Category: politics

News from 1096 AD: Pope discusses military force against Middle Eastern caliphate

News from 1096 AD: Pope discusses military force against Middle Eastern caliphate

During the Middle Ages, between 1096 and 1272 AD, popes also endorsed the use of Western military action to destroy Middle Eastern caliphates. Those were known as the crusades; there were nine, which means that this would be number 10.

Well that can’t be good.

Black People Are Not Ignoring ‘Black on Black’ Crime

Black People Are Not Ignoring ‘Black on Black’ Crime

The notion that violence within the black community is “background noise” is not supported by the historical record—or by Google. I have said this before. It’s almost as if Stop The Violence never happened, or The Interruptors never happened, or Kendrick Lamar never happened. The call issued by Erica Ford at the end of this Do The Right Thing retrospective is so common as to be ritual. It is not “black on black crime” that is background noise in America, but the pleas of black people.

A must read.

The Guns of Ferguson: When Tyranny Really Comes into Town, the NRA Goes into Hiding

The Guns of Ferguson: When Tyranny Really Comes into Town, the NRA Goes into Hiding

One would think, given his views on freedom of assembly and the importance of democratized violence, that LaPierre would be shouting through a megaphone for the besieged citizens of Ferguson to powder their muskets and cry liberty!

The NRA represents gun manufacturing and gun sales. They don’t really care that much about the rights of gun owners beyond the right to buy more product.

Senator Rand Paul on Ferguson: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Senator Rand Paul on Ferguson: We Must Demilitarize the Police

Does Mr. Paul think armed drones are not an example of militarized police?

From Forbes

“I’ve never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat, an active crime going on. If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash, I don’t care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him.”

I think the use of an armed drone in the case of an robbery is an example of militarized policing.

From the article:

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

That’s called being white. When I was a teen, I had zero fear that I would be arrested, let alone shot. I did not realize how different my experience was until I was much older. As an middle age white dude, the police are polite to me. Even deferential at times.

Over a million Hispanics turned white between the 2000 and 2010 Census

Over a million Hispanics turned white between the 2000 and 2010 Census

about two million people switched from describing themselves as Hispanic members of “some other race” to being Hispanic members of the white race, while only about one million people switched in the other direction.

I expect the trend to continue in the 2020 census.

Lindsey Graham: Iraq And Syria ‘Coming Here’ To U.S. Mainland If Obama Doesn’t Go To War

Lindsey Graham: Iraq And Syria ‘Coming Here’ To U.S. Mainland If Obama Doesn’t Go To War

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned on Sunday that militants in Iraq and Syria would attack the U.S. mainland if President Barack Obama did not immediately take military action to stop them.

I guess we can assume that all those Republicans that called on Obama to attack ISIS will now rally around the president? Probably not.

Explaining the GOP Reagan cult

Explaining the GOP Reagan cult

the outsize Republican idolatry of Reagan is explained in part by the fact that there’s no one else in their history of whom they can really approve. The Bushes are a bad memory for most, Ford was a non-entity and Nixon was Nixon. Eisenhower looks pretty good on most historical rankings, but he’s anathema to movement conservatives: Eisenhower Republicans were what are now called RINOs.

Never thought of that but it totally makes sense. They must compare everyone to Reagan because there is no one else they can compare to.

Rand Paul: GOP Can’t ‘Completely Flip’ On Gay Marriage

Rand Paul: GOP Can’t ‘Completely Flip’ On Gay Marriage

He went on to say that when it comes to the GOP, “the party can’t become the opposite of what it is” on social matters.

Paul is basically admitting that once the homophobes and bigots in the GOP base start dying off, the GOP will have to change its stance in the culture wars. Liberals have been saying this since the start of the southern strategy.