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D Magazine on Tuesday published a shockingly not safe for work voicemail from Dallas City Council candidate Richard P. Sheridan who said that the publication had not done enough to inform voters that his opponent was gay.

In the voicemail left over the weekend, Sheridan tells reporter Dan Koller that he's "extremely happy" that "Sodomite" Leland Burk lost to Jennifer Staubach Gates.

"You know, you didn't post the fact, communicate to voters that he's gay, and I think I did a pretty good job of communicating to voters," Sheridan, who only received 28 votes, opines. "You, sir, are cunt, bitch, coward, Mr. Koller. Dan Koller is a cunt, bitch, coward. And I don't think you have one testicle, sir. You're a sorry-ass, you're a disgrace to our city, you're a propagandist to the Sodomites.

"And when I see you, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but minimally your eardrums will hurt, you motherfucker. Because the word fuck means abuse and if you're in the gay lifestyle, the mothers that bring their children up in the world, wanting to do good, want to live a good life, and you go with the Sodomites? You motherfucker, cunt, coward Dan Koller."

Sheridan adds that Koller would "regret it" the next time he saw him, but the "fucking coward" should not to call the police because it was not intended as a threat of bodily harm.

Koller responded on Tuesday with lyrics from Michael Jackson's "Bad."

"Well, Richard (or should I call you Dick? Yeah, I should), all I can say in response, Dick, is your talk is cheap; you’re not a man," Koller wrote. "The word is out, you’re doing wrong; gonna lock you up before too long. I’m telling you, just watch your mouth; I know your game, what you’re about."

"I sincerely hope that the man is never a Twitter user," D Magazine's Jason Heid added in a follow-up piece. "I’m sure that he could single-handedly add several degrees of red to Dallas’ appearance on the Geography of Hate map."

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Fox News host Megyn Kelly admitted on Wednesday that the conservative network's coverage of that day's Benghazi hearings had been a "little lopsided" after Democratic lawmakers were repeatedly cut off for commercial breaks.

Following opening statements, Fox News aired all of the questions House Oversight Committee Chair Darrel Issa (R-CA) had for the witnesses he had called, but the network cut to former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton for reaction when Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MA) began presenting his questions.

Users on Twitter complained as they noticed a pattern each time Fox News cut away from the hearings.

"HILARIOUS Fox News taking a commerical break during Democrats #Benghazi questions...," Unitedliberals tweeted. "Fox News instead of airing Carolyn Maloney's questions during #Benghazi hearing they are RE-airing clips from 20 minutes ago #LOL."

"Fox News coverage @ Benghazi hearing/ no interruption of Republican spkrs, commercials and commentary ovr Democrats. Fair and balanced? BS!" Kevin Larkin wrote.

After over three hours of hearings, Fox News Megyn Kelly acknowledged that the coverage had not been fair and balanced.

"We're trying to get in our commercial breaks here and now we're getting a little lopsided in terms of the Democrats versus the Republicans, so we're going to try to rectify that for you after the break," she promised.

In fact, Fox News only provided another 10 minutes of live video from the hearings during the next hour. Instead, the network asked Bolton and Fox News host Oliver North to comment.

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Conservative supporters Margaret Thatcher expressed outraged on Monday after CNN marked the death of the the former British prime minister by airing a photo of her with former BBC television presenter Jimmy Savile, a suspected pedophile.

In a CNN Starting Point segment soon after the news of Thatcher's death broke on Monday, the morning show displayed the black and white photo of Thatcher and Savile appearing together at an event in the 1980s to support the NSPCC children's charity. CNN showed the photo at least four times during the five-minute segment.

Scotland Yard announced that in 2012 that it had launched an investigation about a year after Savile's death in October 2011 into allegations that he had sexually abused hundreds of children.

Wall Street Journal Social Media Editor Neal Mann noted on Twitter that CNN "obviously didn't get the memo" when it ran the photo of Thatcher with Savile.

"That is the picture CNN chose to run for Margaret Thatcher’s obituary? A pedophile?" Michelle Malkin's Twitchy website asked, accompanied by a list of tweets by conservatives slamming CNN's decision.

"Whoever's doing the Thatcher montage on CNN is either an idiot or a sly lefty. Repeated images of Thatcher with Pinochet and Saville...," David Tumilty wrote.

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has a perfectly good explanation for why he awkwardly reached for a water bottle during his Tuesday night response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address: It was a message from God.

Throughout Rubio's delivery of the Republican response to Obama's speech, Twitter users noted that he seemed parched. And then the social media site erupted when the Florida senator finally paused his speech to sneak a sip of water from a bottle sitting far enough off camera to make the reach seem uncomfortable.

The next morning, ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about the incident.

