Dec 23, 2015
An "encore performance" of our Dec. 29, 2014 episode: We were back from a short break, and had some catching up to do with the NYPD's Pat Lynch-triggered PR debacle, as well as holiday GunFAIL. Greg Dworkin brought us a far-flung roundup, including the story of how "MTV has done more for the US teen birthrate than decades of policy." Polling on racial issues has an (unsurprising) red/blue divide. Racism vs. racial bias. Obama: lame duck, or honey badger? Jeb-mania! Christie-toast becomes crispier. TN finding its way to Medicaid expansion, and a reminder that S-CHIP is up for renewal in 2015. The latest airline disaster. And the worst media fails of 2014. Crossing racial bias with guns: Two white guys take BB guns off the shelves at WalMart & wander the store firing, and live to tell the tale. Also still alive after the weekend: the white woman who put on body armor and drove around, shooting up Chattanooga, and finally taking aim at police when they caught up with her. Not alive: the black man who police say fired a gun toward a crowd of club-goers, then at responding cops. They do Christmas differently in Texas, I guess. And PolitiFact's year-end roundup of the worst of political Internet memes. "Pants on Fire" doesn't even begin to cover some of these.