The 1947 Bonesmen, with George H.W. Bush standing to the left of the clock.

Late one afternoon on March 4, 2011, eight college students arrived at the White House to meet with President Obama's top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee. The meeting was never publicized, and the agenda items being discussed remain unknown.

But there was one thread that connected everyone present that day: they were all members of Yale's storied, elite secret society, Skull and Bones.

The secret society doesn't release the names of its members, referred to as "Bonesmen," but the Ivy League gossip blog IvyGate regularly has the roster leaked to them. Cross-checking their list with the White House visitor log on March 4 reveals that at least eight members of the 2010-2011 class were present at the Goolsbee meeting.

According the White House records, the students met with Goolsbee in room 234 of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at around 4:00 p.m., proceeded to a tour of the White House, and then returned their I.D. badges by 5:00 p.m.

E-mails to the students went unreturned, but it would hardly have been the first time a Bonesman (or woman) has stepped foot in the White House. Founded in 1832, the secret society has propelled its alumni into some of the world's most powerful positions--from well-appointed boardrooms to the Oval Office itself.

In fact, in 2004, both of the major parties' presidential nominees--George W. Bush and John Kerry--were former Bonesmen. Neither man has been very forthcoming about his membership. In his 1999 autobiography, Bush wrote, "[In my] senior year, I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more." Kerry echoed the sentiment on the campaign trail five years later; when he was asked what the shared association meant, he responded flatly, "Not much, because it's a secret."

The secrecy has fueled rumors and conspiracy theories about the group, with pieces of its various rituals leaking into public view over the course of its near two-century history. In 2001, for example, journalist Ron Rosenbaum spied on the group's initiation ceremony, and published his findings in the New York Observer:

Using high-tech night-vision video equipment able to peer through the gloom into the inner courtyard of the Skull and Bones “Tomb” in New Haven, The Observer team witnessed:

· The George W. effect: intoxicated by renewed proximity to Presidential power, a robed Bonesman posing as George W. harangued initiates in an eerily accurate Texas drawl: “I’m gonna ream you like I reamed Al Gore” and “I’m gonna kill you like I killed Al Gore.”

· Privileged Skull and Bones members mocked the assault on Abner Louima by crying out repeatedly, “Take that plunger out of my ass!”

· Skull and Bones members hurled obscene sexual insults (“lick my bumhole”) at initiates as they were forced to kneel and kiss a skull at the feet of the initiators.

· Other members acted out the tableau of a throat-cutting ritual murder.

According to the Yale Daily News, Goolsbee himself was part of an important chapter in Bones history. His 1991 class was the first to tap women initiates. Today, Skull and Bones is a co-ed group, as evidenced by the list of names in attendance at the March 4 White House meeting:

Lily Blair
Nicole de Paz
Mallory Baysek
Sara Beth Weintraub
Jonathan Eng
Kunal Lunawat
Paul Needham
Jesse Reising

So what was the meeting all about? BuzzFeed e-mailed Goolsbee, who left the White House last June and returned to the University of Chicago, to find out.

He responded with this parenthetical reference to the society's tradition of requiring that its members walk away from any conversation in which it's invoked.

"(sound of people leaving the room)," Goolsbee emailed.

Source: gop.com

Release from RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer:

Tonight Jim Messina is headlining a fashion show to unveil the “Runway to Win” high end designer items that the Obama campaign will sell. In light of the President’s flip flop regarding his sudden embrace of Super PACs (he said they “threaten democracy” but now White Staff and cabinet members will attend events and raise money for the them) we thought the one item they were missing were some high end designer Obama, Super PAC Flip Flops…. The sandals are fake, the flip-flop is real.

"We have the original Illinois title showing this vehicle was actually used by Barack," writes Chicagoland's cubfanatic23. "I'm sure many of them were highway miles back and forth from Chicago to Springfield since Barack was an Illinois State Senator during 2004. He [was elected] to the U.S. Senate in November of 2004 and perhaps drove the car in Washington D.C. and back to Chicago from 2005 to 2006."

View Entire List ›

At a recent interview at Sundance, Drake told reporters that he's "been reading scripts for awhile" but "wants to do something great." Well, nothing's greater than the president? From ONTD,

“I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama’s life soon because I could play him,” said Drake. “That’s the goal. I watch all the addresses. Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel, I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice. If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m pretty good at impressions.”

After the State Of The Union address, it’s clear the political divide still stands. But we can all be thankful we live in a country where we are free to paint pictures of our president sitting naked atop a unicorn.

Read More On huffingtonpost.com ›

Source: sports.yahoo.com

Via: theobamadiary.com

The shirt is part of the Runway to Win series of shirts and totes by celebrity designers (like Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, and others) to support the Obama campaign. We were excited to see what P Diddy put together, but his is still listed as "coming soon."

LINK: The Beyoncé designed shirt can be yours for $45.

Source: whitehouse.gov

Source: paydayadvanceuk.co.uk

Source: politico.com

Source: newsone.com

View Entire List ›

Source: barackobama

A protester stands in front of a burning barricade during a demonstration. Cairo, Egypt 1/28/2011

“I was in south Sudan covering the referendum when I found out that there were going to be protests in Egypt. I felt that there could be big troubles, so I returned to Egypt. I arrived at 8am and dropped my bags at home and then went to the office. Later in the afternoon clashes began in Cairo. People were shouting and the police came out on the streets. There were protesters, riot police and also plainclothes police. The plainclothes police started chasing people around: kicking them, beating them. I had to shoot quickly. I saw a lot of plainclothes police standing in a line like soldiers. There were some street battles with civilians. The next day we knew it was going to be a big protest so I took my camera downtown to look for possible trouble. We went to a couple of neighborhoods but people were walking through the small streets heading towards the city center. One moment we witnessed some clashes. Police started to fight and the protesters fought back.”–Goran Tomasevic

Passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX715 prepare to disembark from a nearly downed airplane after it landed safely. Changi Airport, Singapore 5/16/2011

“We took off smoothly for the short flight from Singapore to Jakarta, and I started falling asleep. Suddenly I was woken by the sound of two bangs, like a bomb or truck tire blowing out. My wife gripped my hand and asked, 'Do you smell something burning?' Yes, there was a sharp smell stinging my nose. I realized there was something wrong because all the stewardesses ran back with the food carts.

