The GOP Is What It Says On The Tin

Autocracy. Fascism. Threats of violence. Lies. Xenophobia. Homophobia. Transphobia. Physical violence.

It is all on the tin. The GOP is what they say they are.

This nation is doomed, partly because liberals and progressives like me sit and say nothing when the GOP explicitly tells us what it wants to do: abolish queer people, strip rights from women, inflict more suffering on the poor, drain the public wealth (like cutting public school budgets and diverting local tax revenue to charter schools), and use outrage and violence to win votes.

The GOP relies on manufactured outrage, instability and conspiracy fanatics to stay alive. That includes QAnon, sovereign citizens, the people who will never get over the short pandemic lockdowns, and right wing militias (Boogaloo Boys, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers).

And there are the abhorrent policies. Just last week, over 20 South Carolina legislators co-signed a bill to put women to death if they terminate their pregnancies. That’s one-sixth of their state legislature, putting forward something that the Taliban or Saudi Arabia would enforce. And I’m just supposed to fucking sit there silently, and listen to Michelle Obama’s new podcast? In 2016 and 2020, she told us to “go high,” but what she really meant is avoid confrontation. She might as well have told us to just sit there and take fascism and oppression from the red states.

Fuck that. I am fighting. Is anyone with me?

Anyone?

He Walked The Talk

This is the greatest death of the year.

He died doing what he loved: owning the libs and resisting a proven vaccine

Fuck him. Fuck every eligible adult who refuses to get vaccinated. And fuck every parent who ruses to get their eligible child vaccinated. Fuck them all.

More Thoughts On Biden's Stunning (And Infuriating) Victory

As I wrote a few hours ago, I have mixed feelings. First, I harbor a lot of resentment at party elites. Yes, they were correct. But if you think it through, the path to defeat Trump was always to rebuild the "blue wall" from Minnesota to New Jersey. But party elites decided to let the nomination battle play out organically until southern leaders decided to hit the override button and rescue Biden’s campaign. They decided that only Biden can rebuild that wall. They were correct, fine. But I will always have rude words for Jim Clyburn. I will never understand why party leaders in South Carolina and Georgia have to be at the helm when we might never win those states again in my lifetime.

Same for Charles Schumer, who failed to convert the all-time voter turnout record for Biden into at least a tied Senate. He has to step down as minority leader, and finally some of his fellow senators agree.

I am furious at how Trump’s projection sometimes worked. Often, the public and media would see through it. But in the case of Cuban and Venezuelan Americans in Dade and Broward counties, it was a brilliant cynical move. Donald Trump, a man who sees himself as an authoritarian and would love to declare himself president for life if given the opportunity, was able to convince hundreds of thousands of hispanics in Florida that Biden was too similar to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. Oh yeah, he is just like them. And that worked. A rare Trump projection that worked right where and when he needed it to work. Bad guys only need to get it right once. We good guys need to block them at every attempt. We failed to block this tactic in south Florida. Spanish language radio and social media in Florida is now an arm of the Republican party, much as it was in the 1980s.

The DNC feared that Bernie Sanders would lose Florida because he would be called a socialist in Miami. However, they failed to protect Joe Biden from the same fate. Pete Buttigieg is a little corporate shit, but he was correct when he said that the GOP would label any Democratic nominee or policy as “socialist.”

But what makes me mad and sad most of all is what the Democrats -as weak and as useless as they are- cannot control. Trump became more popular since 2017. When Charlottesville happened, I and many others thought that Trump just saw himself as president of the 63 Million people who voted for him. We figured some of his voters would die before 2020, and some new, teenage voters would vote with their parents. We thought those should cancel each other out, and Trump ought to to match his 63 Million vote total, but no more. He didn’t do anything to overtly court independents and Democrats to his side. He was never a positive, friendly president. He was angry and negative, which was reflected in the national mood. And of course, he did nothing but harm and insult the 21 states that Clinton won. But this week, Trump got 4 million more votes. 4 fucking million! A Los Angeles of new voters. After everything that has happened. After all the insults and early morning tweets. After all the blatant racism and white nationalism. And in the middle of a pandemic and an economic depression that is ongoing. He gained in popularity. That disgusting, indecent man.

