Trending This Week: 07/16–07/20

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irst and foremost on everyone’s feeds this week is the tragic news of the senseless shooting in Aurora, Colorado at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises. Expect to see plenty of culture critics blaming films like The Dark Knight for creating a more violent society. What you shouldn’t expect to see is any meaningful gun control or mental health regulations that could actually prevent a tragedy like this from occurring. In fact, we’ve already seen ramblings about how a better-armed populace could have “taken down” the shooter before he killed so many victims. Because somehow, more people shooting guns will lead to fewer deaths. You do the math.

Numerous hashtags have gone up on Twitter in the wake of the shooting, including #PrayForAurora, #theatershooting, and #Aurora. That last one led to an unfortunate tweet from the online shopping site Celeb Boutique: “#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ;)” Not surprisingly, the store has faced a tremendous backlash as a result. Outsourced PR wins again!

Also link-worthy has been the story of the Oregon man who got naked at the Portland International Airport to protest the TSA’s screening methods. He has been found not guilty of indecent exposure. Although judging by the picture, we think it’s pretty darn indecent.

Michelle Bachman has taken a good deal of well-deserved heat for her increasingly paranoid claims that Islamic fundamentalists have infiltrated the U.S. government (reminding us of Senator Iseland's parnoid rants in The Manchurian Candidate). Even fellow Republicans have dressed her down for her attacks on Hilary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin.

In further political gaffe news, Ann Romney explained her husband's refusal to release any more of his tax returns by saying, "We've given all you people need to know." We're not sure what's worse, the idea that the Romney's feel they get to decide what we need to know, or referring to the American public as "you people."

Comedian Fred Willard had a Pee-Wee Herman-like episode this week, when he was arrested at a XXX more theater by undercover vice cops for “lewd acts” the nature of which have not been explained. Not surprisingly, this has led to many Pee-Wee references and jokes, including one on Facebook in reference to the Denver tragedy, “I think we all prefer Fred Willard's style of shooting off in a theater.”