"I needed water, what am I going to do, you know?" the Tea Party Republican replied after jokingly taking a swig from another bottle. "It happens."

"God has a funny way of reminding us we're human," he added.

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MSNBC hosts Chuck Todd and Lawrence O'Donnell say that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney miscalculated badly when he decided to attack President Barack Obama for "sympathizing" with the enemy after the deaths of U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and at least three members of his staff.

In the hours before the protest in Benghazi that left Stevens dead, the U.S. State Department had released a statement over a film that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. That film, "Innocence of Muslims," had been recently given Arabic subtitles and promoted by Terry Jones, a U.S. pastor who had previously sparked deadly riots threatening to burn Qurans.

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said prior to the protests. "Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

After the attacks, the State Department tweeted that it stood by its earlier statement and condemned the "unjustified breach of the Embassy." The White House later disavowed the statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, saying it had not been cleared in advanced.

But the Romney campaign wasted no time in using the deaths to attack Obama.

"It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," the candidate said.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus echoed Romney's remarks in a tweet: "Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic."

"Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house," former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook. "It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. ... We already know that President Obama likes to 'speak softly' to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a 'big stick' to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one."

On Tuesday morning, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell observed that the Romney campaign would have been better off "to say nothing because the fact is if you say something responsible and careful, it's just going to be ignored. The only thing that will get attention is if you say something stupid, which is what they've managed to do."

"The only way to get attention is to say something a little outrageous," MSNBC host Chuck Todd agreed. "And I have to say, I am stunned they put out this release when they did, before we knew all the facts, before daybreak, before we know for sure whether there are going to be protests that spread around the world."

"It seemed to be an irresponsible thing to do," he added. "And it's one that I'm fascinated to see this morning that the Romney campaign, no mention. Suddenly they put out a debt statement. I have a feeling they wish they had that moment back, they wish they had that statement back. I understand where they feel like they are, they are chasing news cycles right now and they feel as if they have to be involved in every news cycle and every event if the president is involved in order to look on equal footing. But that was a bad mistake they made last night."

Moments later, Redstate's Erick Erickson was blasting Todd on Twitter.

"While I think Romney must be delicate, I think NBC's analysis from Chuck Todd that R's response was a mistake is partisan crazy talk," he wrote.

"I would have liked to see a statement [from Romney] that looked more like leading, presenting a vision, less like 'again, Obama sucks,'" former Republican National Committee online communication director Liz Mair said in response Erickson.

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A Michigan man went to Calgary, Alberta, Canada recently with his wife and apparently felt naked without his gun. (There is no such thing as 'conceal carry' in Canada.) A letter to the editor of Calgary's largest newspaper sparked widespread ridicule, referring to the police office from Michigan as 'Nose Hill Gentlemen' for the city park in which this incident occurred.

via CBC News:

A Michigan police officer says he's not deterred by the negative reaction caused by his letter to a Calgary newspaper.

Walt Wawra wrote in a letter to the Calgary Herald editor that he wished he had a gun on a recent trip to Calgary.

The veteran officer said he was on a walk with his wife at Nose Hill Park when they were approached by two "aggressive" men.

“They said to me: ‘Hey, have you been to the Stampede yet?’ And my wife and I both looked at him, and we ignored that first comment,” Wawra said.

“They moved a little closer and they said a little louder: ‘Hey! Have you been to the Stampede yet?’ I believe I said in response: ‘Gentlemen, I don’t have need to talk to you about anything. Goodbye.’”

The man said he felt uncomfortable without his off-duty hand gun, and wrote that "in Canada, only the criminals and the police carry handguns."

On Twitter, the letter was the butt of jokes. It even spawned its own hash tag: #NoseHillGentlemen.

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian at The Young Turks couldn't contain their embarrassment while recounting the story on their online show .

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Ever since Rep. Darrell Issa decided to exclude Sandra Fluke from being allowed to appear before his committee to testify about the new insurance regulations which would mandate contraceptive coverage, the right wing has been attacking this woman at every opportunity.

Whether it's Rush Limbaugh calling her a slut and a prostitute, or attacking her for her support of keeping the interest rates down on student loans, or Bill O'Reilly going after her for dressing well and taking birth control, or Megyn Kelly parroting O'Reilly's attacks on Fluke being "entitled" to contraceptive coverage, they just can't stop themselves.

The latest was Monica Crowley who took to Twitter to insult Fluke over her recent engagement -- Fox's Monica Crowley Reacts To Fluke's Reported Engagement: "To A Man?":

Fox News political and foreign affairs analyst Monica Crowley reacted to a report that Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke got engaged to her boyfriend by tweeting: "To a man?"

Following criticism of her on Twitter, Crowley wrote: "I love exposing the Left's total lack of a sense of humor."

