A Well Regulated Extremist Militia

Fresh off their appearance in Ferguson and their defense of racist, scofflaw, squatter Cliven Bundy the Oath Keepers are offering their services to Kim Davis. Stewart Rhodes is apparently Supreme Appellate Judge of the United States now.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, issued a written statement saying in part, "We believe Federal District Court Judge David Bunning grossly overstepped his bounds and violated Mrs Davis’ due process rights, and in particular her right to a jury trial.... [W]e see the rise of an imperial judiciary that not only legislates from the bench but is attempting to expand their 'contempt' power to likewise swallow up our Bill of Rights and circumvent jury trial."

I do hope the government is keeping close watch on these nuts. At least SPLC is.

(C)entral is the group’s list of 10 “Orders We Will Not Obey,” a compendium of much-feared but entirely imaginary threats from the government — orders, for instance, to force Americans into concentration camps, confiscate their guns, or cooperate with foreign troops in the United States. These supposed threats are, in fact, part of the central conspiracy theory advocated by the antigovernment “Patriot” movement of which the Oath Keepers is a part — the baseless claim that the federal government plans to impose martial law, seize Americans’ weapons, force those who resist into concentration camps, and, ultimately, push the country into a one-world socialistic government known as the “New World Order.” In 2013, the group took on a more aggressive stance, announcing the planned formation of “Citizen Preservation” militias meant to defend Americans against the New World Order.

They sound kind of like the Green Party, or at least it's NY 21st incarnation. Lots more interesting stuff at the Southern Poverty link. 

A Reminder From Paul Krugman

That going to war in Iraq had nothing to do with intelligence (in any sense of the word).

The Iraq war wasn't an innocent mistake, a venture undertaken on the basis of intelligence that turned out to be wrong. America invaded Iraq because the Bush administration wanted a war. The public justifications for the invasion were nothing but pretexts, and falsified pretexts at that. We were, in a fundamental sense, lied into war.

You really can't say it much plainer than that. Despite the Nobel Prize, he speaks in a way that even I can understand. 

the talk about W.M.D that conflated chemical weapons (which many people did think Saddam had) with nukes, the constant insinuations that Iraq was somehow behind 9/11. 

Oh where have you gone, smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud?

Did the intelligence agencies wrongly conclude that Iraq had chemical weapons and a nuclear program? That’s because they were under intense pressure to justify the war. Did prewar assessments vastly understate the difficulty and cost of occupation? That’s because the war party didn’t want to hear anything that might raise doubts about the rush to invade. Indeed, the Army’s chief of staff was effectively fired for questioning claims that the occupation phase would be cheap and easy.

Why did they want a war?

Can't say for sure why they wanted it, but I have no doubt that Iran was next on their hit list, if Iraq hadn't turned into the giant debacle that anyone with any sense could have predicted. Oh yes, real men go to Tehran.

Just gotta add this Marco Rubio quote:

"The world is a better place because Saddam Hussein doesn't run Iraq," he said then. 

The world? Iraq is not even a better place because Saddam Hussein doesn't run it.

Elise Stefanik: This Is Your Base!

Well first, I didn't realize we were considering an East Coast Missile Shield Defense System. Really? Defense system? Shield is definitely cooler and, at the same time, more macho. Ken Tingley and I seem to share the question: why the fuck do we need a ECMDS?

But, what this post is really about is the continuing devolving of the Republican Party. Here is ADKer Don:

A missile defense is necessary as long as we have a coward in the white house! Until we have a president with intelligence and a strong foreign policy that protects America, including bombing Iran, North Korea,and others back into the stone age, we must have a strong defense of our country. All nuclear facilities of Iran, North Korea, and others must be totally destroyed for American to be safe. Obama's cowardliness and incompetence has left America open to being destroyed. Congratulations to Elise and the others who recognize and stand up to this and other treats to America.

Now first, I grew up in the heart of the Adirondacks in  bucolic and totally lacking in employment Crown Point. I was surrounded by hearty mountain folk and carry their same blood in genes despite now living amongst  flat-landers. I don't feel the need to go around advertising myself as an ADKer, though. So, I'm thinking this guy came from Jersey or New Yawk city or some such. 

Secondly, and more to the point of the post, this is the beating heart of the Republican Party. This guy needs to have a president who will commit genocide Iran, North Korea and other countries (plural) to be named later. Yes, turn half the world into a parking lot just so ADKer Don will feel safe. 

