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A host of the Fox News show The Five was so angry that the Justice Department had investigated one of the network's reporters that she told her viewers on Thursday to find anyone who voted for President Barack Obama and "punch them in the face."

"Fox said, we're targets, clearly Media Matters and others have put us on a target list," Fox News host Andrea Tantaros explained on the Thursday edition of her radio show. "And they said, 'Oh, Fox is just crazy! They're just paranoid!' Really? Are we?"

"This is what is happening to our press! This is Obama's America! It's like the Soviet Union," she continued. "He said he would change the country. He said it. And a lot of people voted for him."

"And if you see any of those people today, do me a favor, punch them in the face."

After a commercial break, a caller from South Carolina told Tantaros that he hated Obama, but worried that telling people to punch Obama voters in the face was sending the wrong message.

"To be clear, I didn't say punch Obama in the face," the Fox News host pointed out. "You're going to get me arrested with this type of government."

"If someone voted for him!" she insisted to the caller. "If anyone that you know who voted for President Obama, smack 'em down."

(h/t: Media Matters)

Guest host Mark Thompson, “The War Room” host Michael Shure, Sierra Club Washington representative Lena Moffitt and BuzzFeed contributor Michael Hastings break down the Koch brothers’ involvement in petroleum coke being openly stored on the banks of Detroit River. Petroleum coke is a by-product of the oil refining process and can be harmful to the environment when burned. “This is the dirtiest by-product from the dirtiest source of oil on the planet,” Moffit says, adding that the 42817 ZIP code in Detroit “is one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the country. … This is the unfortunate lab where we can see what it means to bring tar sands to our country.”

Yes, that was Code Pink's Medea Benjamin, shouting questions at President Obama during his speech yesterday on counter-terrorism. Many online journalists joked it was the closest thing to the president answering questions they'd seen in a long time:

WASHINGTON -- Even Medea Benjamin was surprised she managed to get into President Barack Obama's major national security address at National Defense University on Thursday. The long-time Code Pink protestor (and HuffPost blogger) is a fixture on Capitol Hill and well known to most D.C. reporters.

"I had my head down for about two hours and was talking on the phone for about two hours. I tried to be inconspicuous. I think sometimes I must be invisible," Benjamin said. "There were a couple of journalists that came over to talk to me, but that's about it."

Benjamin, 60, was escorted out of the the hall after she repeatedly interrupted Obama's address, pressing the president on the use of drone strikes overseas, including the killing of a 16-year-old U.S. citizen.

"I must say, I do really appreciate that I live in a country where if you interrupt the president you don't get beaten and tortured and thrown inside a prison for a year."

[...] Benjamin was wearing a pink belt and a pink watch and even drove onto the military base in a car with a Code Pink bumper sticker. While several reporters knew and recognized her as they waited to pass through security, the event's organizers evidently didn't. (One photographer said Benjamin's badge indicated her first name was Susan, her given name.)

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The Daily Show's Jon Stewart ripped former Reagan speech writer and fan girl Peggy Noonan for her selective memory on Meet the Press this past Sunday where she seemed to forget all about her former boss St. Ronnie and his problem called Iran-Contra.

STEWART: Now, think hard Peggy Noonan. Never in your lifetime have you seen a scandal this bad? What if the president secretely sold weapons to Iran in return for American hostages and then used the proceeds to illegally fund a bunch of coked up right-wing jungle rapists in Nicaragua? Ring a bell? Here's a hint. You worked in his White House as a high profile speech writer.

Stewart followed up by playing some old footage of her from back in 2001, where she was making excuses for The Gipper and claiming that he "wanted to help the hostages" "but it spun out of control and Reagan by the end was surprised at some of the things that had happened." And of course it was also just "bad luck."

STEWART: Bad luck! Reagan was just on the wrong place at the wrong time. Specifically the White House during his own administration. This Iran-Contra wasn't a ahhmmm... it wasn't a scandal.

NOONAN from 2002: It was a mistake. It wasn't a disaster, but it was a mistake.

