Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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And another one

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A Virginia man opened fire today at the Family Research Council offices in DC. No deaths reported so far, but a security guard was shot in the arm while tackling him and may have prevented much worse.

Some reports say that he was holding a Chick Fil-A bag and said something political before getting tackled. Most sites have not yet confirmed that, though, so it could just be the usual noise that happens when outlets rush to report on things like this. You can find a succinct run-down of what we know so far here at ThinkProgress.

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    Steve

    Whether he turns out to be an arch-liberal, an arch-conservative, or anything in between, my conclusion will remain the same: nutjobs need to stop shooting people.

  4. 4.

    Tone In DC

    I cannot BELIEVE how crazy this shit has gotten. I haven’t had outrage fatigue this severe since 2006 and the damn surge.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    Wasn’t there a post about Soledad O’Brian pushing back against Pawlenty up?

    Thought it was its own blogpost; is it still up? Looked enticing.

    ETA: My bad. It’s comment 11 by lamh on Kay’s thread (immediately previous post). You go grrrrl, Soledad.

  7. 7.

    Gex

    Nice false flag move. Like gays are that worried about FRC. Those guys are losing politically. We don’t have to get violent. The people who have to get violent are the people who feel like they are losing their stuff and have to take it back. See: the right wing.

  9. 9.

    Culture of Truth

    A federal court has upheld the ACORN employee’s lawsuit against James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.

  10. 10.

    Trentrunner

    Reports are the shooter is African-American.

    Then tbogg tweeted that Michelle Malkin just had her biggest orgasm ever.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Given as right now we know next to nothing about this other than there was a shooting and it’s being investigated…

    Oh, what the heck. Let’s go into Malkin mode and examine some countertops somewhere!

  12. 12.

    mechwarrior online

    Feds confirmed he was carrying a bag with Chick-Fi-La items. It is confirmed he said something as well, not confirmed as to what he said. Suspect is a 6’3, 250 pound, black, male, born 1984 and from Herndon VA.

    The news is reporting that he made statements about the FRCs policies, and no it’s not just Fox, that comes from local sources.

    Law Enforcement confirmed to NBC that the FRC was the target, it wasn’t random.

  13. 13.

    General Stuck

    Waking up when I was in high school, and for some time after, during the worst times of the Vietnam era, the first thing often thought was who got killed today in the political violence, what got blown up, or where the fuck was Patty Hearst.

    I think we are just getting started on the next chapter of the permanent American civil war. Sooner of later, when people pick up a gun, somebody gets a bullet. Law of the Unnatural. And liberals aren’t immune from taking up violence, when conditions warrant. I do hope our side doesn’t do that, but from lived experience, I know it’s not out of the question. even a little

  14. 14.

    Schlemizel

    @Villago Delenda Est: No need! We already know this is terrorism against the oppressed majority. If it really was a person of color we can be even more sure that this will play out as rage against the decent, Christian real Americans by the forces of evil (liberals, gays, blacks).

    I would expect the USGS picked up huge quakes from Malkins lair

  17. 17.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    God, just…what the hell, people?

    What brings you to go to someplace and just open fire, regardless of your motivations?

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @General Stuck:

    I do hope our side doesn’t do that, but from lived experience, I know it’s not out of the question. even a little

    Everyone has a breaking point, where they go from saying “fuck this shit!” to DOING something about the shit.

    This man may have reached that point.

    You know, at least the National Socia1ist brownshirts didn’t go WATB when the German Communist street fighters fought back.

  19. 19.

    Lord Jesus Perm

    Yet another crime committed by a black man that the media will sweep under the rug.

    In other news, Thomas Sowell just came.

  21. 21.

    LanceThruster

    The Catholic League sent out an email message sayig that this proves what they’ve alleged all along that religion is under attack and it is the hateful rhetoric of the left causing this.

    Pretty selective finger pointing IMHO.

    Here’s the text —

    SHOOTING DEMONSTRATES
    TOXIC ENVIRONMENT

    August 15, 2012

    Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today’s shooting at the offices of the Family Research Council:

    First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the shooting at the Family Research Council.