Elise Stefanik, does it make you feel good that your base is made up of such brave souls. As I pointed out at the comment section, these are the same people who six months ago were hollering that we needed to cancel all flights from Africa or we were all gonna die from Ebola. And the fuckin' Right -wing in this country see themselves as being descended from our founding fathers? I've said before and will continue to: if these guys were around back then, they would have all been on the side of King George.

UPDATE: This article on the Ebola Chicken Littles of the Right just appeared at Salon and I would be remiss not to include a link to it.

Draw Muhammad Event Gets Intended Response

Pam Geller managed to get two knuckleheads to attack the event and she got lots of publicity. England, due to good taste and such, won't allow her in the country. Can we send her somewhere?

Host Martha MacCallum raised alternative methods for Geller to make her point without incendiary Islamophobia, which Geller rejected. “This is political Islam, seeking to impose restrictions on free speech,” she said, “and you’re asking me to abridge my speech so as not to offend savages.” 

Yes, she's way too much of a right-wing extremist even for Fox News. In fact, her actions are sort of reminiscent of some group.

Professor Coonfield pointed out the similarities of some of the depictions of the prophet Muhammad to posters for “Der Ewige Jude,” or “The Eternal Jew,” a notorious Nazi propaganda “documentary.”

In one of the cartoons, the prophet is depicted as contorted and snarling and as a hook-nosed man in a turban holding a bloody knife. The caption reads, “When it comes to religion ... I’ve got the edge.” The face, Coonfield notes, is nearly identical to the contorted face of “The Eternal Jew” poster.

“That strategy for creating a sense of ‘unity’ by lifting up this internal enemy is as old as human civilization and culture,” he says. “It’s ironic that the kind of thinking that Hitler used, and the Nazis have become famous for using – propaganda to try to create this sense of a collective by creating a strong unquestionably evil Other who is right here in our midst ... so it’s kind of ironic that she’s trying to link some of these things together, when that is in fact her message.”

I reject your Godwin assertion because she is a creep. 

Despite the fact that images depicting the prophet Muhammad cut deeply to the heart of Muslim identity, Muslim leaders in Texas told their followers not to picket or protest the event on Sunday.

“Her words are not just free speech,” says Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. “They are inciteful; they incite hate against our whole community. I was very dismayed by the shooting in Garland, Texas, but at the same time, Pamela Geller is not the victim in this situation that we’re in right now.”

“She intentionally put that event together in hopes that she’d get the response that she received,” Ms. Sarsour says.

“We prayed, but not one Muslim from the state of Texas went out to protest her,” she added. “Muslim leaders specifically told people, do not go anywhere near her. Let her do whatever she does. We don’t care. And there was no protesting outside – unfortunately, except for these two guys from Arizona, who were already on the radar of the FBI anyway.”

Yes, I'm sure Geller is very happy with the response.

And more.

Christie and Walker Stalking the Crazy Vote

Jeb is gonna have to step it up to fight these guys for the loony right vote.

 (Christie's)unfathomable nod to anti-vaccination crazies, that odd mix of entitled parents on the left and the right who are trying to bring back deadly childhood diseases we once conquered, having already triggered a measles outbreak. After touring a venture that makes a flu vaccine, Christie told the New York Times that while his own kids got their vaccinations, parents should have “some measure of choice” on the matter.

So, the Right is pissing themselves over the nearly non-existent threat of Ebola in the country and giving the real threat of measles a pass. And Scott Walker is ready to invade Syria.

WALKER: I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to be – go beyond just aggressive air strikes. We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that’s what it takes, because I think, you know–

RADDATZ: Boots on the ground in Syria? U.S. boots on the ground in Syria?

WALKER: I don’t think that is an immediate plan, but I think anywhere in the world–

RADDATZ: But you would not rule that out.

WALKER: I wouldn’t rule anything out. I think when you have the lives of Americans at stake and our freedom loving allies anywhere in the world, we have to be prepared to do things that don’t allow those measures, those attacks, those abuses to come to our shores.

Not that Hillary might not consider it as well.

Death of a Gun-Loving Meme

Know it's not going to happen but I'd like for this to end the bullshit "if only someone had been packing heat.

