The TOTUS Has Been Abducted! (Maybe!) And a Contest!
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here. Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]
TOTUS, as you might know, means Teleprompter of the United States, meaning the President’s teleprompter, an acronym that has gotten a lot more use since Obama became president, because of his downright embarrassing dependency on it. Why we don’t call it TOPOTUS (Teleprompter of the President of the United States), I don’t know. Anyway, so earlier today it was stolen and maybe we recovered it:
A truck filled with President Obama’s podiums and audio equipment was stolen in Henrico just days before his visit to Chesterfield.
We confirmed an investigation with the U.S. Defense Department. There are still a lot of questions. The biggest one being did the thieves intentionally target the President’s truck or did they take advantage of a crime of opportunity and give a big “uh-oh” when they saw what was inside.
When you see President Obama speak, there is a pretty typical setup including the presidential seal on a podium, the see-thru Teleprompter and a portable sound system.
Thieves saw the truck carrying that equipment and couldn’t resist the target.
We’re told the truck was parked at the Virginia Center Commons Courtyard Marriott in advance on Wednesday’s presidential visit to Chesterfield.
Sources said inside that vehicle was about $200,000 worth of sound equipment, several podiums and presidential seals, behind which only the President himself can stand.
They told NBC12 around 12:30 Monday afternoon that truck was recovered in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express near the airport and hotel staff confirm police activity. One guest we spoke with said he saw various law enforcement agencies examining a white box truck parked there.
Which of course doesn’t answer the question: did they recover the POTOTUS?
And in my mischievous mind I thought, “Hey, this calls for a little fun.”
So starting today I am announcing a contest. The prize? Respect. And maybe as it develops we can get you something more tangible.
So this is what I want you to do. Create a picture related to the idea of the POTOTUS being abducted. You could show it with a gun pointed at it, or maybe with the current issue of a news paper, whatever works for you. Just make it something suggesting the POTOTUS has been kidnapped. And then I want you to caption your picture with what you would demand if you were going to ransom it.
Like here’s one I created:
Yeah, probably not very funny and not even particularly well done, but that’s where you come in! Send me your best pictures that fit that template to edmd5.10.20@gmail.com. If we get enough, I will even give you guys a chance to vote on your favorite.
And let’s say that the deadline for this contest is Monday, so you have a whole weekend to come up with something better than mine.
And once again, the first prize is… respect! And like I said, maybe I will think of something more tangible I can give you. But hey, at least you can have some fun with it, right?
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
so do you like the idea? hate it?
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 10/18/2011 @ 6:52 pmseveral podiums and presidential seals, behind which only the President himself can stand
it’s hard not to chortle at the thought of a puny little skank like Barack Obama occupying a putatively august office with exclusive seals and podiums
something has gone terribly wrong
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 10/18/2011 @ 7:22 pmI remember back when there was that Office of the President Elect seal that only Obama has ever stood behind.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/18/2011 @ 7:32 pmmaybe the seal went clubbing
EricPWJohnson (719277) — 10/18/2011 @ 7:37 pmWhat?
DohBiden (d54602) — 10/18/2011 @ 7:44 pmEric, that’s the best post you have EVER written!
Icy (4d4cfa) — 10/18/2011 @ 8:03 pmOpposing gay marriage is not free speech…………….whatever fascists.
DohBiden (d54602) — 10/18/2011 @ 8:03 pmWill TOTUS be willing to pay to remain abducted? Unscripted comedy would ensue. Who would then speak intelligently for POTUS? Carney? Hillary?
Nah.
Leonardo DaFinchi (b42f7e) — 10/18/2011 @ 8:05 pmI should hope the Presidential Seal is not applied to the podium, as that would likely cause people to tread upon it.
It would be much safer and more visible were it to be applied to the front of a lectern.
Yes, that’s pedantry.
JohnS (edc933) — 10/18/2011 @ 9:26 pmMy TOTUS, my TOTUS! My kingdom for a TOTUS.
Pat Patterson (5978fa) — 10/19/2011 @ 4:42 amTOTUS in, TOTUS out.
