The week actually got off to a great start! I spent last weekend at the amazing Tortuga Music Festival here in South Florida, benefiting the Rock the Ocean Foundation, and was feeling great for a Monday.

Then all hell broke loose in Boston.

As bad as the actual explosion of two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon was, the lies and insanity that were presented as “news” made it even more disgusting. The worst perpetrator had to be the Rupert Murdoch-owned NY Post, Wall Street Journal and Fox “News” Channel:

The “Saudi National” was never officially a “suspect” nor was he arrested, though some “news” organizations and pundits sure made it sound that way. And many were quick to take the information they put out to blame “the Muslims”.

The fact that he was even questioned and considered a “person of interest” is also reprehensible. Read this account of what was done to this young man in this account, “The Saudi Marathon Man” by Amy Davison at The New Yorker.

But the kicker came Thursday morning, in the form of the front page New York’s biggest piece of trash, the NY Post:

As Deadspin reported, those two kids pictured are NOT the suspects!

The pair show up in multiple photos of the finish line. They carry large bags. They are dark-skinned. This was enough for internet sleuths to peg them as suspicious…

(The photo on the paper’s cover is a cropped and zoomed-in version of the one taken by Ben Levine, which appeared on Deadspin on Tuesday.)

But maybe there was a reason for them to be at the marathon, wearing track jackets and carrying bags: they’re runners. The kid in the blue jacket is a middle-distance runner at Revere High School. Last week he ran the two-mile in 11:20.

Yesterday he caught wind that his name and social media profiles were being circulated online, and he did what any teenager would do: He panicked. He made his Facebook timeline private, and in one message now no longer visible, he announced he was going to clear his name.

"Going to the court rightnow!! Shit is real. But u will see guys I’m did not do anything"

Not to be outdone, CNN decided to get in on the journalistic malpractice action:

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WhyTF would David Gregory use a newspaper that is the lowest form of journalism tabloid crap when it comes to politics? Rupert Murdoch's pet paper is a conservative teabaggers' guide to Crazyland and NOBODY takes them seriously in any way.

ESPN even cut off their sports reporters because the NY POST published nude pictures of Erin Andrews when she had her privacy violated and every other publication chose not to do so. It infuriated ESPN so much that they refused to put any of them on the air.

ESPN retaliated Wednesday against the New York Post for its decision to use still images of Erin Andrews from a surreptitiously obtained videotape, banning Post staffers from its various outlets, including its TV networks and 1050 ESPN Radio.

"In light of the New York Post's decision to run graphic photos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, we have decided to stop utilizing Post reporters on any of our outlets," ESPN's senior VP of communications, Chris LaPlaca said.

It's infuriating that the Sunday Talk Shows repeatedly will quote conservative columnists like Kristol, Brooks, Will and Krauthammer and ask a Democratic guest to respond. Rarely does a David Gregory reverse that and read a headline or column from a liberal columnist like a Rick Perlstein. EVER. The talking heads do their best to elevate conservative beliefs and transmitters to the highest status possible to the American public.

UPDATE: Glenn Greenwald dedicates an entire column to make the point that the beltway weenies always blame the left for everything. No matter how many Blue Dogs and Baucus Dogs block health care, it's still our fault.

The prevailing Beltway wisdom has now ossified that the problem with the health care debate is that those hardened Leftist ideologues cling childishly and petulantly to their little "public option" fetish and their refusal to give it up is jeopardizing enactment of a reform bill. Just see The Washington Post Editorial Page, Post columnist Steve Pearlstein and Joe Klein -- and especially the below-documented behavior from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter -- this week blaming The Left, as always, for their childish extremism in the health care debate. As always, the obedient servitude of Blue Dogs and "centrists" to the industries that own Congress aren't obstructionist at all.

Somehow, the refusal of Blue Dogs to vote for a plan with a "public option" isn't impeding anything; there's no reason they should give anything up, because they're just being moderate and "centrist." As always, the way things should be done in Washington is that the proper scorn should be heaped on The Left until they're bullied into giving up what they believe so that Things Can Get Done (i.e., so that corporate dictates can be fulfilled)...read on

Cartoonist Sean Delonas of the Murdoch-owned NY Post is under fire for a cartoon published today depicting two police officers shooting a chimpanzee. According to Think Progress, the incident was inspired by a pet chimp attacking a woman in Connecticut.

But Delonas' caption reads, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.", tying the chimp to Obama's recent signing of the Economic Recovery Bill.

The Rev. Al Sharpton says a New York Post cartoon that appears to link President Obama to a violent chimpanzee is "troubling at best."

The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows a dead chimp and two police officers, one with a smoking gun.

The caption reads, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."[..]

Sharpton called the cartoon offensive and divisive.

The Post had no immediate comment.

UPDATE: NY Times:

A newsroom employee at The Post, who spoke on condition of anonymity because employees were not permitted to comment on the matter, said its newsroom received many calls of complaints on Wednesday morning after the publication of the cartoon. “Every line was lit up for several hours,” the employee said. “The phones on the city desk have never rung like that before.” Many Post staff members were dismayed by the cartoon, the employee added.