[Update, November 5: Trump now has 5 million more votes than he had in 2016!]

[Update, November 6: Trump now has 6 million more votes than he had in 2016! A Los Angles and a Houston!]

[Update, November 10: Trump now has 7 million more votes than he had in 2016! An incredible 71,469,850 votes and counting]

[Update, November 30: Trump now has over 10 million more votes than he did in 2016! A staggering, scary 74,077,537 votes and still counting!]

And some brothers defected to Trump! A small wave of black men didn't vote at all in 2016 but voted for Trump in 2020. In fact, an estimated 1 in 3 college educated black men in Florida voted for Trump. What would Malcom X say? I know what I say. Ladies, do not give any sex to a man until there's a Federal law legalizing abortion or until Kamala Harris is president, whichever happens first. Actually, all women should make that vow. Yes, it's going to be a long wait.

I will never be comfortable with the fact that 48% of voters would rather burn down the republic than share it with women and brown people. It's been this way for decades. This is just a reminder that nothing has changed. We have made zero progress. Half the nation wants the other half dead. Try to sleep well after being reminded about that fact.

I See A Dark Short-Term Future

I'm not worried about the media spinning a poor Trump debate performance into a comeback story. What our media has always done is normalize him. That's far worse. The media normalizes his truly insane statements. He could tweet to his followers to kill Biden and Harris and the media would report, in a calm, normal tone, "In a controversial tweet, the president called for this killings of his opponents.”

That’s what worries me. Once the media calls Florida for Biden, right wing death squads will descend upon boards of elections and ballot counting centers. There will be massacres of vote counters and innocent Democrats in a desperate attempt to prevent what we all know is coming.

Here is what’s coming: Trump is going to lose big. He might lose by over 100 electoral votes. Go play with an interactive Electoral College map. Give Trump Texas and Ohio, sure. Heck give him the Carolinas. But he has already lost Georgia and Florida. I repeat: he has already lost Georgia and Florida! My toy map has Biden winning 334 to 203!

It’s over and he knows it, and that's what makes him so dangerous right now.

While the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, KKK and Aryan Nations are conducting their post-election day massacres, Trump will flee for a condo in Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Russia to become the first US president to live out the rest of his days in exile. And while that happens, our media will bend over backwards to describe the massacres by white nationalist groups as "clashes between left and right wing extremists."

On a similar note, protecting the vaccine supply and supply chain is going to be a top priority of the Biden administration. Imagine a violent landscape in which right wing anti-vaccine gangs attacking trucks and trains carrying the vaccine - no because they want to steal it, but because they don't want the vaccine distributed. This is not some wild scenario. This is something the FBI is thinking about. Same with right wing gangs attacking boards of elections and ballot counting centers on election night. The NYPD shouldn't worry about us lefties marching. They should be worried about right wing death squads coming in to stop the counts. Unless that's what the NYPD wants, since they are aligned with Trump.

That is our future two weeks from now. Stay inside and stay safe.

Show No Respect Nor Mercy

We left wingers have to be brutal. Never be sorry to see your opponents kill themselves. They hurt us. They shot at us. Some of them have shot us. They drove cars into us. They blew up our economy and our way of life. They put us into cages. They put us into unmarked vans. We must be brutal. This is war, god dammit.

Brad Parscale doesn’t have long to live. Once someone puts a gun to his head and threatens to kill himself, it is only a matter of time before he goes through with it.

Here’s to Brad Parscale’s upcoming suicide. I have no sympathy, no respect and no mercy. So should all people who consider themselves progressives and left wingers. It’s OK to disrespect your enemies if they threaten to kill you or are actively trying to kill you. This is war.