The plane started to vibrate, harder and harder. I held my wife’s hand tightly and looked at her face as she started praying. My two younger children were asleep, after their first ever trip abroad, but not Pradipta, the eldest one. 'Pra, look through the window and watch outside,' I said. 'I see light, I see fire, I see fire,' he said. Then the electricity was switched off. I realized the plane, an Airbus A330, had a big problem. I was afraid because I thought we would die. Pradipta looked into my eyes and asked: 'Will we die?' I was afraid and could not answer the question. I looked at all my children’s faces and held my lovely wife’s hands tightly. During my many years of assignments as a Reuters photojournalist, when flying I have imagined being on a plane that had a problem that forced an emergency landing, and then taking pictures. But I never imagined this situation with my family. But it happened. We will die together, so we can fly to heaven together, I thought. If we die together, I will not miss my wife’s delicious cooking. I will not miss the smell of my kids’ sweat. There will be no tears among us. My thoughts, to my surprise, stopped me being afraid any more. 'Will we die?' Pradipta asked again. I looked into his eyes, held his hand tightly and said: 'No, we’re alive, we’re still alive,' then I gave him a high five just as if we were playing basketball. After that, I became calm because I was not afraid to die because we would all die together. I started to adjust my camera, which was hanging around my neck. I set the ISO higher, set the white balance, checked the battery was full and saw I had around 300 clicks for the rest of the memory card. I started to take pictures, though it was dark. I forgot my camera had a full HD video, so I forgot to record the situation. After 20 years living as a photographer, I was thinking as a photographer. I saw a steward sitting in front of me and shouted: 'What happened?' 'The engine is on fire and we are flying back to Singapore,' he replied. My wife put life vests on herself and the kids, though there had been no order to do so, and other passengers followed. I asked Pradipta to look out of the window, and he said he could still see a lot of light and we were over the sea. The plane was vibrating but still flying. I opened all my senses to prepare for everything, and heard the airplane wheels come out. We landed and stopped on the tarmac. I heard the captain say: 'I am Captain Brad, the situation is under control and our engine fire has been extinguished. Please wait in a line and walk to exit through the front door, don’t run. And the ground crew will take care of you. Thank you.'"–Beawiharta Beawiharta

A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan. Natori, Japan 3/13/2011

“I headed to the Yuriage district of Natori city in Miyagi prefecture just two days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan. The tsunami had destroyed buildings and left water everywhere. Smoke still hung over the smoldering ruins. I met Akane Ito amid the rubble as she sat crying on the side of the road, from where she should have been able to see her house. The tsunami had washed away her home together with the memories and her pet, which was family to her. It is not easy to photograph those in tears, but I took the picture as I felt it represented the sorrow the entire region was experiencing. I feel honored if readers were able to feel part of this sorrow. What I want to be able to do is to allow our readers to see what is taking place in the disaster-hit areas. I also sincerely wish for a swift recovery in the disaster-hit areas.”–Asahi Shimbun

Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint who they accuse of being a loyalist to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Brega, Libya 3/3/2011

“We were just passing by an area, not really the front line. We pushed ahead but didn’t see anybody so we came back to a checkpoint, somewhere between Ras Lanuf and Brega. We heard that the rebels had some mercenaries. They ended up in this room and they were talking to us. They didn’t look like mercenaries at all. One moment, they took one of them out and they put him on the ground and they interrogated him. They pointed fingers and a gun at him. I was really confused as I don’t understand the language. They took him away in a car. I don’t believe they killed him, I think they took him to Benghazi. They really didn’t look like mercenaries; just young kids under 20 years old. They were wearing nice shoes and jeans. They looked like immigrants. I guess here they don’t want to say that they are Libyans fighting Libyans. It was a bad moment. This gun was not locked at all. This is one of those situations: do you want to do pictures or do you want to react? I’m a photographer and I don’t want to interfere but at the same time I don’t want this young boy’s head to be blown off. It was really difficult for me to focus on the job.”–Goran Tomasevic

View Entire List ›

President Barack Obama visits with an customer at PetsMart, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in Alexandria, Va., where he shopped with his dog Bo.

(AP / Carolyn Kaster)

The Tweet That Showed Up On Current President Cassie Wright's Account

Via: huffingtonpost.com

The Tweet That Cost Former President Lauren Pierce Her Position

This mannequin was spotted in a department store by a Tumblr user.

Source: mail.acidcow.com

According to The Daily Mail, just the head can be purchased "for those who think the mannequin's a bit too much."

Source: mail.acidcow.com

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Source: mail.acidcow.com

View Entire List ›

Via: dailymail.co.uk

Via: mediamatters.org

and this...

"The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, it is half white, and almost everything it does, stinks."

Via: dailymail.co.uk

View Entire List ›

(Reuters / Brian Snyder )

View Entire List ›

Frontman Jonathan Davis says: “I feel like Obama’s an Illuminati puppet. He’s basically dragged this country down into the worst it’s ever been. Like I say about the White House, ‘You’ve built this house of shame.’ Everybody looked up at the White House and America and now I think it’s like a house of shame. I miss the old days when people were proud to be American.”

Source: politico.com