Disgraced GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum claimed earlier this week that the University of California is responsible for ruining this country because they don't teach American history. This, of course, isn't true. All UC schools offer American history courses except for UCSF, the college system's noted medical school. (They do, however, offer a History of Medicine and Health Sciences course!) Last night, Stephen Colbert took on Santorum's latest inane claim, telling us exactly from where Rick pulled his facts. Behold: more ›

Today at a campaign event in Wisconsin, Republican presidential hopeful and jellybean fan Rick Santorum attempted to demonize California for eroding the values of Heartland, America. Santorum, who also believes that Obama was effectively brainwashing kids by sending them to college, claimed today that California Universities are partially responsible for ruining this country because they don't teach American History. Which is, of course, a completely incorrect statement. more ›

The Human Rights Campaign released financial documents today from the National Organization for Marriage (AKA NOM, the organization partially responsible for Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban) that show a staggering $10,000 donation from Governor Mitt Romney's PAC prior the November election in 2008. While Romney's views on civil rights and gay marriage are not terribly surprising (as you can have surmise, the GOP presidential hopeful is staunchly against two dudes getting married), how he went about making the donation should give voters pause for concern. more ›

David Murphy has a problem. It's not a big problem, but it's a problem. It's his license plate. A lot of people think that, after looking at it, he's a troll. Wrong! His license plate, which reads "TROLOLO," is actually in reference to Mr. Trololo, the onomatopoeic nickname of Eduard Khil, a Russian crooner turned internet meme. And Murphy, a tech writer in Silicon Valley, has a singing voice that resembles Khil's, which prompted his pals to give him the personalized plate for his birthday. Sweet, right? Well, not to the many rabid Reddit readers who foolishly mistook Murphy's plate as a proud proclamation of a trollism. more ›

An SFist tipster, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent us this photo of an Oakland police officer parking in a disabled parking space in Temescal on Monday while sipping some brew inside a nearby Peet's Coffee. And, yes, police will tell you that in emergency situations, cops will park anywhere. But does a double macchiato constitute a real emergency? No. No, it does not. more ›

Oh dear. Can you find the misspellings on this map that aired on FOX's Alcatraz? For those not in the know, Alcatraz, which aired last night, is J.J. Abrams' latest show is about a group of guards and prisoners who disappeared from the prison during its '60s heyday, only to reappear in the present. more ›

Back in March, as SFist first reported, thousands of red balloons were released into the air from Yerba Buena Gardens, a stunt that was part of game release launch for Home Front. Although the balloons were allegedly made from a 100% organic product and are 100% biodegradable, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board "has fined national marketing company TrashTalkFCM $7,000 for [the] promotional event that resulted in hundreds of red, latex balloons falling into San Francisco Bay." more ›

Oh dear. FBI agents got the wrong address this morning after pouding on the door of noted CBS correspondent Priya David and her husband, esteemed political consultant/friend of SFist Alex Clemens. The two were at home with their (incredibly adorable) newborn baby on Lina Avenue in Alameda when agents began beating on their door just after 7 a.m. Clemens detailed what went down to CBS 5: more ›

As Mission Mission already pointed out, The Chronicle's front page photo today seems -- how can we put this bluntly? -- sexually charged. To say the least. While the shot without the canine would've been erotic as-is, the addition of a voyeuristic pooch (not to mention the model's tight body, open mouth and hand placements) bring the entire thing to another level. Too bad, really. The accompanying article, about sunscreens lack of UVA ray protection, is a crucial one. more ›

Shortly after the San Francisco Giants clinched the NL West championship (which: rad), two-time Cy Young Award winner (and SFist favorite) Tim Lincecum sprinkled in a pinch of "fuck" during a post-game interview. Behold. more ›

We were cracking up earlier when this great "deal" appeared in our inbox. Delta wants to charge $140 for a roundtrip between San Francisco and Oakland. As Dottie Lou brilliantly put it, "WTHelta?" more ›