BarSinister (5a3146) — 10/19/2011 @ 8:17 amTime to trot out another of my large menagerie of peeves: I very much doubt that the stolen truck held even one podium, let alone several. As JohnS points out, a podium is what you stand on with your pods, which are the things that you take to a podiatrist or a chiropodist, and that a monopod has only one of. The thing that you stand behind and lect from is called a lectern. I don’t believe the President carts his own special podium around with him; surely each location at which he is to speak provides one.
Milhouse (f1e4d7) — 10/19/2011 @ 8:48 amEnglish isn’t Latin. In Latin, a podium is the thing people stand on, like athletes when they place in the top three.
English evolves. Podium is nearly synonymous with dias (table).
This can be annoying, but it just is. When you want to tell someone you are overjoyed with their accomplishment, you might say ‘that’s fantastic’, but literally, this would mean you’re doubting the accomplishment is real.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/19/2011 @ 8:54 amAnd I’m not saying that’s good. It just is. GIS for google. Res Ipsa Etc
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/19/2011 @ 8:54 ami lack the P-shop skills to make a photo, but the signature line of Achmed the dead terrorist has got the makings of the run away winner:
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 10/19/2011 @ 9:01 amBut did you see the Iowahawk video on this?
Dan S (b5ccb6) — 10/19/2011 @ 9:46 amObama left speechless.
mbabbitt (d2d105) — 10/19/2011 @ 10:22 amThis is a funny post & a funny story – I do have a sense of humor. But what is really going on here?
Think about it from a security standpoint – would TOTUS & the rest of the apparatus that accompanies POTUS on a regular basis be left in a random parking lot? Are planes & armored vehicles & O’s giant bus just left anywhere, in warehouses & garages? Of course not – they’re in secure, guarded locations, so that sabotage can’t happen. Think how easily a terrorist could get in the truck, put some kind of small bomb in the lectern …. no way would the Secret Service just let that happen. At a minimum, that box truck would have a GPS device – most large tractor trailer freight companies have those on all their trucks, to guard against theft etc. And they can send out alarms if they’re moved unexpectedly.
We’re supposed to believe that this was just a random criminal act? Well, apparently the lazy media & the gullible American public do think just that.
This enterprise was a message – to Obama – it was a smack-in-the-face – “this is how close we can get to you”. And it was the second message.
The first message occurred w/ Marine One. The weather was fine when Obama headed to Camp David at 12:30 pm Friday of Labor Day weekend – w/ Sasha only (which in itself was somewhat unusual, because Obama doesn’t like Camp David). Then Marine One was forced to land near Frederick – and Obama continued on in a motorcade. The WH (I think it was Carney himself) said the unexpected stop was because of the weather – which was obviously untrue. The press pool was irritated, because they were supposed to know where POTUS was – but they were left on their own after O left w/ his motorcade. Later, at 4:45, a plane was in the airspace near Camp David & was escorted to an airport in WV. But that was well past the relevant time frame.
And …. the state park adjoining Camp David was suddenly closed – on a very popular holiday weekend – not planned at all. Plus, in the Frederick newspaper, a report was made days later that residents were complaining of heavy, noisy aircraft traffic. The last story is no longer available on the news site.
These are all facts – not conspiracy theory.
Why are there people – very smart people – very, very angry at O? Because of the murder of our SEALS. The Chinook downed by an incredibly lucky Taliban fighter firing off an RPG? Really? Or was it really a drone hit? Remember when just recently (Oct 7) Drudge linked the story of how our Predator & Reaper drone systems were hacked – hit by a virus – just discovered 2 wks before the story hit? Very strange.
And why were the SEAL’s eliminated? Because they knew the truth – that the man they killed in Abbotabad was not UBL. Peculiar how the O admin. announced that DNA testing proved that the dead man was UBL – when there is no way they could have gotten results that quickly. And the business of the beard – Panetta et al kept talking about the dyed black beard – but Muslim fundamentalists – esp. the Wahhabi – don’t dye their beards black – it’s unIslamic – they can use henna, which leaves a reddish tinge. But they would never dye their beards jet black.