This Feels Like The End

I had wondered for decades about what could have happened if the American public had reacted differently to the Kent State massacre. What if the majority of Americans reacted with enthusiastic approval rather than shock and horror? What if there were no consequences for the guardsmen or the State? What if there was no compensation for the victims? What if we had a new paradigm going forward: protesters can be shot? Full stop.

We’d have the end of the Republic. The USA would officially become a white nationalist fascist state. We’d have a dirty war, like Chile or Argentina. Maybe we didn’t know how close we came between 1968 and 1974. It seems Hunter S. Thompson and Alan Moore did.

This week, we had a smaller incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin (two dead, one wounded, as opposed to four dead and nine wounded), but the significance could be greater than what happened 50 years ago in Ohio. This time, we had a right wing, teenage shooter, who the police witnessed and didn’t arrest. They let the shooter get back to his car, and drive back to his home in Illinois, over 30 miles away. This kid, Kyle Rittenhouse, crossed state lines twice (possibly without a driver’s license), and violated a town’s curfew to cause trouble. And then he shot first. And while brave young men tried to chase him down and prevent what they thought was a massacre in progress, he shot two more.

Before he was arrested, the police used law enforcement language to describe his terrorist act. His actions were described the way the police would describe one of their own. Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis sad, “Last night a 17-year old individual from Antioch Illinois was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place.” I really don’t care that the chief later condemned the violence. The fact that he used the words “individual” and “conflict” to describe a boy suspected of of a mass shooting is all I need to conclude that the police are reluctant to stop right wing gangs. And indeed, they are. Many police are members of right wing gangs themselves. They see right wing gangs as “friendlies.” And this attitude is reflected in police behavior. The Kenosha police distributed water to right wing “militia” members earlier this week, but today they arrested a group preparing free meals for protesters.

But the most disturbing news of all this week, is that the loudest voices on the right are trying to re-define who can be shot. In the case of the Rittenhouse, the right wing is arguing that an armed man being chased has the right to shoot his pursuers. This would mean that anyone being chased has the right to open fire. It becomes a license to kill. Meanwhile, the reason we have unrest in Kenosha is because a black man was shot seven times in the back and paralyzed for failing to obey police instructions. It is possible that the victim, Jacob Blake, was not told he was under arrest, and angrily walked to his Dodge Journey in defiance of the police behind him. After he was shot, police found a knife in his car, and concluded that Mr. Blake must have been walking to his car to get his knife and…stab four officers with their guns drawn? But this justification after the fact seems to imply that any black person who owns a knife, holding it or not, can be shot.

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Now, the US has not yet become a fascist state where dissenters are rounded up, tortured, imprisoned or shot, but look at how quickly we got here. And we have to acknowledge that this is all tied to the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which has grown significantly more popular in 2020. QAnon is a vast conspiracy, which is able to include a lot of out of context quotes and events to support the existence of a decades-long, underground child abuse economy run by powerful Democrats. It’s actually a repeat of old conspiracy theories involving children being kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. One of the pillars of QAnon, is that the left wing, being a demonic and sadistic segment of the population, need to be brought to justice in a sweeping week of arrests they call “the storm.” Alternatively, if Donald Trump -a president they believe knows about the Democratic child trafficking, rape, and even their eating of children- fails to bring them to justice, then patriots should act and attack Democrats with deadly force. That’s no exaggeration. That’s the logical conclusion a lot of QAnon followers reach in their education. The evil Democrats include celebrities, Jews, elected officials and coastal, wealthy elites. The first violent incident involving a QAnon follower that I know of was in December 2016. Donald Trump was president-elect. The next incident I am aware of happened at the Hoover Dam in June 2018. The convicted guy in that case wrote letters to Trump and was a fierce QAnon believer.