Earlier this week, a retired Daly City police officer witnessed an "elderly man" in his 60s talking to a 2-year-old girl at a McDonald's on Redwood Highway. Deciding something fishy was afoot, said officer "called for the deployment of uniformed personnel" (i.e., backup) to help nab the alleged McDonald's molester in action. This Chris Hansen moment, however, turned out to be something different, something all too innocent. According to 's Gary Klien, "Units arrived on scene, initiated an investigation, and determined there was negative suspicious activity, as the male subject was the juvenile party's grandfather. The elder party advised units that he had effected a conversation with the juvenile 'about nonsense' in order to 'keep her entertained.'" No arrests were made. The grandpa and granddaughter went on to enjoy their Happy Meals in peace, shock. more ›

In a virtual allowing-newspapers-to-accumulate-at-your-front-door-like move, Arizona resident Israel Hyman (tee hee, sounds like "hymen") left twitter messages mentioning that he was out of town. Then, as fate would have it, Hyman's residence was then robbed of thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment while he was out of town. Oops. According to reports, "Hyman has a video podcasting company and says he makes his living on Twitter, but he thinks his message may have tipped off the thieves."
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How dare you? Rape jokes aren't funny, jerk. Read a whole lot more on it, right here. more ›

Dying to know more about Pink Friday -- today's statewide rally where teachers protest impending layoffs and budget cuts while sporting varying shades of light rogue -- we were delighted to find this message directing us to the official Pink Friday site. Yay. more ›

Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose -- an elected official who blasted friends and colleagues with this racist email -- has resigned today. The "No Easter egg hunt this year" email, followed by a White House adorned with watermelon groves, peeved some of the recipients. more ›

From what we hear, Valentine's Day was heartbreaking for many Bay Area restaurants. Take, for example, Hyde Street Seafood House, who charged $70 for a three-course prix-fixe, but resorted to serving Nabisco Triscuits with their lox. Wow. Yeah. Ouch. (Although we must admit that HSSH is a damn fine place to sup on seafood, and we would be tickled to find a plate of oysters resting on a bed of Xplosive Pizza Flavor Blasted Goldfish at our table.) Paolo Lucchesi has more on it over at Eater. more ›

Um, scratch that. more ›

The Examiner is reporting that morale is low over at the San Francisco Zoo: low attendance, a year's worth of the maintenance budget squandered in two months on necessary upgrades to the zoo (whose figure apparently "doesn’t include a $1.8 million bond released by the Recreation and Park Department to pay for upgrades at the tiger grotto"). Following the infamous tiger attack on Christmas Day, the zoo is plagued by numerous problems that its board of directors is digging its way out from under. more ›

Above image captured today, June 6, by SFist reader jnice as he was driving northeast bound on Portola, 7:30 a.m. more ›

She is becoming a woman after our own heart, that Jen. more ›

Speaking of backlash, the Mayhill Fowler assault is percolating at a gentle boil. You paranoid wheels-within-wheels political fans out there will be happy to know that, apparently, stellar journalist and master of the MP3 recorder Mayhill Fowler is totally out to get Obama. How so? Well, because she's wealthy, her husband's lawfirm knows a guy who knows someone who met someone who likes McCain, and she's the devil reincarnated. Or something like that. more ›

You know how political fetishists are losing their minds this week over Barack Obama's kind of awesome but kind of classist statement at the Getty manse? You know, this: more ›

Michael Lacey--co-owner of Village Voice Media, the nation's largest alternative newspaper company--upset dozens of Arizona journalists last Friday after using the racial slur during a speech at the Society of Professional Journalists Awards gala. According to the East Valley Tribune, while peaking to the audience, Lacey jokingly referred to his buddy, the late Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Tom Fitzpatrick, as "my (n-word)." more ›

During the wee hours of the morning, a woman sporting a French maid outfit was arrested for going the wrong way down the northbound lanes on (the) 280 in San Francisco. She caused (only) three collisions before she was finally nabbed by the cops. more ›