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/1187 And Panetta and Evil Incarnate John Brennan (who took over the WH briefing room for a bizarre Q&A after the raid) KNOW THIS – they were saying “screw you” to all of us! They are not stupid.
And of course the incredible timing of the Abbotabad raid – just a few days after the fake birth cert was released by the WH on April 27. Sure drowned out that story.
There is some serious evil in the WH. And not everyone watching that unchecked evil is stupid.
I’ll make it crystal clear for the Leftist moron trolls – I don’t want any harm coming to Obama or his family. I’d be content with impeachment & trial on treason charges – just for starters, for knowingly allowing arms to flow across our border to our enemies. Then he can go to prison for the rest of his life.
Miranda (4104db) — 10/19/2011 @ 10:29 amAt the very least, that would be one hell of a movie.
Very sad those SEALs were lost. I don’t think it’s possible for that sort of conspiracy to remain a secret. I do think there are some serious problems with the handling of OBL, and the way the SEALs were deployed, but sometimes things just happen.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/19/2011 @ 11:01 amAnother point, the way OBL was handled is bound to lead people to be extremely suspicious. It’s actually pretty rational to think they are lying in some way, though my guess is they simply tried too hard to maximize the political gains from the success, and screwed it all up when Bush would have simply let the Pentagon issue a statement.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/19/2011 @ 11:08 amThroughout history, the elitist media, our leaders, and people who shape opinion & news, all have pooh-pooh’d “conspiracy theories”.
Yet look what turned out to be true –
– that LBJ stole the Senate election in 1948. But for that extensive fraud, would he have been President? Very likely not.
– that FDR was surrounded by Communists – his admin was infiltrated with Soviet spies – proven through the release of the Venona Project files.
– that the NYT published story after story by Walter Duranty, that whitewashed the deliberate, orchestrated, mass deaths by famine of millions of Ukrainians and others by Stalin – now known to be true. He called Stalin “the greatest living statesman”. And the NYT cravenly refused to return the Pulitzer that Duranty won for the lies he wrote.
– that our own government helped – HELPED – with jobs, new identities, and $$$ – former leaders of the Nazi government – some of whom were directly responsible for the horrific deaths of concentration camp victims. See “Operation Paperclip”.
– that our government experimented on our own people – our own military folks! – with LSD & other drugs, etc etc etc.
– that our CIA was involved with assassinations & coups throughout Central & South America in the 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s.
– that major media took payoffs to publish CIA-generated reports, passed off as “news” to the unwitting masses. See Operation Mockingbird.
These realities were all seen as “conspiracy theories” – while they were happening.
How much more evil are the Alinsky-radicals in the Obama admin – than power-hungry LBJ, FDR, et al? I’d say much more evil – and fully capable of the very worst abuses of power.
Miranda (4104db) — 10/19/2011 @ 11:47 amAhhhhhhhhhhhh yes I guess Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende were better.
DohBiden (d54602) — 10/19/2011 @ 12:00 pm@Dustin:
But the slide to barbarism can be resisted.
I perceive vocabulary as a toolbox; sometimes only the exact screwdriver will suffice; sometimes, one wants to open the damned paint can.
I will not stand at a podium; the view of either the ceiling or the floor would be rather boring, unless the event were held in the Sistine Chapel.
(For myself, I would more likely say “That’s wonderful!” – I might wonder if it were true, and if true, wonder how it came to pass, but be filled with wonder all the same.)
JohnS (edc933) — 10/19/2011 @ 6:54 pmSomewhere in here there is a movie to be made.
Attack Watch (1fb05a) — 10/19/2011 @ 7:06 pmWe are overestimating our importance says leftys.
😆
DohBiden (d54602) — 10/20/2011 @ 10:22 amIf you think America is looking bad why don’t you get the hell out.
Yes The OWS protesters are just poor and opressed just like the nazis and communists.
DohBiden (d54602) — 10/20/2011 @ 10:26 amhah! clubbing I get it
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 10/20/2011 @ 6:50 pmYeah. You and Milhouse are doing God’s work.
🙂
Dustin (b2fb78) — 10/20/2011 @ 7:03 pm