QAnon is not a benign cult or subculture within the GOP. It is aggressive, on the offensive, and is taking over the whole party. It is evolving into a violent faction of our society. And they don’t restrict themselves to Internet comments and wild conspiracy research. If true believers in QAnon are convinced that Democrats are a satanic army, then that army must be confronted and defeated. An increasing number of those under the cult’s spell are lashing out, whether it is at mask mandates, local government hearings, or at anti-racist protesters.

As one who studied the right wing militia movement from roughly 1977 through 2000, I am a little surprised that the violence from the right continued after Trump took office. The movement was known to flare-up when a Democrat was president, and cool down when a Republican took office. But now it's on the offensive -and has intensified- with a Republican president, which doesn't bode well for the future.

One of the reasons I wish Gore won in 2000 was that we'd have a chance to smother and prosecute right wing terrorist groups. But Bush won, and their activity cooled down to the point that they just attacked reproductive health clinics and the occasional mosque or synagogue, and the media didn't cover it. So if they are in-charge and angry now, imagine how furious they will be when they are no longer the ruling minority.

Or, imagine a worse scenario: Trump wins re-election, and they still commit acts of violence in our cities, while the police stand by and let them roam. They evolve into the GOP death squads, as QAnon fully takes over the party. Our nation begins to have scenes of unarmed citizens under fire, similar to the siege of Sarajevo in 1992. I will never forget the fall of Sarajevo. I saw it live on CNN International and BBC News. Aside form the obvious reactions of “this is horrible,” and “why won’t NATO and the UN stop this,” I didn’t think that something similar could happen in the US. That can’t happen here.

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But my historian father, Uncle Tim has always reminded me, it can happen here. It can happen anywhere. It has happened on every inhabited continent.

In order to prevent it from happening here, Donald Trump must lose. And even then, there will be bloodshed in the weeks to come. Win or lose, the right win is going to react with extreme violence.

Be safe, everyone.

Liberals Can't Be Bullies

All the lectures and all the talking-down to Liberals to be civil are bullshit. Complete bad faith bullshit. The following is a good example why.

I visited a War Relocation Center (a WWII Japanese-American concentration camp) for the first time this month. It was the first of ten camps built, in Hunt Idaho, which opened in August 1942. I walked the land, walked the trails, and spent some time in the tiny, silent and somber visitors center. But one of the first things I saw, aside from a replica of a sentry tower at the entrance, was a pickup truck. An overweight middle-aged couple owned it. They were walking around the monument parking area, reading the interpretive signs. They seemed to be engaged for the few minutes they were there. They were visiting the park on a bright, sunny Saturday in the Idaho desert. They could be at one of the parks in Twin Falls, full of barbecues, lawn games, dogs and cold beer. But they came to this sad prison camp site for a reason. I assume they came to learn.

But the pickup truck threw me off. It was a slightly lifted American truck. That’s normal in Idaho. I Can appreciate modified pickup trucks myself. The decals on the rear window are what I noticed. There was a skeleton hand raising a middle finger. There was a decal reading, “I burn diesel. Mind if I smoke?” And there was the classic Calvin-like character taking a piss. He was pissing on the word “Liberals”. So here was a little irony. A Republican couple (I’ve stopped calling them Trump supporters now - if one is a Republican, then that’s redundant, and also dated once they have a new leader) was visiting a prison camp that held US citizens, while on the same day, the party and administration they support is holding immigrants of all ages in multiple prison camps. I didn’t see them turn around and leave, but that’s what they did. They opted not to go further onto the walking trails with more interpretive signs. I guess they finally understood that reading about peoples’ constitutional rights being revoked and peoples’ rights to freely move taken away conflicted with their “own the Libs” worldview.

I’m pretty sure Republicans would love to send all registered Democrats into prison camps. We’re just the majority that keeps getting in the way once in a while. Donald Trump doesn’t want an approval rating from anyone who voted against him. He just wants a 100% approval rating from Republicans. He’s the president for the ruling minority only. Everyone else might as well not exist.  

