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

The Daily Caller newsroom is going on a cruise. Those attending are expected to convene at Chadwicks tonight at 6 p.m. Let’s hope it’s not a Carnival poop cruise.

Bon Voyage!

Politico is so funny when they lose someone they actually like. In this case, it’s Jonathan Martin, their Senior Political Reporter and one of the publication’s original hires, who’s off to the New York Times. They issue a gynormous memo and Editor-in-Chief John Harris explains why the move is as good for them as it is for the other publication. He says things like this:

“Jonathan told us today that he is leaving home to take a big and challenging job as national political correspondent with the New York Times.” …From the POLITICO perspective, this is a day less for regret than excitement. We have an opportunity—indeed, from both Robert Allbritton and Fred Ryan we have an unambiguous order—to use this moment as a springboard.”

Leaving home? Anyhow, a colleague cracked, “Hoo boy… Can’t wait till the Times discovers his temper and penchant for speaking down to colleagues.”

Congratulations to Martin!

See the rest of the manifesto gargantuan internal memo… Read more

A screen shot of what appears to be an email response written by Andrea Rodgers, founder of the style site Ask Miss A, landed in our inbox Thursday. “Oh please no,” the alleged email reads. “I really don’t want any plus size fashion on the site.”

Really? How could the editor of a website heralding the tagline “Style Meets Charity” come off as so uncharitable? Mean, even.

A search of Rodgers’ website for the term “plus-size” does render results on clothes for larger women. Examples:

• Chance Fashion: The Second Annual Plus Sized Fashion Show At Neighbours In Seattle, 4/13
• CurvyGirls Bridal, 7/12
• Wendy Williams Outs Our Fear of Fat, 11/10

So, has Rodgers made a recent editorial decision to ban fat fashion? Read more

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos isn’t the only newsman who gets to have a distinctive surname. Now he has competition — at least in the surname department — as  CNN welcomes popular Canadian talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos to its Friday lineup.

“Stroumboulopoulos” will premiere on Sunday, June 9th at 10pm ET following the season finale of Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown.” On June 14th the show will air in its regular time slot, which is Fridays at 11pm.

Stroumboulopoulos’ first guests will be rapper Wiz Khalifa, actress Ellen Page and Walking Dead comic book author Robert Kirkman. Viewers can also expect “compelling” interviews with Keanu Reeves, Martin Short, Betty White, Bill Maher, Sharon Stone, author Eckhardt Tolle, and filmmaker Werner Herzog.

The show will tape in front of a live audience in Los Angeles.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y) has managed to keep his name, face and crotch off the covers of both the New York Daily News and the New York Post for the first two days following his official announcement to run for New York City mayor. Have we simply run out of Weiner innuendos?

No. The lack of cover coverage Wednesday was a technical issue. Weiner declared his candidacy via a Web video close to midnight on Tuesday (Wednesday morning). The paper products for both the Daily News and the Post were already in print when the video went up, according to a report by Hunter Walker at Talking Points Memo.

“Everyone was pissed,” an unnamed editor at one of the publications told TPM. The Daily News was, however, able to make a last-minute adjustment and… Read more

Not long ago, Buzzfeed’s Benny Johnson put together a wonderful list featuring members of Congress and their animal lookalikes. While we don’t have a list of “30 Animals That Look Like Benny Johnson,” we did find one potential clone. Comedian Greg Proops was in town earlier this week to perform and tape his podcast at the DC Improv. We caught up with him at the “Lamb Jam” food event at Eastern Market on Monday night. He was wearing a green, flannel suit and, with the rising temps, told us that he was “fucking hot.” Maybe it’s the sharp outfits or the glasses, but we think the two could be brothers from another mother.