The Cheat Sheet, November 16: Did You See that Status Update?

With Facebook being beseiged by pornographic images of all sorts, some are pointing the finger at anonymous. Nothing else to do besides target a judge, I guess.

But numerous reports are now pointing to a threat made by Anonymous, a threat to attack Facebook using a powerful “Guy Fawkes virus” they developed. According to the hacktivist group, it’s a highly sophisticated work that takes control of your Facebook account and spreads to your friends’ accounts without you actually being logged in.

Wow! Those Tea Partiers, I mean, Occupiers sure sound like some violent folks, bitterly clinging to makeshift weapons? Who would have guessed?

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway filed a motion on behalf of the city today opposing a court order requiring the NYPD to allow Occupy Wall Street demonstrators back into Zuccotti Park. In filing the motion, Holloway asserted that “people who have a known history of violent interaction with the police” have been gathering in the park, and “makeshift items” that he said could be used as weapons, “such as cardboard tubes with metal pipes inside, had been observed among the occupiers’ possessions.” He also noted that after the October 1st Brooklyn Bridge march, “knives, mace and hypodermic needles were observed discarded on the roadway.”

One and done for Obama? Keep hope alive! And keep the poll numbers down.

In comparison to recent incumbents running for re-election, Obama’s 46% approval ranks above only Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford – who both lost their re-election bids – in November of the year before an election. Most incumbents who were re-elected had an approval rating above 50% a year before the election.

Meanwhile, the Cain Train has been losing steam, with Newt picking up at the same time.

New polling from the Washington Post-ABC News shows that Cain’s negative ratings among Republicans have more than doubled since mid-October. And, a new CNN survey showed Cain dropping 11 points in a hypothetical national Republican primary ballot in less than a month.

Of course, Newt’s new standing in the polls will attract greater scrutiny. First item: His relationship with Freddie Mac, who paid him between $1.6-1.8 million for consulting:

What he did for the money is a subject of disagreement. Gingrich said during the CNBC debate that he advised the troubled firm as a “historian.” Gingrich said he warned that the company’s business model was a “bubble” and its lending practices were “insane.”

None of the former Freddie Mac officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Gingrich raised the issue of the housing bubble or was critical of Freddie Mac’s business model.

The Occupy movement isn’t doing so hot these days, either, losing both popularity and court contests across the nation.

To think it started out so peacefully. But with frustrations running high more than a month after the Occupy movement took root across the country, encampments are falling like dominoes as authorities over the past few days have been raiding and clearing out tent cities from New York and Texas to Oakland and Berkeley.

Meanwhile, Democrats on the Hill are doubling-down on stupid, criticizing New York’s eviction of the protesters from private property.

Not Getting the Memo: The Hill reports that GOP leaders are preparing rank-and-file members to accept tax increases as part of the SuperCommittee’s deficit deal:

Hensarling focused on the benefit of preventing a much larger tax increase if the Bush tax rates were allowed to expire in 2013. One lawmaker called Hensarling’s presentation to his colleagues a bit of “covering their rear because obviously the anti-tax guys were all upset so he was walking through how when the Bush tax cuts expire, they’re going up more than that anyway, so it’s not a tax increase.”

Must See TV: CSPAN has asked to televise upcoming oral arguments on the constitutionality of Obamacare:

We believe the public interest is best served by live television coverage of this particular oral argument,” Lamb wrote. “It is a case which will affect every American’s life, our economy, and will certainly be an issue in the upcoming presidential campaign.”

DOOM: A slight burning sensation

Obama invaded Australia while you were alseep. We’re kidding. I think.

President Barack Obama announced an agreement Wednesday to expand the U.S. military presence in Australia, underscoring concerns in the region over an increasingly assertive China.

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