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If you are the president for only 60 Million voters, a 50% approval rating (which he doesn’t have) is a perfect score. Screenshot captured 09/16/2019.

I thought about those current facts, but then I thought about the pissing decal again. I would love to put a Fuck Trump, or Death to Deplorables (maybe a “Deplorables Hunting License”) decal on my Lincoln. I advocate that if anyone is a registered Republican, they are hostile members of a hate group that needs to be deported, put into prison camps, or simply executed. This nation would be immediately better if we killed-off the 60 Million or so voting Republicans who are making life miserable for the 70 or so Million who have never voted Republican. They are making life miserable for the majority simply because they want to. There is no unity and harmony in this nation anymore. So fuck it. Kill all the Republicans. Let’s fix this mess. 

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The Drei Pfeile (Three Arrows) symbol of the anti-fascist parties of Germany. Used by ANTIFA groups today.

But I can never put that argument on my house, front lawn or motor vehicle. It would be a matter of days until my vehicle’s rear window was smashed by a tire iron. See, the Right Wing gets to troll, insult, threaten, harass, and taunt. They can decorate their vehicles with thin blue lines, punisher skulls, crosses, pro Republican slogans, anti-BLM stickers, anti-immigrant slogans, confederate flags, stickers against colored people and stickers with misogynist meanings. We liberals cannot do that. Even if we tried, it wouldn’t be long before a social media moderator, employer, journalist, or right-wing deplorable on the street called us out for it, damaged our property, or terminated our employment. We liberals still live in a civil society. It was the 60 Million deplorables who left it. Let me make that crystal clear: the 60 Million deplorables broke their social contract. They are an anti-social hate group that wants to burn the Republic down rather than share it with anyone who disagrees with their ideology.  

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I wouldn’t dare slash the tires or smash the window of a truck that had a confederate flag or an anti-liberal sticker on it. The owner very likely has a gun. And more important, I don’t damage other people’s property. But if I put an Antifa sticker on my vehicle, I’m pretty sure some deplorable would call the cops on me, especially in my excursions into Pennsylvania or upstate New York. The deplorables get to bully and retaliate. They get to call the cops. They are allowed to brandish their weapons. We Liberals aren’t allowed to open our mouths, let alone strap an AR-15 to our backs. Even when we have the facts on our side, we lose. Facts and truth are useless today.

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An “Open Carry” rally in Campbell, Ohio, 2010.

Remember the rules that applied to Jackie Robinson? There was an unwritten rule that he was not allowed to reply to insults or taunts, and he was not allowed to throw a punch at anyone who hit him. It would be the end of his career. Similar rules apply to us liberals. 

Now I know that my fellow liberals would tell me that this is not a problem. Deplorables go low, we go high. We don’t damage property or threaten to shoot Republicans. We don’t drop to their level. But there are a few rebels like me who believe that if we aren’t allowed to bully and troll them back, then we’ll never be rid of them. Shouldn’t we try to get rid of them? Maybe get rid of is too strong a term. Isn’t it time we tamed the deplorables (do you like the 1984 Reagan Bear in the Woods ad reference there)?

Put another way: The bedbugs are a metaphor. The bedbugs are Republicans. You know what I mean? And did you see what happened to a fellow liberal when he made that joke? It strengthens my argument, folks. We liberals can’t joke about the deplorables. Nor can we express our rage through art. We are told to keep it civil. The right-wing is a protected class. 

If shaming worked, I’d advocate shaming the deplorables. But that no longer works. We need to tame them. Isolate them. Sometimes insult them, and make sure they don’t hurt more people. Who knows how many of them want to go on a gun rampage on election day next year? A lot of violent men might go over the edge next year.

I badly want to put an Antifa sticker on my Lincoln. I really do. But I Love my Lincoln, and I don’t want some white nationalist with a tire iron or gun anywhere near it. I know I can’t make the deplorables go away. And I also know that I can’t wish them away. They will always be a significant and destructive minority in this country. They can threaten and intimidate. And they know that most of them will never lose a job or serve prison time because of it. I just think that’s wrong.

