Some male reporters felt the need to get in a dick swinging contest with Donald Trump this afternoon. The subject matter: Ironically, ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).

On Wednesday we reported that TWT Senior Op-ed Writer Emily Miller wrote that she and a female colleague Susan Crabtree had alleged that Weiner had harassed them during conversations on Capitol Hill. In Miller’s case, she says a heated Weiner got inches from her face and subjected her to humiliating sexual comments as she tried to question him on the sexting scandal. Crabtree, meanwhile, says Weiner erected his middle finger at her in the Speaker’s Lobby in front of gobs of reporters.

Today, Trump, an expert on pretty much everything known to mankind, retweeted Miller’s story and the crowd went wild. Because retweets actually do mean endorsements now don’t they? Trump wrote, “Must read article by @EmilyMiller: ‘Anthony Weiner is a twit who treats women like dirt.’”

BuzzFeed‘s Andrew Kaczynski (pictured at left) and Politico‘s Alex Burns  jumped all over it, equating that Trump being divorced and sending nasty missives to a columnist was equivalent to harassing women in the workplace.

Burns pointed to a story in New York magazine story in which columnist Gail Collins, the first woman to hold the position of Editorial Page Editor at NYT, recounts the time Trump sent her story back to her with her face circled with “The Face of a Dog” written all over it. Burns added, “Seriously, Donald Trump doesn’t demean women?” And Kaczynski cracked, “Twice divorced Trump.”

Miller (pictured above in pink) shot back on Twitter, “Divorce has NOTHING to do with demeaning women in the workplace.” She told FishbowlDC, “I am shocked these male reporters will do anything to defend Anthony Weiner’s pattern of harassing female reporters on Capitol Hill. Clearly, they can’t understand how humiliating it was for us and how difficult Weiner made it to do our job.”

She remarked on what it was like to interview Weiner versus Trump. Read more

WaPo announced today that Emilio Garcia-Ruiz has been named managing editor. According to a release, he will be responsible for digital initiatives and operations, video, the presentation departments of photo, graphics, and design, and the multiplatform editing desk.

He was previously WaPo‘s digital strategy editor. He began working for WaPo in 1987 as a night copy editor in Sports. He left in 1990 and spent 11 years at the Orange County Register, LAT and St. Paul Pioneer Press. He returned to WaPo in 2001 as assistant sports editor.

“As editor for strategic projects for the past two and a half years, Emilio has been immersed in our digital efforts across all platforms,” said Marty Baron, Executive Editor, in a long, meandering, boring quote. “He was instrumental in bringing the embedded developer team to the newsroom, a move that helped The Post emerge as an industry leader in innovation, releasing more than a dozen new digital products in the past year. He also brings to this position deep and impressive experience as a journalist and a newsroom leader, a background that has allowed him to work intimately with photography, design, graphics, and the full range of editors and reporters. ”

On this Friday we match up WaPo columnist Ruth Marcus, who appeared on MSNBC. Her doppelganger: Actress Kathy Najimy, known for her roles in the films Sister Act, Sister Act II and Hocus Pocus.

After calling Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a “skeezy huckster” late Thursday night, Salon Editor Joan Walsh faced a barrage of spankings from conservatives on Twitter who charged that Walsh was being racist.

“Wow, Ted Cruz is kind of a skeezy huckster,” Walsh tweeted. “Will Republicans start to notice?”

Conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch pounced, tweeting back, “Should we ask @joanwalsh if ‘skeezy huckster’ is code for ‘Hispanic?’ Like how she said ‘food stamps’ is code for ‘Black American?’”

“Because he’s Hispanic? Racist pig! #YourRules,” tweeted Townhall‘s Derek Hunter.

“Do you describe all Hispanics this way, @joanwalsh?” asked FreedomWorks blogger Jon Gabriel in a rhetorical tweet.

Their point: If Republicans are racist for using phrases like “food stamp” when talking about President Obama, Walsh is a racist for using “skeezy huckster” when talking about Cruz, who is Cuban.

Walsh didn’t seem to catch the argument her critics were making. Asked if she was being racist in her use of “skeezy huckster” she said… Read more

To put this in proper context, on Thursday we reported that The Daily Caller newsroom was heading out on a cruise yesterday. We wrote that we hoped they weren’t going on a Carnival poop cruise and wished them a bon voyage.

So naturally AnonymASS writes in, “You must be breaking out the champagne today! You got to use ‘poop’ again! Maybe somewhere on the web there should be an FBDC Poop page that graphs peak and falliw [sic] periods.”

Dear ASS: Yes, we’re breaking out the champagne! And please, we’d love for you to be in charge of our poop graph department. Now please excuse us as we spend the afternoon guzzling our bubbly. Cheers! P.S. Just for writing in, we direct you to this story as directed to us by NJ‘s “The Hotline.” It involves a man pooping in his roommate’s car. The lead: “Roommates sometimes fight. Other times, they share things from deep within themselves.”

Welcome to the age of over-apologizing.

National Journal reporter Ron Fournier took the opportunity to apologize early this morning for what he says was an insensitive comment he made on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” using the word “jihad.”

Yestday, I used “jihad” to describe journo inquiries, an inaccurate/irresponsible word choice. My apology. nbcnews.com/id/3036789/ns/… @presssec

— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) May 24, 2013

What he said at 13:10: “The irony here is that President Obama by raising a jihad against the press has now made it more likely that that we are now likely to have what he called dumb wars,” he said. No one at the table flinched. No one even responded to what he said, nor was there a single news article condemning his remarks.

