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Recent Appearances...

Home Front: WoT

WSJ: Israel provided intel for US strike on Houthi official mentioned in Signal chat

2025-03-28

It appears Israel does provide some value in this relationship.

[IsraelTimes] According to report, Israeli officials have privately expressed dismay at security breach, as Republican and Democrat lawmakers demand probe into incident

Information on US ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s leaked by senior US officials in a group chat that accidentally included a journalist was reportedly based on Israeli intelligence drawn from a human source in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The report, citing two US officials, said that Israel provided intelligence from an individual in Yemen about a senior Iran's Houthi sock puppets

...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
figure who was targeted in the March 15 US airstrike discussed in the group chat on the Signal messaging app.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed this week that he had been accidentally added to a conversation in Signal by national security adviser Mike Waltz, which then revealed classified details of an upcoming US airstrike on Yemen.

The Atlantic published a number of the messages sent in the conversation, including one from Waltz writing on March 15 that "the first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed."

According to the newspaper, Israeli intelligence assisted the US in identifying and eliminating the suspect in question.

A US official quoted by the WSJ said that Israeli officials have privately complained to their US counterparts over the security breach and the now-public nature of Waltz’s messages.

The White House has publicly asserted that none of the information shared on Signal was classified, even though officials have provided no evidence that that’s the case.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told news hounds in Hawaii he had not texted "war plans" or "attack plans" in the Signal group, pointing out he had called his post a "team update."

Two days after its original story — and in the wake of US officials insisting that the information shared was not classified — The Atlantic published a follow-up sharing detailed messages sent in the Signal group chat, including a timeline of the strikes before they were carried out and the types of planes and missiles being used, shared by Hegseth.

US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
has stood by Waltz, describing the incident as a "glitch" and saying that the national security adviser "has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man."

He later described the intense media coverage of the incident and sharp criticism as being "all a witch hunt."

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee requested an investigation Thursday into the incident, ensuring at least some bipartisan scrutiny on the episode.

Sen. Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
, the Republican chair of the committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat, signed onto a letter to the acting inspector general at the Department of Defense for an inquiry into the potential "use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know."

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.

Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!...
the Justice Department, which has traditionally handled investigations into the mishandling of classified or sensitive information by both Republican and Democratic administrations, showed that under Trump it would likely stay on the sidelines. When asked at an unrelated news conference what the Justice Department plans to do, Attorney General Pam Bondi deflected, saying the mission was ultimately a success.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Summarizing the Confirmation Hearings, Day 1: Trump’s defense secretary pick: ‘I support Israel killing every last member of Hamas’

2025-01-15

See the liveblog of yesterday’s hearing here.

[IsraelTimes] Pete Hegseth makes remark during fiery Senate hearing in which Democrats grill him on sexual misconduct claims, past remarks against women serving in combat

US President-elect Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s contentious nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was grilled Tuesday by politicians about past controversies he has been embroiled in, while expressing support for Israel killing all remaining members of Paleostinian terror group Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
in the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Speaking at his confirmation hearing before the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said: "I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas."

Notably, Israel’s current war aims do not extend to killing every last member of Hamas, and Israeli officials have told The Times of Israel that even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged as much. Doing so would have Israel bogged down in Gaza indefinitely, given that the terror group is constantly recruiting new fighters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
said Tuesday that Hamas has recruited as many fighters as it has lost during the war.

"I’m a Christian and I robustly support the State of Israel and its existential defense," Hegseth told the Congressional committee when asked if he considers himself a "Christian Zionist."

He charged that the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught against Israel was the direct result of President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run....
’s 2021 withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which he also blamed for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There is no evidence linking either world event to Afghanistan or the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
, which now governs the country. But he said the withdrawal, which was widely criticized, was a public failure of American leadership.

"What was unleashed because of what happened in Afghanistan? The October 7 attacks, an invasion into Ukraine," he said in response to questioning from GOP Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, who’d asked about Afghanistan but not about Israel or Ukraine. Hegseth continued, "The world recognized weakness for what it was."

At a few points in the hearing, discussion turned to one of Hegseth’s many tattoos: a Jerusalem cross of the kind commonly used during the Crusades. During questioning, Hegseth claimed he had "volunteered to guard the inauguration of Joe Biden but was denied the opportunity to serve because I was identified as an Death Eater by my own unit for a Christian tattoo." He later clarified that he was referring to his chest tattoo of the Jerusalem cross.