Yeah. It is wrong.  

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Trump Is Toxic

Donald Trump is toxic to the Republic. The Republic has been dying for decades now. Americans had progressive improvements to their standard of living taken away from them beginning in 1973. Bush v. Gore (2000) dealt an enormous blow to our electoral system, and manipulated the course of US history. 

But Trump seems to have taken the United States on an accellerated path to ruin.

Here's some quick bar napkin math. In 9 months we have lost an FBI director, the White House Chief of Staff, a cabinet member, and we've reached a point where the Senate is not going to let any bills reach the president's desk. Add to that a disastrous travel ban, a threat of a military transgender ban (that we'll probably never hear about again), repeated threats of a nuclear strike on North Korea, and a promise to build a wall that will never be funded.

An aside about the Republicans in Congress. The GOP is not a normal political party. Apparently they care about their own power and the transfer of as much wealth as possible to their political contributors. I find among them precious little interest in the welfare of this nation. In its current incarnation, that party is entirely unfit to govern the United States.

On July 15, chaos began to manifest in plain view. Trump gave an incredible speech at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree. In any other administration, it would be a shocking turning point. The Secretary of State allegedly mulled his resignation over that speech. In Trump's administration, it was just another bad day at the office before things really got chaotic the following week, with the unexplained, dramatic ouster of Sean Spicer and Reince Preibus. 

Then, the last 8 weeks, we had the white nationalist invasion of Charlottesville (and the laying of blame on those who tried to defend the city), the disbandment of two presidential councils, word that the Department of State is in shambles, and a dramatic, historic 15 minutes on August 15 which will likely lead to European leaders asking Trump to never visit their nations as president again (Merkel and May are on the verge of just that). That unhinged press conference should have destroyed him. But no. He wasn't done.

Then came the end of summer. Hurricane Irma ripped through the US Virgin Islands and put the Florida Keys in a pool of sewage. And then, barely two weeks later, Hurricane Maria tore through Vieques, Culebra, and Puerto Rico. But Trump paid no attention to that storm in its first four days. He instead attacked black professional athletes in the NBA and NFL. He didn't make rescue and recovery in Puerto Rico a priority until he saw the situation on television. That's another thing that historians will have to track, if there's a nation left after he and Pence are gone. Trump gets most of his information from US cable news. And when the news about him becomes sour, he holds a campaign rally. One time he told an adoring crowd of white people that he would be good to black Americans. That went down well. 

The lost weekend while Puerto Ricans died should have destroyed Trump. But no. His administration cannot be killed. It just limps along. Donald Trump has done something that no president has done since Nixon. He was worn down national morale. But he has also done something Nixon and Reagan wouldn't dream of doing. He has energized the white nationalist fringe, who now march unmasked -at least for a little while. He is ruining the classic, optimistic American mood that has kept us going despite so many aspects of American life worsening since 1973. The first 9 months have brought a white house in turmoil. In 9 more months, we could have a flaming constitutional crisis. This is not sustainable. 

Tomorrow, Donald Trump goes to Puerto Rico to view recovery efforts. I hope the boos are constant and loud. He might not hear them. But the news media will. As we have seen, Trump has very poor communication skills to say the least. When he ad libs, disaster strikes. 

Trump has his supporters. A solid 35% of American adults fully support him. He is their racial antidote for 8 years of Obama. Millions of Americans are perfectly content to accept a dictatorial right winger, who'll promise them safety and a healthy economy in a white supremacist, nationalist context. As for Congress, and especially the House of Representatives, I wouldn't want to put much faith in their saving us from Beloved Leader Trump. That leaves a free press and and an aroused citizenry. Maybe that'll be enough. 

Uncle Tim contributed to this post.

