Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So very ready.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

He really is that stupid.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

All hail the time of the bunny!

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

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Archives for 2009

Because There Isn’t Enough Going On

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North Korea launches a missile:

North Korea defied the United States, its allies and a series of U.N. resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that it said propelled a satellite into space but that much of the world viewed as an effort to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile.

The launching drew swift international condemnation and prompted the U.N. Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on Sunday in which the United States, Japan and South Korea vowed to penalize the North.

North Korea’s Eunha-2 rocket blasted off from its Musudan-ri launching site on its east coast at 11:20 a.m. local time on Sunday and successfully placed a satellite into orbit nine minutes later, said the North’s official news agency, KCNA.

But Lee Sang-hee, the defense minister of South Korea, told a parliamentary hearing that the rocket “appears to have failed to put a satellite into orbit.” Mr. Lee said that all of the rocket’s three stages appeared to have fallen into the sea. If the launching was successful, the third stage, which thrusts the satellite into orbit, should have remained in orbit, according to rocket experts.

We live in interesting times.

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A Vote of No Confidence

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No one could have predicted this would happen:

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Frederick was ousted Saturday after a troubled 10-month tenure capped by devastating losses in last year’s elections.

The state party’s governing central committee voted 57-18 to remove Frederick after key Virginia Republican elected officials and top party leaders called for him to resign or be fired.

The effort to sack the conservative, often combative and sometimes embarrassing state legislator from Prince William came after 58 members of the central committee signed off on a list of 10 charges against him.

Frederick, if you recall, was a colorful character:

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.” It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.

I have no idea who will replace him.

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The Dave Niewert Decade

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We don’t need to wonder about this one. Eight hours ago four Pittsburgh police served a warrant on a kid in a neighborhood that I could walk to. The man, 23-year-old Richard Poplawski, opened fire with an AK-47 from an upstairs window, wounding all four. Local, State and transit police responded quickly, nonetheless, some of the wounded officers remained in the line of fire and could not be reached for hours. Four officers died from their wounds; Poplawski gave himself up at 11 AM.

Mr. Perkovic and other former classmates said they were surprised by this morning’s events. Mr. Perkovic said Mr. Poplawski was opposed to “Zionist propaganda” and was fearful that his right to own weapons would be taken away.

Another friend, Aaron Vire, 23, said he’d helped Mr. Poplawski and Mr. Perkovic with a radio show they’d broadcast on the Internet, discussing “girls and life.”

Mr. Poplawski had supported Republican candidate John McCain in the presidential election and had “very spirited debates” about Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Vire said.

Mr. Poplawski was opposed to Mr. Obama’s election, which he thought would result in the loss of his rights, Mr. Vire said.

“He wasn’t a racist but thought some of his amendments were overlooked,” Mr. Vire said.

Mr. Poplawski told him he bought his guns “because he felt the quality of life was being diminished,” Mr. Vire said.

“He said he’ll be ready if there’s ever an invasion of the United States and that he had stockpiled foods and guns for that eventuality.”

How is that “orderly revolution” going, Michelle? How about that laundry soap rebellion, Erick? This is what Glenn Beck’s citizen army looks like. People like Michelle Malkin fantasize about citizens rising up against the (Democratic) state. They stoke their followers’ paranoia with bullshit that, mostly, they know is bullshit, for ratings and a shot at political traction. Did they expect the American revolution?

In response to John’s famous Peak Wingnut post I pointed out that political irrelevance will hardly stifle rightwing victimology but feed it like CO2, manure and sunlight. I tend to call the relevant phenomenon ‘toxic victim syndrome’, or TVS. The feeling that one is a powerless victim has a corrosive psychological effect. It exempts self-appointed victims from normal moral standards. It justifies (in one’s own mind) an endless list of behaviors that an ordinary person would never consider.

Later I highlighted a psychological study demonstrating that people tend to believe insane conspiracy theories more when they have less power over their own life (say, political power). My conclusion stands.

[A]bout peak wingnut theory. Republicans (and Republican bloggers) will spend at least the next two years with about as much political control as a bug in a jar. You can make your own conclusions.

***Update***

It looks like I am the second person to cover the story on this blog. Oh well. Call my post nearly-on-site reporting.

I still do not know whether any of the police killed today are people I know [Edit: no]. I hope not, but at the same time that feels somehow selfish. Every one of them was somebody’s friend and family.

***Update 2***

Speaking of Dave Niewert, his post has more context.

***Update 3***

The Missouri Information Analysis Center must feel ashamed right now for writing a report smearing the upstanding citizens of the modern militia movement.

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