STEWART: Mistake! It's like writing the wrong date on a check... or writing the wrong address on a box marked weapons. Oops...

So how about Obama? Is he off the hook then for his mistakes?

Of course it goes without saying that those two aren't held the same standard in Noonan-world. After reading some of her book about her imaginary boyfriend, Stewart wrapped things up by noting:

STEWART: But here's the deal. You can't really get so upset about Obama if you've written the book, Fifty Shades of Greygan.

Shakesville: But my religious freedom!

Alicublog: Goodbye, tin foil hat.

Naked Capitalism: The uprising of the second tier in a time of late capitalism.

Lance Mannion: Promised Land and fracking.

Lawyers, Guns & Money: Let us return to the gloriously bipartisan government of the late 90s.

Guest post by Batocchio. E-mail tips to mbru AT crooksandliars DOT com.

A bridge classified as structurally deficient in 2011 on Interstate 5 crossing the Skagit River has collapsed, throwing drivers and cars into the water below.

Reuters:

Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed on Thursday, sending vehicles and people into the water below, authorities said.

The collapse on Interstate 5 took out the northbound and southbound sides of the span and occurred at about 7 p.m. local time in Mount Vernon, 55 miles north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol spokesman Trooper Mark Francis said.

"I've got reports of vehicles and people in the water," Francis said. He added that he did not know if anyone was injured.

Every single news report says the cause is unknown. I don't really think one needs to be a brain surgeon to check the definition of "structurally unsound." According to Washington's own list of structurally unsound bridges, it means the "bridge requires repair or replacement of a certain component, such as cracked or spalled concrete or the entire bridge itself." Of course, that same definition contains a disclaimer that there is no imminent danger of collapse. Sure there's not. Just look at that picture and tell me what you think.

Does anyone here remember the American Jobs Act proposed by President Obama in 2011? The one he introduced while standing in front of a bridge in Ohio that was also structurally deficient? The American Jobs Act that Senate Republicans killed with glee and great pride? That one?

You think maybe if they had taken it seriously instead of playing gotcha politics those people wouldn't be in the water right now?

Is it too soon to ask which Republicans will not only be fired, but go to jail for injuries and or deaths caused by their inattention to our infrastructure? Not for me, it's not.

Update 1: I tried to add video of the Washington DOT spokesman reacting, but the embed seems not to work. Here is the link.

Update 2: Let's also not forget what Republicans wanted in exchange for a transportation bill. Oil company incentives for infrastructure!

Update 3: According to the AP there are 759 bridges in Washington State that are more severely deficient than this one.

Also, this somewhat bizarre report of a guy praying on the bank in front of the bridge and then taking photos of the collapse:

Dogs' owner knows the magic word! Open thread below...

Kiko: 20th Anniversary Edition
	Artist: Los Lobos Price: $8.87 (As of 05/23/13 06:10 pm details)

Here's a sweet Terry Gilliam directed video to a great Los Lobos song. Got a video from a favorite film director?

Gee, Wells Fargo Bank. A guy does what he's supposed to do and not only makes his regular payments but extra ones too and you decide to foreclose on him?

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Orlando news station WFTV has the details:

A man who made loan modification payments on time and early said Wells Fargo stopped taking payments and started foreclosing on his house.

Etienne Syldor said he's worked his whole life for a home in Orlando for his wife and three children.

Syldor is an immigrant from Haiti and a bus driver at Walt Disney World. At times, he said he has worked multiple jobs to make sure he never missed a mortgage payment.

Last year, Wells Fargo offered him mortgage modification, and he was told if he made four monthly payments during a trial period, the modification would be permanent.

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Conan O'Brien very helpfully produced this ad for conservatives who feel terrorized by Obama's IRS. As the dude in the tricorner hat says:

TEA PARTY GUY: "Filing your taxes can be a little scary, especially if you’re a God-fearing, gun-owning, freedom-loving Republican like myself. The fact is, Obama’s IRS is after us. Luckily, there’s ConservoTax, the only tax software made for conservative taxpayers.”

The segment would have been funnier if the intended targets of this would not be trying to find the 1-800 number for this product.