Good morning, introducing Tar Sands Timmy, your guide to the Keystone XL project and dirty oil extraction in Alberta, Canada! See what Timmy has in store for the USA and points beyond. Video animation by Mark Fiore.

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In the video above Rhett Price and Josh Knowles, who simply call themselves the "Subway Violinists,
expertly perform Taylor Swift's pop hit "I Knew You Were Trouble" in a Boston train station.

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Highlights during this day in history: President Truman relieves Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command; France's Napoleon abdicates; The Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald is liberated; Uganda's Idi Amin deposed; Apollo 13 lifts off.

Happy birthday to Ethel Kennedy, who turns 85 today.

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Good morning, and welcome to John Boehner's sequester. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

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Via Dwayne Booth, aka "Mr. Fish."

Good morning, today is Wednesday, February 20, 2013. Your morning open thread begins below...

Via The National Memo:

Have you ever seen a Mitt Romney lookalike bobblehead doll? Or the parody video, since removed from the Internet, with former Republican candidate Jon Huntsman’s three daughters interviewing a nodding Mitt bobblehead?

This year, the Romney bobbleheads are marketed on the Internet, along with Barack Obama bobble-eads that are reportedly selling faster. But the original Mitt bobblehead first appeared four years ago and was produced—by Ann Romney’s brother at a factory in China—as a party favor for big donors.

When former Utah governor Jon Huntsman was still in the GOP presidential primary race last January, his three daughters “went rogue” and produced the video, with two of them donning blonde wigs to imitate Fox News anchors, and “interviewed” a Romney bobblehead doll. As they studied their nails and asked sarcastic questions — “Governor Romney, people accuse you of being stiff. Do you agree?” — the bobblehead would rapidly oscillate, indicating yes or no.

If those dolls could talk, they might have a lot to tell about their country of origin and who made them there. Although Romney now complains frequently that China has unfairly “taken American jobs,” the Chinese bobblehead Mitts are yet another example of Romney’s propensity to invest in the People’s Republic—and to enrich family members such as Roderick Davies, his brother-in-law, who oversaw the creation of the dolls in China through a Utah company called Asian Sources, Inc.

Good morning, today is Thursday, October 25, 2012. Your morning open thread begins below.

Good morning, today is Thursday, August 2, 2012. How is the world treating you today?

Good morning and TGIF!

Animation: Boehner vs Women (Actual Audio) from scottbateman on Vimeo.

How is everyone this day after May Day? Man, is there ever a lot to cover today, stay tuned!

Good morning! It's Monday, April 30th, and tomorrow is the General Strike. Are you ready?