As Media Matters has documented, Fluke has come under vicious attack by conservatives following her testimony before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Most infamously, Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute."

UPDATE: Despite suggesting that her Fluke tweet was a joke, Crowley subsequently wrote that she was asking a "Straightforward question" about Fluke.

Fluke appeared on Ed Schultz's show to respond to the latest insults. When asked what she thought of Crowley's homophobic "joke" Fluke replied “Well, you know, where I’m from, when someone tells you they’ve become engaged, you say congratulations rather than engaging in hate speech. And it’s certainly not the way I wanted my engagement to be greeted, but that said, I'm not going to let this kind of thing get to me personally. What really bothers me about it is exactly what you said, the blatant homophobia in the comment and the idea that’s an acceptable thing to say publicly.”

Schultz asked Fluke if she wanted an apology to which she replied that she did not, but Crowley might owe an apology to the LGBTQ community instead. Par for the course, Fluke again manged to stay well above the fray of those who've been attacking her.

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Stephen Colbert had a bit of fun with Sen. Chuck Grassley after he insulted President Obama on Twitter over the weekend and called him "stupid" for his tepid criticisms of the Supreme Court last week.

Colbert started a new hashtag for anyone who would like to imitate the "seventy eight year old cyber punk's" "avant garde, stream of consciousness poetry," typos and all -- #IGotTheTweetsLikeGrassley.

More on Grassley's dust up on Twitter here -- Sen. Chuck Grassley calls President Obama “stupid x prof of con law.”.

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday told reporters and bloggers that he could "imagine a time" when they would have to reveal confidential sources.

"Just the last few years since my last campaign, the changes in your industry have been quite striking," the candidate explained to the American Society of News Editors (ASNE). "Back then, I would look on Drudge or Fox or CNN online to see how the stories were developing and only hours after a speech, it was being dissected on the Internet."

"Now of course, we go to Twitter. It's instantaneous. In 2008, the coverage was all about what I might have said in a speech. Today, it's about what brand of jeans I'm wearing or what I had for lunch."

Romney added: "Some people thus welcome the tumult and turmoil in your industry, heralding the new voices and the unfiltered or supposedly unbiased sources. Frankly in some of the new media, I find myself missing the presence of editors to exercise quality control. ... I miss the days of two or more sources for a story -- when at least one source was actually named."

During a question and answer period following the speech, ASNE president Ken Paulson asked Romney if there was "a role for confidential sources in American public life, in the press and in our view as a furtherance of democracy?"

"Do I see a role for confidential sources? Yes," the former Massachusetts governor replied. "Could I ever imagine a time when a source would need to be revealed? Yeah I can imagine that too."

"So I know that sounds like a conflict and that's why I'm going to have to give this a lot more thought and a lot more back and forth to understand which side of that I would finally come down on. But I'd want to hear from people in the industry, is there ever a time you would think a confidential source would be revealed or should be revealed, and if the answer is no I'd like to understand why that is the case and what the alternative is."

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Last week, in a fit of anger at the injustice of the Trayvon Martin case, director Spike Lee stupidly tweeted the address of a George Zimmerman of Sanford, Florida. The only problem was that it was NOT the George Zimmerman who shot Trayvon Martin. It was instead the address of an elderly couple whose son shared the same name. At universal condemning, Lee apologized to the couple and today, agreed to a settlement for their distress. I agree with Balloon Juice's John Cole's initial reaction: Spike Lee is an idiot and should not be encouraging vigilante "justice". Unfortunately, Lee also gave the likes of Sean Hannity all the ammunition he needed to run a segment like the one this Thursday.

That said, I do agree with Ellen over at Newshounds who pointed out Hannity's hypocrisy. If he wants appoint himself the campaign donor police for President Obama (as they've done and failed already with Bill Maher), he probably should avoid playing the "both sides are equally terrible" game with his statements, considering his own connections to a charity run by a slavery-justifying, misogynistic Jesse Peterson:

A few quotes from Peterson, via the above links:

“I’ve often said that, ‘Thank God for slavery,’ because, you know, had not, then the blacks over here would have been stuck in Africa… The ride over (in a slave ship) was pretty tough but you know, it’s like riding on a crowded airplane when you’re not in First Class. It’s a tough ride. But you’re happy when you get to your destination.”
“Women’s rights are “a trick from Satan.”
“One of the greatest mistakes that America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote.”
"N)ot all, but most (women) turned into little whores.”

Or the hours upon hours of hate and misogyny that Rush Limbaugh spews on his show daily and that he was still doing this week despite hemorrhaging sponsors, as Media Matters documented here -- Limbaugh: If Health Care Reform Law Is Overturned "College Co-Eds" Might Have To Pay "To Have Protected Sex".

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