The cross is one of multiple Crusades-inspired tattoos on Hegseth, who also has a Hebrew variant of Jesus’ name; experts on religious extremism have said they believe the tattoos to be a sign that the nominee is aligned with Christian nationalism, a movement which seeks to apply Christian law to the United States.

Hegseth, though, dismissed the idea that the tattoo in question was Death Eater.

"It’s called the Jerusalem cross. It’s a historic Christian symbol," he said when asked about it by Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. Hegseth went on to claim that the symbol had also appeared on the funeral program of former U.S. President Jimmy Malaise Carter

...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden...
, which was held at the Washington National Cathedral.

The answer seemed to satisfy Cramer, who used his follow-up to attack the critics of Hegseth’s tattoo.

"You, Mr. Hegseth, are not an Death Eater," the senator said. "The people who would deny you your expression of faith are the Death Eaters. They’re the racists. They’re the bigots. You’re the one who is protecting their right to be one."

Like members of many previous administrations, Hegseth said his top priority would be shifting the US military priorities away from the Middle East and toward China.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct and lacking experience leading large organizations, was grilled by Democratic members of the committee over his opposition to efforts to promote diversity in the military and to women serving in combat, but he was largely defended by Republicans.

Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

...Machine non-entity selected to become the successor to Hillary Clinton as Senatrix-for-Life from Noo Yawk. She is running for the Dem presidential nomination in 2020. She has no observable principles, will apparently say anything to anyone, and seemingly lacks any personality of her own....
slammed Hegseth’s past comments as "so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the US military, harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline."

Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer, stuck to his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, saying they are "dividing troops inside formations, causing commanders to walk on eggshells, not putting meritocracy first."

But he sought to soften past remarks on women serving in combat — something he stated as recently as November 2024 that he opposed.

"I respect every single female service member that has put on the uniform past and present. My critiques... recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been instances where I’ve seen standards lowered," Hegseth told politicians.

"Women will have access to ground combat roles... given the standards remain high," the 44-year-old said.

US Senate Republicans are keen for Trump’s national security nominees to be confirmed quickly and Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
may agree to fast-track some. But they are determined to throw up roadblocks in front of candidates they see as unfit.

Hegseth has also come under fire for concerns about his past personal conduct, as well as his ability to lead the Pentagon — a massive bureaucracy that employs more than three million people.

Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s ranking Democrat, put it bluntly: "Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job."

"We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A variety of sources — including your own writings — implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues," Reed said.

Asked by Republican Senator Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
, the committee chair, about allegations Hegseth has faced, the nominee claimed there was a "coordinated smear campaign" against him.

"I’m not a perfect person, but redemption is real," Hegseth said, later asserting he was "falsely accused" of sexual assault.

He can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed, should every Democrat and independent vote against him.

But he has maintained Trump’s support while the excoriating headlines have multiplied, and Senate Republicans appear open to hearing him out.

Former Democratic congresswoman-turned-Trumpist Tulsi Gabbard, who was tapped for director of national intelligence, is another candidate whose lack of qualifications and experience have raised alarm bells, as have her attitudes toward US adversaries.

Gabbard met Syria’s then-president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
in 2017, and declared him "not the enemy." She has also voiced sympathy for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some pressure on the nominees is expected from both sides of the aisle, especially for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, and an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.

But US senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
of Florida, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, is a sure bet with bipartisan support, and will likely be confirmed before Trump takes office on January 20.

Rubio gets his hearing Wednesday, along with homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and CIA pick John Ratcliffe, who has been confirmed by the Senate before, as director of national intelligence.

Some of the most potentially fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
hearings are yet to be scheduled, including for Kennedy and Kash Patel, a conspiracy theorist who is Trump’s nominee to run the FBI.

Link

Afghanistan

Senators sponsor bill for 4000 visas for the Afghans who have helped U.S. forces

2019-05-17

[KhaamaPress] A number of U.S. Senators have sponsored a new bill aiming to approve 4000 visas for the Afghan nationals who have helped the American forces and are now stranded amid fears of persecution by anti-government armed elements, it has been reported.