The madman who gunned down Sikh worshippers blew his own brains out after he was blasted in the gut by a crack-shot Wisconsin cop, the FBI said yesterday. “I’ve seen the video — it was an amazing shot. And thank goodness,” FBI Special Agent Teresa Carlson said.

Brian Murphy was the name of the officer and he himself sustained injury from 9 shots.

In Case You Forgot Him

Willard is bring back into the daylight one of the most beloved Republican politicians ever. No, he didn't dig up Ronald Reagan.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will host a high-priced fundraiser for Mitt Romney at his Wyoming home Thursday night.

Think you might like to go?

The $30,000-a-couple dinner at Cheney's home outside of Jackson Hole will follow a reception at the fancy Teton Pines country club nearby.

Eh, maybe not.

Together, the two events are expected to raise more than $2 million for the Romney campaign.

Is it worth the 2 million to put the Penguin back in the minds of voters?

The Associated Press says Romney rarely appears in public with Cheney or with former President George W. Bush, and even goes out of his way at times to avoid saying Bush's name out loud, simply calling him President Obama's "predecessor."

Apparently worth it with Cheney but not Bush President Obama's "predecessor."

Back in September 2011, Romney said that when it comes time to choose a vice president, he'd pick someone like Cheney.

Well just don't let him lead the search for one anyway.

"That's the kind of person I'd like to have--a person of wisdom and judgment," Romney told a crowd in Arizona.

What more can you say after that?

More Sanity From the Right

Both of these stolen from Salon.

A bullet scarred billboard:

And a clip that reminds me, at least, of Jason or Freddie Krueger or something that goes bump in the night:

Also note the reflection of teleprompters that have been inserted by the lamestream media to make Sarah Reagan look Obamaesque.

And since I’m pillaging Salon here’s an interesting article from Peter Kramer who’s a professor of psychiatry at Brown. I don’t believe the right is directly responsible for Jared Loughner. Maybe there are some who do. I do believe there are those on the Right who have created a poisonous atmosphere with conspiracy theories, slurs and veiled (and not so veiled) threats.

Respected colleagues and columnists have been quick to say no. Shall we give Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the others a quick pass? It is true that the biology of mental illness has its own imperative. But along with most other people, I do imagine that in a general sense social forces can mute, inflame or redirect impulses. That's what the time in the clinical office is about, in part: the use of interpersonal influence to moderate or channel emotions. Much political speech has the same aim.

The work that I do makes me suspect that creating a hysterical political environment has its costs. Many writers have commented on the corrosive effects of casual references to violence, along with the demonization of public figures and the glorification of gun ownership. I want to add a further consideration, implicit in the others, but worth separating out: tolerance, in the public sphere, for paranoia itself.

Tin Soldiers and Obama’s Coming?

Maybe a few of these Keyboard Revolutionaries should be incarcerated to test their mettle. It’s easy to foment revolution sitting in a lazy boy. Thoreau was a martyr next to them. And he actually had a worthy cause (possibly opposite theirs).

Where Have All the GOP Leaders Gone?

Frank Rich in the NYT recaps some of the descent into chaos of our fellow citizens on the right end of the spectrum:

But the laughs evaporated soon enough. There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. And as the week dragged on, and reports of death threats and vandalism stretched from Arizona to Kansas to upstate New York, the F.B.I. and the local police had to get into the act to protect members of Congress and their families.

How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht.

He notes the reaction to the passage of this bill as compared to the passage of Medicare, Social Security and the Civil Rights Bill:

But there was nothing like this. To find a prototype for the overheated reaction to the health care bill, you have to look a year before Medicare, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both laws passed by similar majorities in Congress; the Civil Rights Act received even more votes in the Senate (73) than Medicare (70). But it was only the civil rights bill that made some Americans run off the rails. That’s because it was the one that signaled an inexorable and immutable change in the very identity of America, not just its governance.

And of course, the gutlessness of those in the Republican party to do anything to tamp down emotions, in particular the most recent candidate for the Oval Office:

After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, some responsible leaders in both parties spoke out to try to put a lid on the resistance and violence. The arch-segregationist Russell of Georgia, concerned about what might happen in his own backyard, declared flatly that the law is “now on the books.” Yet no Republican or conservative leader of stature has taken on Palin, Perry, Boehner or any of the others who have been stoking these fires for a good 17 months now. Last week McCain even endorsed Palin’s “reload” rhetoric.