Seriously Fournier? An apology for this?

One of his followers summed up our reaction perfectly.

.@ron_fournier @presssec OMFG Ron who the fxck cares about the choice of one stupid word. Politically Correct is up my ass with pineapples.

— Doc (@doctormalibu) May 24, 2013

New Jersey Avenue was full of the smokey aroma of pork and oyster Wednesday evening, floating from the patio of the restaurant Art & Soul.

A packed crowd rubbed elbows (literally) and chowed down on roasted pig and oysters, previewing the menu for the restaurant’s weekly patio dinners that begin next Wednesday.

Area journalists unfortunately didn’t show up to take advantage of the booze and food. But maybe these pictures will be incentive for the next spectacular pigfest.

In recent years, that restaurant has prepared a crab broil for the weekly feast. But Art & Soul Executive Chef Wes Morton (“Like the salt,” he explained) said this year he wanted to change things up. Read more

Quotes of the Day

“I think we have enough beer. Maybe not?” — Politico‘s Ginger Gibson.

“The logo has since been changed. Too bad the candidate can’t be changed.” — MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews on ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner’s skyline screwup on his campaign website.

Boss sends reporter directions to his office

“Boss sent me an invite on Google calendar. Invite helpfully offers me directions to his office, up 4 floors. Thanks, Google.” — National Journal “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson.

It is what it is…is what it is

“Phrase that should be banned: “It is what it is.” — WaPo‘s Ben Pershing, who linked to this story in WaPo in which Weiner employed the phrase in reaction to women who may come forward with more pictures.

JMart gets new handle  

“Thanks for all the love, folks. Means a lot. New handle: @jmartNYT” — Politico‘s Jonathan Martin, who, as previously reported, landed a new gig at the NYT. We do hope he’ll still be the go-to Twitter guide for 13-year-old girls.

Bad job interview memories…

“Had the most humiliating job interview of my life at ESPN. Good times.” — Mother Jones‘ Nick Baumann.

Convo Between Two Journos

NYT‘s Michael Barbaro: Weiner on Politico today: ““Actual people don’t read that”

Politico‘s Glenn Thrush: “Guess we under-covered his long list of legislative accomplishments.”

IRS Press Office is crap

“I love how all this Lerner stuff is coming from other sources, not the IRS’ utterly unhelpful press office.” – Politico‘s Byron Tau.

Editor has advice for politicians 

“#Protip for pols trying to avoid making news with an answer to a tough question. Start with ‘my position has always been…’” — BuzzFeed Political Editor McKay Coppins.

More Morning Chatter… Read more

A piece by Slates Matthew J.X. Malady raises an interesting question: what if apostrophes werent actually necessary? Only in use to signify omitted letters since the 16th century and in possessives since the 17th, apostrophes history may be beginning to draw to a close. The story cites multiple writers and scholars who have abandoned the punctuation mark, which Malady calls  an “uncouth bacilli,” and the language used by bloggers and new media, which largely omits apostrophes. The piece also mentions John Richards, founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, who has been set on keeping the punctuation mark alive.

Roll Call‘s John Gramlich reports that a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps. Ted Poe (R-Texas) and John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) announced Wednesday that there is growing support for a “media shield” bill that would protect journalists from revealing their sources via a new judicial process. The legislation comes as a response to the Justice Departments seizure of two months of phone records of reporters with the Associated Press and Fox News. Poe said the actions of the DOJ remind him of “the old Soviet-style tactics of spying on the press.”

By Betsy Rothstein and Austin Price

A graying homeless man with an admitted history of mental illness set up shop in Dupont Circle Wednesday afternoon with an elaborate boombox and speaker system. “I love to dance!” he said, getting his groove on amid a sticky Washington heatwave.

So who is he and what’s he doing here?

Adjacent to the stereo speakers and propped up against one of the ledges that surround the fountain was a handwritten sign on a piece of cardboard that contained two scrawled email addresses — his own and presumably that of Fox News anchor Brit Hume.

Here’s where things get dicey. The man claims to be Louis Hume, the son of the journalist. He says he’s not Brit Hume’s biological son, but that Hume raised him in every way that matters. He even has a birth certificate (as pictured here) to attempt to prove his claim and named Brit Hume’s first wife, Clare Jacobs Stoner, as the woman who raised him and his “biological aunt.”

Dressed in cream-colored shorts, a bright white T-shirt that reads, “Help the Homeless” and worn sneakers, Louis (not likely his real name) was dripping with sweat as he pried himself away from dancing for a brief interview.

“He taught me all the proper ways to live, which I paid little attention to,” he said of Brit Hume. “I’ve led a very wild life, I guess you could say. God told me recently that I had to start telling people about meeting him. I guess he doesn’t like the idea.”

He continued, wistfully, “It seems like forever since I’ve seen him. I lived out West. But yeah, he’s my dad. I met God. God gave me a ride, like a three, four, five hour drive. I want to tell the story and be on a lie detector machine so people know I ain’t lying about it. But I’m mostly up here just preaching the gospel.”

“Louis Hume” said a few months ago he tried to camp out down by the Fox News studios on North Capitol Street to try to see his “father.” But he said cops chased him off. “I went to Fox News and I said ‘Okay, well listen, my Dad’s working up there. You go tell him to come down here and tell me to leave and I will.’ So they relayed the message up to him,” he said. “My Dad told security, ‘I don’t have a son, my son died.’ So he was saying, basically, I’m not his son anymore, I don’t know.”

This story is heartbreaking on a variety of levels. Read more