Thursday's Links: NYC's Next Mayor Could Be a Laughingstock

* Here's a documentary about comedian-turned-NYC mayoral candidate Randy Credico.

* If you missed Rand Paul's filibuster, check out the 120-second version.

* The Bulls and other teams with horns Dennis Rodman wants to join.

* UCBComedy tries to figure out the FCC's censorship guidelines. [NSFW]

* President Obama shows his willingness to reach across the aisle for a bill.

* Michelle Obama's fashion choices are dreadful, says a person who dresses like this.

* Magic School Bus teacher Ms. Frizzle gets raked over the coals at a local PTA meeting.

* A Pennsylvania councilman sent an inappropriate email, which means he's ready for Congress!

Tags: Barack Obama, Dennis Rodman, Drugs, Education, Fashion, FCC, Filibuster, Michelle Obama, New York City, Pennsylvania, PTA, Rand Paul, Randy Credico, Satan, Sequester, The New Yorker, UCB

Tweet Untweet: F@#% SCOTUS!

The court released its FCC ruling first to make it easier for us all to curse the health care ruling on air next week. Very considerate.

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) June 21, 2012

Tags: FCC, Health Care, Supreme Court, Tweet Untweet, Twitter

Supreme Court Makes World Safe for Brief TV Nudity, for Now

Despite speculation that the Supreme Court would rule on the fate of the Affordable Care Act this morning, the justices again chose to punt on the issue until next week. Either way, it's bad news for supporters of the law: If all death panels work as slowly as the Supreme Court, we'll never be able to kill anything.

But the Supreme Court did make a series of important rulings on union dues, the Fair Sentencing Act and the FCC's indecency fines against television broadcasters. The latter case made its way to the Court after a 2nd Circuit ruling in favor of the networks…

The Justice Department had filed an appeal, and helpfully provided the justices with a DVD of a 2003 episode of the now-canceled "NYPD Blue" on ABC in which a naked woman was shown. The content of that program is central to the current legal dispute. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all parties in the case.

A federal appeals court last year for a second time struck down the government policies, concluding they were vague and inconsistently applied. Pending sanctions against the broadcasters were dismissed.

So if the whole "Fast and Furious" debacle doesn't provide enough political hay for House Republicans, they can always accuse Eric Holder of peddling softcore pornography.

Unfortunately, while the Supreme Court has the power to scrub or allow "indecent" programming from our primetime airwaves, it can't compel the media to report its decisions accurately. Contrary to many headlines, the Court did not say that the FCC policy of applying sanctions for "fleeting expletives" and brief nudity constituted a violation of the First Amendment. Instead,  Justice Kennedy ruled that because the FCC failed to give Fox or ABC fair notice prior to the broadcast that fleeting expletives and momentary nudity would be indecent, the Commission's standards as applied to these broadcasts were vague.

In other words, the FCC can still issue fines for "indecency," as long as fair notice is given, which doesn't explain how the Jersey Shore is still on TV.

Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Group/Getty Images

Tags: ABC, FCC, Fox, Supreme Court, Television

That's Puzzling!: Headline Anagrams, July 14th

Once again, it's time to take some words and mix up all their letters and then put them back together again to create new words, but in a totally fun and hip way.

But first, here's a few from last week's challenge: Justice Dept. Sues Arizona Over Its Immigration Law…

Dammit, stop Latinos just in case! Euro, I wiz grave ire. (Elizabeth)

Perverse, judicious warm to aliens' stigmatization. (Angel)

Vile statute is now jeopardizing America's tourism. (Dharam)

Here's this week's headline…

F.C.C. Indecency Policy Rejected on Appeal

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Leave your anagrams in the comments.

Tags: Anagrams, FCC, Games and Challenges

John McCain's "Internet Freedom Act" Strikes Heroic Blow for Freedom from the Internet

Good news for everyone who is an executive for a powerful telecommunications corporation!

John McCain is fighting for your freedom to impose your will upon the masses! Go, America!

McCain's bill, the Internet Freedom Act, would block the Federal Communications Commission from making Net neutrality the law of the land. The rule preventing ISPs from slowing down certain types of content would create "onerous federal regulation," McCain argued in a written statement.

According to a report at NetworkWorld, McCain "called the proposed Net neutrality rules a 'government takeover' of the Internet that will stifle innovation and depress an 'already anemic' job market in the US."

But supporters of Net neutrality argue that the rule is needed to ensure that Internet providers don't censor content, or slow down traffic to Web sites that are in competition with their business allies.

Come on now? Who are you going to believe on this? Some person who knows how to use a computer? Or John McCain?

Tags: FCC, Internet, John McCain, Net Neutrality, Science & Technology