Enemies Lists Are Back For 2017

There's a new list of college professors that RIght WIng has deemed progressive bullys and fascists. Just remember, It's Always Projection.

This really is back to the future. We haven't seen a true enemies' list since good old Dick Nixon. I suppose it's a matter of some pride to have made this list. We have a lot to look forward to in the next three years. Imagine, a real, honest to God, right wing government in our dear old land, with a lying demagogue in charge. 

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Mister Sterling's biggest influence at U Mass was Sut Jhally. He made the list. 

Professors in western Massachusetts, home to five great colleges in Pioneer Valley, have responded the best way possible, by requesting to be added to the list.

Every president has had a list of adversaries or people to avoid.  Trump already has an well-known enemies list, and it will only grow. 

UPDATE December 26 2016: The Wingnuts have fired up the Liberal Fascism narrative once again.

The Day White America Went Mad (Again)

June 30th, 2009, Georgetown, Delaware, at the CHEER community center.

Take it away, madwoman:

If anyone ever tells you that both the Right and Left have irrational, violent hate speech on the same scale and with the same media exposure, simply use this video as the first example in a long list of evidence against the Right. The most vile, radical media figure on the Left is probably Bill Maher...for making jokes about Dick Chaney's health. The Right has an arena full of crazies. And no, 'crazies' is not hate speech if we have video evidence such as this. 'Teabagger' isn't a hateful word, either. Neither is my favorite, 'wingnut.'

If someone, anyone, knows of a blogger, talk show host, activist, leader, or celebrity on the Left who has been more politically incorrect than Bill Maher, please leave his or her name in the comments. It isn't Cecile Richards. It isn't Glenn Greenwald. It isn't Bill Moyer. It isn't David Corn (for calling Bush 43 a "liar"). And no, it isn't Arianna Huffington, either. Cindy Sheehan? Are you kidding me?

Who are the popular extremists on the Left? David Letterman? Jon Stewart? Sean Penn? George Clooney? Van Jones? Michael Moore? Whoopi Goldberg?

Who on the Left deserves to be compared to the likes of Pamela Geller, Ann Coulter, Dennis Miller (who used to be on the Left, so he would have counted if this was 1996), Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann, Sharron Angle, Ann Althouse, Erick Erickson, Glenn Reynolds, and Jonah Goldberg, and dozens of others?

Who?

The Right-Wing Rape Fetish

I learned a few things in college.  One of them was a checklist of identifying characteristics of fascism.  There are certain ingredients in fascism that make it undeniably fascist.  Not all fascist societies had all the ingredients, but they are key to identifying the system in question.  

It's a weird analogy, but think of asian cuisine.  You see stir-fry chicken dishes all over east Asia.  But if the dish has lemongrass in it, you know it is southeast Asian.

It is similar with political systems.  You could examine two similar systems that have a totalitarian, military junta in-charge, a strong propaganda infrastructure, and state-ownership of industry.  You're pretty sure one of them is communist.  But if the other has added flavors such as xenophobia, constant scapegoating of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and an explicit rape/humiliation claim to motivate and anger the people, then that one is fascist.

Case in point:

Not Making A Direct Threat, Per Se

Pastor Steven Anderson has been featured in liberal blogs since 2008 or so. He's been telling his flock that president Obama is the devil and deserves to die all year. If he does agree to appear on CNN this week, I will post his appearance here. This is the latest episode involving this Arizona pro-gun pastor.

MSNBC: Combating The Crazy

Lawrence O'Donnell restrains himself from flattening a typical right-wing attendee of a congressional town hall meeting,

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Chris Matthews interviews a more informed protester, William Kostric, who might be the first man to protest the president while carrying an exposed weapon in many many decades.

Joe Scorborough Continues To Freak Out Over The DHS Right Wing Domestic Terror Report

Joe, when the DHS report was released in April.

Joe, after three deadly shooting incidents and after being called out by Paul Krugman.