The 4000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) would be provided for the rest of the federal fiscal year ending on 30th of September, according to Rooters.

The bill has been sponsored by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Republican Senators Thom Tillis, Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
and Gory Garnder and Democrats Jack Reed, Richard Blumenthal and Tim Kaine.

The bill has also been supported by the top U.S. Commander Gen. Scott Miller who is also in command of the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
-led Resolute Support Mission.

"If the program is not fully resourced, our credibility and the sacrifices made by thousands of Afghans in support of Americans and our Coalition partners could be undermined," Gen. Miller was quoted as saying by Rooters.

This comes as the U.S. President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s administration had earlier cut the number of U.S. visas provided to Afghans by 60 percent.

About 1,650 Special Immigrant Visas were approved in 2018, down from more than 4,000 in fiscal year 2017, according to a reprot by National Public Radio (NPR).

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

How Do You Show Up at a David Duke Event and Not Know What It Is?

2014-12-30

Some amusing comments about the recent revelations that a GOP house leader, Steve Scalise, attended an event hosted by rightwing moonbat David Duke.

Spoiler alert: Eric Erickson, not a favorite of mine nor of others in Rantburg.com, wants you to know that it was because of Duke, he left Louisiana all them years ago. Fair's fair.

If the Tea Party were smart, and I'm not saying they are, they'd primary Scalise. It is a ripe event begging to be initiated.

Now on to the comedy part of this presentation:
In 2002, a year after not long before Trent Lott was driven from office in December of 2002, for his statements about support Strom Thurmond, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)76%, now the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, went to a David Duke organized event.

How do you not know? How do you not investigate?

David Duke is the reasons I am no longer a resident of Louisiana. After supporting Edwin Edwards in the gubernatorial race against David Duke in 1991, I knew I had to get the hell out of a state where those were the two most popular choices.

I moved to Georgia to go to school and could only now consider moving back thanks to the hard work of Governor Bobby Jindal.

By 2002, everybody knew Duke was still the man he had claimed not to be. EVERYBODY.

How the hell does somebody show up at a David Duke organized event in 2002 and claim ignorance?

Trent Lott was driven from the field in 2001 for something less than this.

And the very GOP establishment now lining up behind Steve Scalise threw Chris McDaniel under the bus for speaking to a Sons of the Confederate Veterans event.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

2 Letters Addressed To Mayor Bloomberg Found To Contain Ricin

2013-05-30

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD Intelligence Division have launched an investigation. CBS News reported both letters had a Shreveport, Louisiana, return address, reported CBS 2's Tony Aiello.

Law enforcement sources paraphrased the letters' message as saying, "This is a taste of what's to come if you come to take my gun."

Civilian personnel in New York and in Washington who came into contact with the opened letters have not suffered symptoms, but three NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers who came into contact with the letter at the city mail facility on Gold Street in Manhattan have been treated for minor symptoms of ricin exposure that have since abated, police said.

"They're in the hospital now being checked out as a precaution but it's not life-threatening, what they experienced," Browne said.

Last month, ricin-tainted letters addressed to President Barack Obama
I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody...
, as well as U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
(R-Miss.) and an 80-year-old Mississippi judge, were intercepted. Former Mississippi State House candidate and child sexual abuse investigation subject J. Everett Dutschke, 41, has been tossed in the calaboose
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
in connection with that case.

Link

Home Front: WoT

BREAKING: Taekwondo Instructor Arrested in Ricin Case

2013-04-27

A Mississippi taekwondo instructor has been placed in durance vile
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in connection with ricin-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama
We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
and Senator Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
. It's not yet clear what role authorities suspect this man played.

Hopefully this time they got it right...

It's Champ and Holder. How could they possibly get it wrong?

"James Everett Dutschke was tossed in the clink
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
at 1 a.m. at his home in Tupelo Saturday and turned over to the U.S. Marshal Services without incident, Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton, confirmed Saturday morning," reports Northeast Mississippi News.

"No other information was available about the arrest or any possible charges at this time.

"Federal officials staked out the South Canal Street home of Dutschke all day Friday after searching his home and taekwondo studio Tuesday and Wednesday.

"An investigation into Dutschke began in earnest when his name was mentioned at the Monday hearing of Paul Kevin Curtis, the Corinth man formerly suspected of mailing ricin letters to President Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker on April 8."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Letter sent to Obama tests positive for ricin, FBI says

2013-04-17

Update to earlier posts today.

