Geraldo Rivera compares wearing a hoodie to flying a pirate flag. No, seriously.

So this shows up on Rivera's Twitter page yesterday.

Re: hoodies. As a lifelong sailor I noticed long ago that the Coast Guard always stopped the boats that flew the Jolly Roger pirate flag.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) July 15, 2013

I know right?

Now there is so much wrong with this statement that I almost don't know where to begin. Almost.

Perhaps Fox News's answer to Rico Suave should realize that pirate's flew the Jolly Roger in order to terrify the crews on shipping vessels that they were about to board, and that Trayvon Marton was wearing a hoodie sweatshirt, just like teens of all colors do all over this county, too keep the rain off of his head.

The idea that the hoodie is a menacing type of clothing is ridiculous, and in this case racist.

Comparing a hoodie to a pirate flag is like saying that people with tattoos are potential criminals

Or that people who ride motorcycles are gang members.

Or that men who sport mustaches are douchebags.

 Though he DOES make a strong case for that last one.

Trayvon Martin was an innocent kid walking home from a store with a bag of Skittles and a bottle of tea. He could have been wearing a full Nazi uniform and carrying a copy of Mein Kampf it STILL would not have justifed George Zimmerman putting a bullet in his heart.

Asshole!

Stephen Colbert ponders the appropriate choice for dealing with pirates in this day and age.

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I advise you to put down your beverage before watching this. It is laugh out loud funny.

If this was the first test of Obama's ability to deal with a crisis than he clearly gets an A+.

Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in that region, said Monday that it took only three shots for Navy snipers to kill the trio of pirates holding captain Richard Phillips hostage on the lifeboat.

The takedown happened shortly after the hostage-takers were observed by sailors aboard the USS Bainbridge "with their heads and shoulders exposed," he told NBC's "Today" show on Monday in an interview from Bahrain.

Military officials Monday widely praised the snipers for three shots, which they described as remarkable, coming at night, come 25 yards away and from the stern of a ship on a rolling waters to a small lifeboat.

I don't care how bad-ass you think you are, you simply do not take on the Navy Seals. These guys may be the most dedicated highly trained soldiers in the world. For these guys losing is not an option.

In the title of this post I gave credit to President Obama for his handling of this crisis. However I am fully aware that the real heroes here are the Navy Seals, Captain Richard Phillips, and the commanders who made the tactical decisions that resulted in this amazing rescue.

Really the only reason I even mention Obama is because you can bet your ass that if this thing had ended badly the Right Wing blogs and media outlets would have gone insane with attacks on Obama's ability to solve a crisis, or lead the military, or deal with terrorists. It would have been beyond ugly.

So though I have no idea how much Obama had to do with this outcome, if anything at all, I have to give the man credit for playing his cards close to his chest and allowing these amazing warriors do what they do so well. Obama did not make threats to the pirates, or lock himself away as if he was consumed with worry, or allow the situation to ruffle his feathers in any way. The guy played it cool, and cool was the way to play it.

I hear that Obama will be making a comment concerning this rescue in a few minutes. If I have time I will embed when it becomes available.