Humor & Culture Blog 328 items | updated Apr 29 2013

By Jo Piazza & Jessica Roy / current.com / @JoPiazza @CurrentJess

Yesterday, thousands of people lined up for blocks to mark what they called Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. The event has spawned two trending hashtags: #liberalfastfood and #conservativefastfood. We compared tweets from both sides of the aisle. Here are the ones that deserve a celebratory serving of freedom fries.

Which do you think are most witty? Comment below.

#CONSERVATIVEFASTFOOD

McBootstrap's #conservativefastfood

— Partario Flynn (@callmepartario) August 2, 2012

#LiberalFastFood — Happy Meals.#ConservativeFastFood — Only-Some-Deserve-To-Be-Happy Meals.

— Jason Febery (@JasonFebery) August 2, 2012

#ConservativeFastFoodOnly one hot dog at a time, and it can't be between any buns. Two hot dogs can never touch.

— Niki Luparelli (@trickyniki) August 2, 2012

By Jo Piazza & Anna Pakman / current.com / @jopiazza @Annatated

The Romney campaign released a smartphone app Tuesday that will provide an alert to users the moment Mitt announces his vice presidential candidate. Named "Mitt's VP," the iOS and Android app is a bare-bones application that does little else but ensure a timely update about the candidate's running mate for those supporters not actively following the news elsewhere.

We installed Mitt's VP this afternoon, and we have some constructive criticism for the developers, helpful additions that would make the application more user-friendly for a variety of smartphone users.

1. "Survivor" Veep: Wherein potential veeps are crossed off "Survivor"-style for indiscretions, such as not releasing enough years of their tax returns. Oh, wait …

2. Mitts-tagram Integration: Wherein Mitt's VP contenders can take photos in ordinary-man situations in pancake houses and truck stops to appear more candidate-ready. 

3. Angry Veeps: Wherein we control the veep contenders, who hurl hyperbole in an attempt to demolish potential enemies, such as union workers and teachers.

4. "Call Me May-Veep": Wherein we create a mashup of Mitt's calls to potential VP picks and Carly Rae Jepsen's summer super-hit.

UPDATE, August 2: During his flawed European tour, Republican nomniee Mitt Romney was seen looking down after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London. The community shared some hilarious captions of poor Mittens, but there could only be one winner:

• "Romney appears lost in thought while his operating system installs the latest patch for his human interface system" - by Gordon_Shumway

By Carrie Mihalcik / current.com / @CDMihalcik

During an opening ceremony spectacle on Friday that will include farm animals, the world's largest harmonically tuned bell and 10,000 volunteer performers, Queen Elizabeth II will officially declare the London 2012 Olympic Games open.

This is the third time the Olympics have been held in London, but only the first under Queen Elizabeth's reign. The International Olympic Committee has already presented her with a gold, a silver and a bronze medal of her own, and when the games are over, the Olympic village will be renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Queen Elizabeth's role during the games is largely social and cultural, but as head of state, she does still wield some authority in England and the 15 realms. She probably couldn't call off the Olympics without taking some very drastic steps — not that she would want to — but here are a few things you might not have known about the queen and her powers:

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

Mitt Romney is once again proving he is nothing like the rest of us. 

This week, Romney's camp is hammering President Obama with an updated version of the birther attacks, calling him a "foreigner"who is "not Anglo-Saxon" and who is "un-American."

Mitt's so busy pointing out all the ways Obama is different, he hasn't taken a second to look at all the ways that he himself is not like us.

UPDATE, July 25: House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi commented on legislation before the House and on public figures releasing their tax records in Washington, DC. The community shared some great captions, but there could only be one winner:

• "Come on 7! Mommy wants a house full of Democrats!" – by Ed Kanitra

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

The superiority of women over men was the theme of Sunday night’s installment of USA's limited series "Political Animals," a chronicle of the scandal-ridden career of former first lady turned Secretary of State Elaine Barrish, played by Sigourney Weaver.

At the conclusion of last week’s episode, Barrish revealed her intention of running for president again. This week we were given at least part of her rationale:

"I am sick to death of the bullshit, the egos and the men. Just once I would like to accomplish something in the city without navigating the short-sighted male egos that suck up all the oxygen in this town." #MenArePigs.

By Stephanie Whiteside / current.com / @stephgwhiteside

What makes a superhero? For the two most modern superheroes, the answer is the same one you'd expect to hear from a politician: Money. And lots of it. In a time when the Occupy movement is being vilified by politicians defending the status quo, you might expect a hero to look like an everyman. But when it comes to the most modern of superheroes to take center stage, Batman and Iron Man are heroes who look more like the 1 percent than like the rest of America.