[FOXNEWS] The FBI has confirmed that a letter addressed to President B.O. has "preliminarily tested positive" for ricin, a day after politicians said another letter sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker
...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator...
tested positive for the same substance.

The warnings come amid a flurry of reports on suspicious packages on Capitol Hill. Fox News has learned of several suspicious packages or envelopes in various Capitol Hill office buildings. Capitol Police say three packages that were flagged have been removed and the areas have been cleared. Separately, the office of Sen. Carl Levin,
...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Michigan. He has been in the Senate since 1979. Prior to that he was president of the Detroit city council and Mayor Coleman Young's right-hand man. He is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services...
D-Mich., reported a "suspicious-looking letter" at one of the senator's Michigan offices, and other suspicious packages were reported at the Arizona office of Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
...Republican junior senator from Arizona, elected in 2012. Prior to that he was a U.S. Representative for twelve years...
The package alerts compounded security concerns in the wake of the letter incidents and the Boston bombing, which the FBI has said do not appear to be related.

Both of the initial suspicious letters were apparently intercepted on Tuesday. They never reached the Hill or the White House.

An FBI bulletin obtained by Fox News said the letter sent to Obama is still being screened, though it initially tested positive.

The bulletin said both letters included the phrase: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Arlen Specter appears on stage, but just for laughs

2011-12-29

So an ex-senator walks into a comedy club . . .

That's not the setup to a joke - it's what happened Tuesday night when Arlen Specter took the stage at the Helium Comedy Club's open-mike night in Center City.

"I've been in comedy now for 30 years," the former senator explained.

Taking a try at stand-up was a natural step after spending so many years in the "sit-down comedy" of Congress - and, Specter noted, it was considerably less expensive.

While some of his jokes are unprintable in a family newspaper - don't ask about the paraplegic who wanted to date the battered woman - Specter spent much of his three minutes on stage ribbing prominent local and national politicians. And, as befits someone who switched political parties twice in his career, both Republicans and Democrats were up for ribbing.

Specter explained that Gov. Christie was upset that a recent storm demolished his Jersey Shore house because it also destroyed "his entire library - both books. And he wasn't finished coloring one."

After making jokes about both former President Bill Clinton's and current Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's adulterous pasts, Specter quipped: "When I see Bill Clinton, I'm going to tell him that Newt Gingrich got applause and he didn't."

As for Ed Rendell, his East Falls neighbor, Specter told reporters afterward that "he can watch the newscast" to find out what joke Specter made at his expense.

Here's a hint: It had to do with the now-single former governor's amorous pursuits.

Truth be told, many of the jokes were repackaged from previous comedic performances, especially a 2007 appearance at a Washington comedy-club competition, where he was crowned second-funniest celebrity in the nation's capital. (At that gig, former Sen. Trent Lott was the butt of the "both books" joke.)

That did not stop Specter's audience - composed mostly of people young enough to be his grandchildren - from roaring with laughter.

Speaking by telephone before the performance, Specter's wife, former City Councilwoman Joan Specter, said that the appearance was unconnected to a forthcoming memoir by the senator set to be released in March.

"Thank God," as she put it.

Afterward, her husband told reporters that "humor is elevating" and that he wanted to "try it out."

And who knows?

"I might be invited back," Specter said.

I'd tell him to keep his day job, but he lost that one. That's a joke, sir...

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

The long-standing racial double standard always shields the left.

2010-06-03

Bigotry: Comedian Bill Maher stereotypes black people as ghetto hoodlums and there's no outcry. The long-standing racial double standard always shields the left.

'I thought when we elected a black president we were gonna get a black president," HBO's Maher told viewers last week. "You know, this is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt so they can see the gun in his pants."

Is this really what TV audiences picture when they think of "black people"? In 2010?

Wasn't this country, which has suffered so much in its race relations, supposed to have transcended caricatures like this long ago?

Hasn't Maher ever heard of the Cosby Show's Dr. Cliff Huxtable and his lovable, affluent, furthest-thing-from-dysfunctional family, who ruled prime-time television for five straight years some two decades ago?