    Early reports indicate that the motives of the shooter are cause for serious concern. One source told Fox News that the suspect “made statements regarding their policies, and then opened fire with a gun striking a security guard.” After he was apprehended the suspect said, “It was not about you. It was about what this place stands for.”

    Is this what we have come to? Has the environment become so toxic that a faith-based organization becomes a target of an attack simply because it holds traditional values on sexuality, marriage and life? Unfortunately it seems that this may be the case.

    We hope that this incident is taken seriously. There are still a couple of months to go before the election and signs indicate that they will be contentious. Now is the time for people of goodwill to call for civility and condemn this attack.

    Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
    Jeff Field
    Phone: 212-371-3191
    E-mail: [email protected]

  22. 22.

    Tim F.

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    You know, at least the National Socia1ist brownshirts didn’t go WATB when the German Communist street fighters fought back.

    Oh, yes they did. Playing the victim and making a giant screaming issue out of every minor grievance was a key part of their strategy. This was especially true when they were just one political gang in a messy scrum that included the communists, the labor unions and the Iron Helmets. Look up the Horst Wessel song.

  23. 23.

    Culture of Truth

    Has the environment become so toxic that a faith-based organization becomes a target of an attack simply because it holds traditional values on sexuality, marriage and life?

    It’s possible. Wonder what Matthew Shepard would say, were he alive.

  24. 24.

    beltane

    @Villago Delenda Est: I think they actually did go all WATB because that’s what right-wingers do. Maudlin self-pity and victimhood are not American traits but are traits shared by every right-wing movement in history. Reading reports about the decades-long theft of babies born to left-wing parents by Spanish fascists, I have been struck by the willingness of fascist sympathizers to blame the Left for making an issue of the story because it’s mean of lefites to hold “grudges”. No matter what crimes these people commit, they are always, always the victim.

  25. 25.

    Ash Can

    The good news: Since a right-wing organization was the target this time, people are going to start taking domestic terrorism seriously. The bad news: Only left-wing groups will be monitored and investigated.

    Not sure if I’m snarking or not.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Tim F.:

    Oh, yeah. They did go WATB. Forgot about the Horst Wessel Lied. It’s nothing but whining when you look at the lyrics.

    Oh, and then there was the Blutfahne, too.

    I take it back. Well, you know, they at least had an ethos…

  27. 27.

    Steve

    @beltane: Quite right. The whole reason the Communists et al. needed to be dealt with is because they, and not the Nazis, were supposedly the agitators.

  28. 28.

    beltane

    @Tim F.: Not to mention the way the poor German Aryans were totally bullied and brutalized by the Jewish minority for so many years. Ask Pat Buchanan if you don’t believe me.

  30. 30.

    mk3872

    Maybe showing public hatred and disdain for gays & liberals has a downside to it after all?

  32. 32.

    Felinious Wench

    @LanceThruster:

    We hope that this incident is taken seriously. There are still a couple of months to go before the election and signs indicate that they will be contentious. Now is the time for people of goodwill to call for civility and condemn this attack.

    Oh Bill, we agree for once. As a liberal, I condemn this attack.

    Doesn’t mean I’m backing down one bit on gay marriage, sexuality, and life, though. Not…giving…one…inch. I condemn the man’s tactics wholeheartedly. I do NOT condemn the beliefs he and I may share about gay marriage. Not one inch of ground do I give. Because you sure as hell haven’t.

    I look forward to hearing the Catholic church’s thoughts on the scourge of gun violence in our society.

    Best wishes,

    FW

  33. 33.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    http://www.policymic.com/articles/12830/frc-shooting-gunman-decries-conservative-policies-and-shoots-guard

    According to WJLA, Corkins “made statements regarding [FRC’s] policies, and then opened fire with a gun striking a security guard.”
    —
    “Don’t shoot me, it was not about you, it was what this place stands for,” Corkins is alleged to have said.

    Dude musta been watching too much Pulp Fiction. In a place with security, you’re not going to be able to recite one of those long-ass Jules speeches and punctuate it with gunfire.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Shawn in ShowMe:

    Dude musta been watching too much Pulp Fiction. In a place with security, you’re not going to be able to recite one of those long-ass Jules speeches and punctuate it with gunfire.