Are these politicians so frightened of offending anyone in the Tea Party-Glenn Beck base that they would rather fall silent than call out its extremist elements and their enablers? Seemingly so, and if G.O.P. leaders of all stripes, from Romney to Mitch McConnell to Olympia Snowe to Lindsey Graham, are afraid of these forces, that’s the strongest possible indicator that the rest of us have reason to fear them too.

Go. Read.

And if you want to, and I wouldn’t recommend it, go from the sublime to the stupid head on over to powerline. They haven’t quite claimed that John Wilkes Booth was a Democrat, but give it time.

If You Feel Like…

Bringing your manhood gun to an event where the president will be speaking, take a tip from The Police (the band, not the guys in blue):

Do you really need to put your hand in the air like the other, well you know? Besides, you don’t want the left to unleash these guys, do you?

Lucky We Don’t Live There

McClatchy

Wingnuts Looking for a Leader

These are the people who are comparing Obama to Hitler and Stalin. But now, Liz Cheney feels he is not a strong enough “Commander in Chief.”

BTW, he is only a CinC to those who are actually serving in the military. That does not include Liz “deferment #?” Cheney or her chickenhawk father and their followers.

"Now as a veteran of the State Department, I can tell you that effective diplomacy is not about appeasing your enemy. It’s not about unilateral pre-emptive disarmament. America has to negotiate from a position of strength. To survive as a nation, our president can’t function as a disinterested international arbitrator. He can’t attempt to stand above America and our enemies. In other words, America needs a commander in chief, not a global community organizer." 

No, none of it makes any sense, but she was talking to the Red Staters. So, it only matters that she was dissing Obama.

Leave Daddy Alone!

Liz “Spawn of Satan” Cheney defends the Dark Lord:

Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Liz said Tuesday she doesn't believe her father did anything wrong in connection with a secret CIA operation that officials have said was designed to capture and kill al-Qaida figures. 

I think that I, along with my America hating leftist buddies, were assuming that we were trying to capture al-Qaida operatives. Capture and kill sounds like summary executions, though.

Asked directly on MSNBC whether her father directed the CIA not to keep Congress fully informed about the secret program, Cheney said, "This is a classified program and he doesn't talk about classified programs."

He especially doesn’t talk about them to Congress. Keeping Congress informed is so pre-9/11. 

Liz Cheney, a former principal deputy secretary of state for Mideast affairs during George W. Bush's presidency, is helping her father write his memoirs. She aggressively defended him in Tuesday's nationally broadcast interview while declining to say point-blank whether he had violated any law or rule.

The closest she came was in declaring, "There's no evidence of that."  

And here I expected her to say, “Damn straight he did, he was vice-president of the United States which we all know is the highest elected office anywhere.” And I’m sure it’s always a surprise to these news programs that invite her on. Who could anticipate that she would defend her father so vehemently?

Cheney said she didn't think Democrats were "up to handling national security" and that she thought they were trying to cover themselves on classified they agreed to support "when it was politically expedient." 

Blah blah blah, because her daddy is such a man’s man despite the 5 deferments during the Vietnam War, one of which is her. 

"People had different perspectives about when Congress needed to be briefed," she said. " ... I think we've got to go back to, how have we been so successful in protecting against attacks to the homeland?" 

Yes, because it’s always a good idea to put unlimited power in the hands of a few incompetent schmucks and not have any oversight on them. Worked out well for the Romans.

Going Nut Picking

Perusing the offerings at American Power, it’s so hard to make a choice. Think I’ll go with “Obama Gets Thrill With Gaddafi Handshake!” with obligatory exclamation point. Yes Libya, under Gaddafi, has funded terrorists. But then, technically so has the United States under a variety of presidents from both parties. This includes anyone called a freedom fighter and a number of state terrorists. Yes Gaddafi is probably insane. But, if he is no longer funding terrorism and a handshake will help insure that he continues in that manner, what’s the harm?

Then there’s the fact that under George the Lion-Hearted, we made nice with Libyans.

Gaddafi and Bush do apparently see eye to eye. On Monday, Gaddafi accomplished one of history's great diplomatic turnarounds when Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice announced that the U.S. was restoring full diplomatic relations with Libya and held up the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as "a model" for others to follow. Rice attributed the ending of the U.S.'s long break in diplomatic relations to Gaddafi's historic decision in 2003 to dismantle weapons of mass destruction and renounce terrorism as well as Libya's "excellent cooperation in response to common global threats faced by the civilized world since September 11, 2001." 