In tough economic times, superheroes can symbolize hope for the nation. The first superheroes appeared during the Great Depression, and recent years have seen a seen a rise in superhero movies, including box-office hit "The Avengers" and this weekend's "The Dark Knight Rises."

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

The great American pastime this week is speculating why exactly presumptive Republican nominee Willard "Mitt" Romney will not release more than two years of his tax returns. Every backseat politico has a theory of his or her very own. But which make the most sense? We crowd-sourced the Internet to try to find the answer. 

1. New York Magazine's Daily Intel asks the important question: Is Mitt a mythical cryptid that drinks the blood of goats? Is he? Do Romney's tax returns reveal that he's the chupacabra of Latin American folklore?

2. The Obama campaign released its "Makes You Wonder" ad on July 17, wherein they wonder whether Mitt has actually even paid taxes for the years he won't release his returns. 

3. Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green backs that theory up. He believes Romney may not have paid ANY federal income tax in 2009.

4. These people on Twitter think Mitt is hiding "Batman" spoilers, the Ark of the Covenant and the fact that he might actually be Batman.

UPDATE, July 19: Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin spoke at a 'Patriots in the Park' Tea Party rally in Belleville, Michigan. The community really went off on the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate. Many hilarious captions were submitted, but there could only be one winner:

• "This is a yellow shirt, but the liberal media will try to call it red." -- by Jimstoner

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

Make no mistake, "Political Animals" is about politics the way "Dallas" is about a city in Texas. Political life simply provides a convenient backdrop for sex, scandal, lies and, frankly, even more sex.

That doesn’t mean the new USA limited series isn’t an enjoyable romp. The trope of creating a bizarro version of real-life politics based loosely on the career of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely serve to recruit viewers, but they’ll stay for the more "Dallas"-like aspects of the show.

Mitt Romney couldn't have known he would be booed for his call to repeal Obamacare at Wednesday's NAACP conference. Or could he have?

The website The Message has obtained this top secret video of Romney's advisers prepping the candidate prior to his talk. It may explain a few things.

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

The National Governors Association kicks off its annual conference today in Williamsburg, Va. In honor of the event, Current.com and Cenk Uygur of "The Young Turks" have assembled superlatives for governors of all 50 states. Who is most likely to steal your lunch money? Call you a Muslim behind your back? Helm a Midnight Oil tribute band? Scroll down to find out.

UPDATE, July 12: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle listen during a meeting of the 'Friends of the Syrian People' at the MFA Conference Center in Paris, France. The community shared some great captions, but there could only be one winner:

• "What does marcellus wallace look like?" —by Tanner Oliver Longs

By Morgan Miller / current.com

On the campaign trail, politicians will do almost anything to seem relatable. From impromptu football games to eating at Chick-fil-A, we caught these politicians doing some pretty ridiculous things:

LINK: http://current.com/photo-galleries/politicians-dumb-things/

By Jo Piazza / current.com / @jopiazza

No one outside of an Archie comic hurls an antiquated insult ("numb nuts!") quite like the governor of New Jersey.

Happy Fourth of July! We hope you're having a great time celebrating the holiday, and we've reached back into the Current archives to uncover some ideas on how to celebrate. Or, in some cases, how not to.

By Morgan Miller / current.com

Barbecues, fireworks and pretty much everything decked out in red, white and blue will mark the Fourth of July this week, but there are some things you may not know about the holiday. So notebooks out! It's time to learn (or review) 12 things about the Fourth of July. 

1. The first Fourth was actually on the eighth
The first Independence Day was celebrated on July 8, 1776, in Philadelphia as the Declaration of Independence was read publicly for the first time. In addition to the reading, the celebration included gunfire, bonfires and fireworks. These festivities were borrowed from an English tradition celebrating the king’s birthday. This time, they symbolized his “death.” Crudely fashioned dummies of King George III were burned throughout the colonies, and in New York City a statue of the king was destroyed. It is rumored that the metal from the statue was used to make bullets for the revolution.

By Regina Luz / current.com / @CurrentRegina

As our nation's birthday quickly approaches, families will roll out the sparklers, couples will enjoy the fireworks, and I will be offline, eating pie and watching "Independence Day," obviously. Here are some ideas to celebrate America's big 236!

1. Grab some friends and carry oversized flags all over Washington, D.C.

2. Wear flag prints — if you don't have any, start knitting right now!