Time.

[More...]

Update: NBC 6 Miami acknowledges its mistake for its March 19 report and story with the misleading edit of George Zimmerman's call to police. Apparently, the Today show's erroneous and prejudicial edits were separately done and unrelated. NBC 6 Miami does not address why it waited until April 9 to correct the articles, or why another of its reporters whose byline appeared on one of the stories using the false quote repeatedly maintained on Twitter on April 10 that the producer responsible was not on their team, but from New York (see tweets below.)

The Miami Herald confirms it was Jeff Burnside who was fired, and has his reaction. The Herald credits but does not name the conservative bloggers who outed NBC 6 Miami's March 19 mangling of Zimmerman's quote. They are, as I said in my April 9 post on the topic, Les Jones and Tom McGuire. [More...]

In the 7th grade, it was quite the ritual. I'd rush home from school, turn on the TV in my parents' bedroom, call a girlfriend on the phone, and we'd watch American Bandstand. We dissected every moment -- who was dancing with whom, who was wearing what, how they wore their hair, which guy looked the cutest that day, and which couple reportedly was breaking up. (We got that info from fan magazines.) My friends and I weren't the only ones. So many people are saying the same thing today on Twitter, Facebook and in blogposts. It was almost like a reality TV show.

The show aired from Philadephia back then, with, of course, Dick Clark as host.

Dick Clark, the "world's oldest teenager" died today at 82. R.I.P. Dick, and thanks so much for the memories.

While I was suspended yesterday for my bad commenting behavior, Atrios named Tom Friedman Wanker of the Decade. I demurred in that I believe Fred Hiatt the most worthy of the title. But score one for Atrios, as Friedman delivers on cue.

I suppose I could take the time to explain the wankerificness of Friedman's column today, or link to other blogs explaining it, but is it really necessary? I think not.

Speaking for me only

Atrios has Fred Hiatt at #2, securing Tom Friedman the top spot for sure. It brought to mind my own retrospective (in 2006!!!) of Hiatt wankery. Here's my favorite part of it and particularly telling in the age of the Radical Roberts Court:

Great choice by Atrios. The recounting of all of Sully's wanking is virtually impossible, but I do think Atrios should have mentioned Sully's championing of the Stupidest Man Alive, Donald Luskin over Paul Krugman as well as running his own entry for Stupidest Man Alive.

But these a re quibbles. All efforts to remind folks who and what Andrew Sullivan is and was are welcome. Yea Atrios!

Speaking for me only

Atrios makes the much expected choice of Joe Klein as one of the Wankers of The Decade. He recounts many, but not nearly all of Klein's wankerific moments. I wrote a lot about him back in the day, when he seemed more important. Here's one example, a post I wrote in 2005, Diagnosing Joe Klein, when Klein sided with Republicans on the Terri Schiavo issue:

Rick Santorum drops out.

Another busy day. Here's an open thread till we get back.

Update 10:00 pm: NBC 6 Miami corrected all three online articles discussed below around 6:00 - 7:00 pm ET. Since they don't note the corrections, I have added in screengrabs I took last night as verification. On all versions of the articles, scroll to the bottom to see the original date and time of publication.

Also, I don't know if NBC or NBC 6 Miami has seen this post, but if they have, it's probably because it was linked to by law professors Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, who get far more traffic.

******

Original Post

Saturday and Sunday, Reuters reported it had interviewed MSNBC News President Steve Capus and others at NBC and got "the fullest explanation yet" of the network's racially-charged, misleading edit of George Zimmerman's 911 call that appeared on the Today Show on March 27. It was just a matter of time pressures inherent in morning news production, that was simply missed by the network's editorial controls, which include senior broadcast producer oversight, script editors, and sometimes legal standards review.

[More...]

Atrios celebrates 10 years of blogging with a declaration of Wankers of the Decade. Up first, Jane Galt:

[T]his particular award is really going back to the beginning, when the libertarian case for war in Iraq was strong, and the metaphysics of "pre-emptive war" was debated alongside the metaphysics of "firm, pre-emptive" use of 2x4s against protesters. Throw in a bit of confusion about just what a 2x4 is, the fact that people on the internet are mean, and pleas for civilitude from those of us not wanting to blow up a bunch of people over there just because, and you have the perfect McArdle mix.

Read the whole thing. Including the links. Very funny and spot on. The countdown for Wanker of the Decade will be fun. I'm thinking Tom Friedman can't lose, but maybe a surprise will be sprung.

Speaking for me only

How topical. The annual Voice Biometrics Conference begins today in New York. This year's theme: Benchmarks, Use Cases and Real World Experience.

Registration is $699., but maybe they have media passes available. One interesting talk may be that of Alexey Khitrov, of the Speech Technology Center which is a "gold" sponsor of the conference. (Its program is SpeechPro):

Reality Check #1: Lessons Learned from Forensics and Law Enforcement

What other programs do law enforcement use for speaker recognition? [More...]