    Well, that’s how you advance the plot in any action-adventure movie. Never mind that in the real world, where people don’t know the gun is loaded with blanks, they react…um, differently…than they do in the movies were they react…according to a script!

    This guy is at least as intelligent as Fat Tony Scalia, so we’ve got that in play…

  35. 35.

    LanceThruster

    @Felinious Wench:

    Good point to highlight, particularly because Bill Donohue does not come to mind when I think “civility.”

    I’ll look at what he wrote about abortion doctor murder or Matthew Shepard to see if he was consistent.

  36. 36.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Villago Delenda Est: #18

    You know, at least the National Socia1ist brownshirts didn’t go WATB when the German Communist street fighters fought back.

    And at least they had an ethos. :-)

  41. 41.

    General Stuck

    Besides the fact that using violence to reach political aspiration being fraught with the specter of unintended consequences, except in cases of legal self defense, It really isn’t necessary for the left to go down that road at this point in time. For several reasons, not the least of which is why republicans are off their rockers to begin with. Or, we are winning the battle of ideas, and most important, that we are on the righteous side of demographics that is bearing down hard on the white wing birthright to run this country. We are getting closer to the multicultural nation of immigrants that we first aspired to. Yes, we are in a simmering cold civil war with the other side, but our democratic institutions are pretty strong, and in any war it is best to keep the moral high ground as long as possible. If the nutters succeed in deepsixing our mostly free and fair elections, then that is a different thing we will have to deal appropriately with to restore that lynchpin. I don’t think liberal or left violence of the 60’s amd 70’s helped our side one bit, and may well have helped give us 30 years of mostly right wing governance.

    All that said, you are correct, there is a breaking point, and if the anti-democracy vibes and acts, coming off the wingnuts persists, and does enough damage to our constitutional system, then that will need attending to, with violence, if necessary. But I think we are a long ways yet from that. And I’d rather not give the nutters the talking point of both sides do it, just yet.

  42. 42.

    mechwarrior online

    @General Stuck:

    I beg to differ. Historically equality has usually been won by the lower classes when the rich were afraid for their lives or that their fortunes would be immolated by the mob. The left has defanged itself, everybody knows that. There is no reason to really fear it or take it that seriously. What will we do? Vote in another Wall Street backed Ivy Leaguer? That won’t do much. Bang on drums? Laughable.

    When you remove your ability to actually fight, to inflict violence on body or property you have nothing left to do but beg and plead.

    Sorry but we no longer have the guts to be taken seriously. The days of a left with courage and union members armed with shotguns are long and gone. We are left to begging and moping around. It’s no wonder they spit on us. A wolf that has lost it’s fangs is nothing more than a mongrel dog that can only bark, and is dealt the same fate.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    Barely related–heard a BBC interview this a.m. of a Columbine survivor who also had another friend killed in Aurora. He was a very thoughtful and open interview and quite honest about how little he’s “gotten over” Columbine, to the point he thinks about it not daily, but hourly. And now another friend lost to an act equally vile.

    But guns are special, so we’ll always have that.

  44. 44.

    TenguPhule

    Has the environment become so toxic that a faith-based organization becomes a target of an attack

    Way too late for that, the Sikh Temple was weeks ago.

    Welcome to our hell, idiots.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    Oh for Gawd’s sake.

    The Washington Post’s media columnist, Paul Farhi, takes Fareed Zakaria to task for not properly attributing a Clyde Prestowitz quote.

    Except Zakaria did.

    And now the WaPost has a correction and apology to Zakaria up on their website.

    To wit: Under the headline: More questions raised about Fareed Zakaria’s work

    Correction: This article incorrectly states that in his 2008 book, “The Post-American World,” Fareed Zakaria failed to cite the source of a quotation taken from another book. In fact, Zakaria did credit the other work, by Clyde V. Prestowitz. Endnotes crediting Prestowitz were contained in hardcover and paperback editions of Zakaria’s book. The Post should have examined copies of the books and should not have published the article. We regret the error and apologize to Fareed Zakaria.