How could a nerdy white guy like Maher get away with something like this? Where were the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who usually seem so quick to demand apologies for racial insults? And where are the "mainstream" media?

Virginia Republican George Allen, once considered presidential timber, saw his career derailed by the media in 2006 after he called a nonwhite operative for an opponent's campaign a "macaca" a cryptic remark no one to this day has deciphered.

Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., was forced from Senate leadership in 2002 after an open mike picked up an offhand remark at former segregationist Democrat Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott said Thurmond should have been elected president in 1948.

But Joe Biden, who during the presidential campaign described Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean," got a pass and ends up vice president.

And when John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's recent book, "Game Change," brought to light Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2008 statement about Obama being "light skinned" with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," the whole hullabaloo blew over in a matter of days.

So Republicans pay the price and liberals like Maher get a pass. This isn't Maher's only offense, either. Last month he called Obama "President Sanford and Son" yet this guy gets invited onto ABC's "This Week" to assure the millions watching that "nowadays, if you are racist, you're probably a Republican."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Dems say Reid's comments nothing like Lott's

2010-01-12

Ay-Pee article. Rest @link.

A double standard? Republicans seeking Sen. Harry Reid's resignation as majority leader over racial remarks he made about Barack Obama say yes - that Reid should be held to the same standard as former GOP Sen. Trent Lott, whose own racial gaffes cost him the Senate leadership in 2002.

Democrats say no, that Reid's comments - while unfortunate - were nothing like Lott's.

Of course not. Let me count the ways ....

1) Lott was joking.
2) Reid's comments were a Freudian slip, even if well-intentioned. About Nobama and negroes like him.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Democrats launch counterattack to save Harry Reid's career

2010-01-12

Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counterattack designed to help save Harry Reid's political career.

First, Reid's allies plan to distribute the NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere -- including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS programs.

Separately, the Congressional Black Caucus plans to issue a new statement Monday, defending Reid and brushing back Republicans.

"Senator Reid's record provides a stark contrast to actions of Republicans to block legislation that would benefit poor and minority communities -- most recently reflected in Republican opposition to the health bill now under consideration," CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. "I look forward to Senator Reid continuing to serve as Majority Leader to guide this important agenda through the Senate."

These moves to turn the race issue back onto Republicans is risky, yet it shows how Reid and his allies are ready to pull out all the stops to help the majority leader recover from his disastrous comments about Barack Obama being "light-skinned" and having no "Negro dialect." The comments were revealed in the book "Game Change" by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

"There are some Republicans who are trying to use this for political advantage," said a source close to the Reid camp. "If Senators [Jon] Kyl, [John] Cornyn and others want to have an open and honest debate about race -- and if they want to discuss their records on issues of importance to the African-American community -- we welcome that dialogue. But we are not going to stand idly by while hypocritical Republicans take swipes at Senator Reid, distorting his record of achievement and their own record of failure."

Top Democrats tell POLITICO that they have no doubt that that Reid, a former amateur boxer, will keep fighting and survive in his leadership job. Indeed, Reid's racial flub is already turning out differently than the one made by Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in 2002. When Lott made a nostalgic remark about the segregationist Dixiecrat presidential run of Strom Thurmond, his Republican allies quickly abandoned him. Democrats are sticking by Reid so far.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, is said to be quite certain Reid would ride out the controversy, particularly because Obama and the Rev. Al Sharpton had accepted Reid's apology and issued effusively supportive statements.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Ninja blogs!

2009-03-13

Mickey Kaus, Slate

You Know This Guy We Haven't Told You About? Well, He's Not Going to Be Important! During the Trent Lott scandal, if I remember right, there was speculation that the blogosphere would really have arrived when a high public official suddenly resigned over an Web-borne scandal without the scandal being mentioned in the respectable mainstream press--so if you had only read the New York Times or Washington Post you'd have no idea why this person quit or what the scandal was until he or she was gone. Poof! Killed by ninja blogs. Well (without regard to the merits of the dispute), the Charles Freeman withdrawal is close to that case, no? WaPo apparently printed its first news story on the controversy the day it ended--i.e. when Freeman withdrew. Ditto the New York Times. ... What does this event signify? Not to be too portentous, but it signifies you can no longer be a well-informed citizen if you just read the Times and Post print editions. You have to go online. Sorry, Mom! ...

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