It’s convenient for the “professor” to climb into the time machine and go back to the 80’s and resurrect Gaddafi as public enemy number one in order to hit Obama over the head with him. Of course, the 80’s was when Saint Ronald was not only shaking hands with terrorists, he was selling military spares to the same Iranians that held Americans hostage for 444 days. And then, he took the profits to arm the terrorist Contras in Nicaragua. But, at least he didn’t shake hands with terrorists. He sent Rumsfeld to do that. 

From Herr “Professor”: By now there's no doubt that President Obama gets a thrill up his leg when he's pressing the flesh of the world's most brutal dictators.

I suspect, though, that it doesn’t compare to the thrill that Douglas gets when Obama shakes the hand of Gaddafi or Chavez. If it was Castro there’d be something running down his leg. 

And this from an AmPow commenter:

We, as Americans, Lefties included, need to examine our complaisant (sic) fantasies and realities in this country. We have enemies. Obama is dragging his entourage of adoring press, that influences the public zeitgeist, with him in confusing surface friendships with opportunists -deeply soulless dictators. They will take all of your American comforts, and turn them into ashes. And they will not care if you are sympathetic to their causes. You, my leftist friends, are their enemy, too. 

See, the problem is that we just don’t have enough enemies. Despite the fact that we (during the Bush II administration) re-established diplomatic relations with Libya that is no reason to act diplomatically toward them.

Another Case of Left Wing Extremism *

I'm sure the pardons are in the mail for these left wing white supremacists, since they are so obviously working hand in hand with the Obama administration:

federal prosecutors in Arizona announced that Mahon, 58, and his twin brother, Daniel, had been indicted in the 2004 mail bombing of a Scottsdale city office that promoted racial and cultural diversity.

Also involved was a major Obama campaign contributor:

Also Thursday, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched the Warsaw, Ind., home of Tom Metzger, director of the White Aryan Resistance and an associate of the Mahons.

I'm sure the ATF was just there to cover up any evidence that might have been used against Metzger. I've heard he's tight with ACORN, as well.

*In case Don shows up. This is sarcasm, it may not rise to the level of satire.

Neocons and Flag Desecration

I see that Jules Crittenden and Donald Douglas think it's cool to desecrate the United States flag as long as it's used as a bikini on a hot babe. I suppose it's another instance of neocons making their own rules. The US Flag Code has different rules. According to paragraph 8, section D: "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery." I don't believe any exception is made for super-nationalist chickenhawks.

Once again, they show their true colors. These people have no regard for true patriotism. They use the flag, the men and women in the military and anything else they get their blood stained hands on, only to suit their own purposes, including the young woman tragically killed in Iran.

Crocodile Tears of Neocon Clowns

Shorter Joe Klein: Neocons don't give a rat's ass about the Iranians; never did and never will.

And it was this sort of thinking by Ron Paul that got him a couple of campaign contributions from the ex-DLB.

when is the last time we condemned Saudi Arabia or Egypt or the many other countries where unlike in Iran there is no opportunity to exercise any substantial vote on political leadership? It seems our criticism is selective and applied when there are political points to be made.

Thanks Dr. Paul. BTW, for those keeping score, he is a real doctor.

And, a nice posting by Steve Benen along the same lines. Why neos have any forums beyond laughable blogs is a mystery.

Is This the Republican Mainstream?

Unfortunately, it's probably not far off. If you made up this story, it would sound far fetched. It's safe to click, Truth.

UPDATE: Apparently, there are many more where she came from. Thanks, Repsac.

Killing Them to Save Them

I would love to see the neo-con response to this criticism of their position leveled by Greenwald:

Much of the same faction now claiming such concern for the welfare of The Iranian People are the same people who have long been advocating a military attack on Iran and the dropping of large numbers of bombs on their country -- actions which would result in the slaughter of many of those very same Iranian People...

Missing here is a list of genocidal freaks given by Greenwald worth going to his post to see...

Imagine how many of the people protesting this week would be dead if any of these bombing advocates had their way -- just as those who paraded around (and still parade around) under the banner of Liberating the Iraqi People caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of them, at least. Hopefully, one of the principal benefits of the turmoil in Iran is that it humanizes whoever the latest Enemy is.