  51. 51.

    General Stuck

    @mechwarrior online:

    And yet we have the first black president, and he is winning his reelection race. Gay marriage is just a matter of time to be fully realized, and we have put a law in place that will cover 50 million citizens than before it was passed. Not to mention the monkey wrenchers from the right wing couldn’t stop it, as hard as they tried.

    I don’t think there is another country in world history to adequately compare to the US of A with. That was born in democracy and survived that system and flourished in the cacophony of that style of governance, that is nothing more than controlled turmoil. And for longer than any other nation/state of such size, replete with social gains in justice.

    We got a lot of problems, and a lot of racist, selfish assholes to contend with, but they are being contended with via our dem institutions. You may be right in the end, because if the right wing manifestly decides it will not participate in the politics of democracy, and withdraw their tacit agreement to be governed by the other side whenever the votes say so, then we will have a serious problem, that almost certainly will involve politics by other means. Or, hot war. Otherwise, I repeat, we are winning the culture wars, and the wingers know it.

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    The day that Donahue speaks for more than a tiny nutbag fringe of Catholics will be day that Rachel Maddow has Bryce Harper’s baby.

    Not going to speculate on motive for the shooting. Far too often, domestic disputes get “settled” by workplace violence. Here in OC not too long ago, a guy shot up a nail salon, killing his ex-wife and seven other people, over a custody dispute.

  53. 53.

    Ben Franklin

    There should be a bumper-sticker thread.

    “ROMNEY FOR CELESTIAL REPUBLICAN OVERLORD.”

  56. 56.

    mechwarrior online

    @General Stuck:

    We are winning the culture war as our culture warriors sell the New Deal off piece by piece to the plutocrats in the process. And the New Deal and workers issues were run though actual violence and the threat of it at other times.

    Goldman Sachs is the corporate face and major backer of the HRC. Gay marriage passed in NY with help from plutocrats and a governor who blocked minimum wage increases and dropped taxes on the rich. Amazon is backing it to the glee of liberals while they refuse to install AC in their storehouses and cook workers alive, bust unions and refuse to pay taxes.

    Those cultural issues are being won by the plutocrats at the cost of workers issues and taking us back to the gilded age.

    Sorry, but that’s how it is.

  58. 58.

    General Stuck

    Those cultural issues are being won by the plutocrats at the cost of workers issues and taking us back to the gilded age

    The plutocrats and their Orc armies are trying to turn the clock back. I’ll give you that. And they will keep trying, and we will keep trying to stop them. But civil rights, social justice, and about all other rights are far far advanced from where they were in the late 19th century, or even the mid 20th century.

    Sorry, but that’s how it is.

  61. 61.

    Calouste

    @General Stuck:

    And for longer than any other nation/state of such size

    You might have heard of a country called “China”. They’ve only been around for 2500 years or so.

  65. 65.

    CarolDuhart2

    @mechwarrior online: But solving those culture wars is the best route to getting the unity to tackle those other issues.

    People voted for policies that ended a decent safety net because they were told that “those people” were lazy and violent, and didn’t deserve anything. People voted in harsh drug laws to punish “the hippies”. We have a screwed up immigration policy because of fears of the “browns” and “foreigners”. And groups were taught to resent each other so they could never unify and work on common goals.

  66. 66.

    slightly_peeved

    @mechwarrior online:

    If you judge your victories by who was involved more than what was got, you’re not the real fighter, you’re the guy beating the drum. The New Deal had to exclude all manner of people to get passed. The ideologically pure beat their drums and called FDR a sellout.

  70. 70.

    beergoggles

    Well it’s definitely an improvement over having an abortion clinic shot at.

    This is America people. We resolve our differences with 2nd amendment remedies.

  74. 74.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    You might have heard of a country called “China”. They’ve only been around for 2500 years or so.

    I’m sitting in Beijing right now.

    China is an old civilization (although it’s easy to exaggerate the continuity of the culture). But the political system isn’t that old compared to the U.S. Heck, even though the CCP has run the place since 1948 it’s hard to call the politicoeconomic system the same as that before 1976.

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