Thursday, August 14, 2014

FERGUSON FRAUDS, CONTINUED.

Glad to see things look a bit calmer in Ferguson. Meantime the conservative festival of bad faith continues -- Here's the loathsome Ben Domenech, trying to get with the lipstick-libertarian program at The Federalist:
This isn’t to say that only libertarians are suspicious of cops. There has always been a strain of conservatism very skeptical of government power...
Whereas liberals love cops. Remember Chicago in '68, where they were hugging their nightsticks?
The officer draws his gun and fires. The youth flees. He is apparently shot dead in the back from a distance. The story does not look good, at all. As my colleague Sean Davis noted yesterday, if a civilian had done this – even one who had truly been assaulted and feared for his life – they would be in jail right now waiting prosecution as opposed to on paid leave funded by the taxpayers.
Well, if he were white, maybe -- a black guy would just be dead, like Michael Brown. Moving on to secondary targets. Domenech acknowledges it was bad that the cops bullied the press in Ferguson, sort of, theoretically, but...
Journalists love nothing more than to write about themselves, and particularly to write about themselves as martyrs or heroes. So you can bet they’ll be paying attention, and writing some more pieces about their harsh abuse, as the streets descend into further violence. It’s not that your rights don’t matter, of course, it’s just that their rights, you see, are just more important. Some people are more equal than others.
Reporters aren't the only ones who are asking for it:
But have no fear, good people of Ferguson – the tragedy there has done nothing to interrupt the party in Martha’s Vineyard, where President Obama toasted Vernon Jordan and danced the night away. It is good to know that no matter what troubles the populace endures, the monarch’s show goes on.
The real villains of Ferguson: Reporters and Obama. If you really want you head tied in knots, go see Mollie Hemingway talk about how Ferguson shows the value of the Second Amendment -- as if any black person who showed up packing during Ferguson's hot nights wouldn't have had his head blown off. I wonder if Hemingway even remembers what her hero Ronald Reagan did about black folks with guns. Christ, what a passel of frauds.

UPDATE. Comments are lovely. Whetstone:
I expect that Ben Domenech would be whistling a different tune if cops tear-gassed people who looted others' prose.

134 comments:

  1. Frauds is a little mild, isn't it?

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  2. AGoodQuestion10:59 PM

    Let's see, we've got some dog-whistling about "real criminal threats" in the sinful big city,; some shoehorned rage about the Agriculture Department; and a James Madison quote cherrypicked to support Teahadi sentiment. Something tells me that 90% of this tripe was just sitting on Domenech's hard drive and all he had to do was add a few Ferguson references.

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  3. bulletsarepeopletoo11:10 PM

    Wait...I thought libertarians are all about state's rights so why's he bitching that Obama is dancing the night away instead of sticking his big black nose into what's going on in Ferguson?

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  4. No sheet: Or are you naturally suspicious of them, believing them to be little more than armed tax collectors and bureaucrats with a tendency to violence and falsehood in service of their whims?


    Tax collectors & bureaucrats. Really? I love how these people have yet to realize that tax collection is no longer performed by the king's thugs helping themselves to the good stuff in the granary, a cow & a couple of pigs.

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  5. That bit about journalists is instructive, because we've been hearing some of that crap from the chattering class over the last day or two. It seems like this is turning into a fight between old-school journalists and the talking head pundits who've all but replaced them. Here we have a major story unfolding on U.S. soil, which is a perfect opportunity for on-the-ground reporting. And then we have our actual wonderful newsmedia, which is content to kick back and speculate wildly from several states away.


    Look at the response to Reilly and Lowery getting arrested. Joe Scarbrough comes out and gives Lowery shit for not just backing off when the police tell him to leave - in a situation where how the police were acting was the entire story. This is basically a presenter on a cable news network arguing that, well, if a story is hard to get or risky, it's not worth it. Get the press release afterwards, make a few phone calls and wrap it up. It's not the first time I've heard a pundit razz a journalist for reporting on something, but it seems more egregious in this case - maybe because, again, it's happening right here in our own backyard.


    It'll be interesting to see if this becomes more widespread, but I'm surprised we're hearing it at all. I mean, it's not as though the talking heads are threatened - our wonderful newsmedia's slide into opinion "journalism" is a foregone conclusion, only subject to change if reporters and photographers agree to start working for free. What else could it be? Might it be that these people actually feel shame? I know it seems unlikely given how smug these fuckers are, but maybe on some deep level they actually feel a little bad. Maybe it's a twinge of guilt over having displaced so many hardworking people, or possibly embarrassment over the fact that those journalists are still running rings around them. Then again, maybe this is a little of that residual faith in humanity that I've never quite been able to shed.

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  6. sharculese11:33 PM

    Apparently? Apparently?


    No, dude, those entrance wounds are in that dude, your petulant desire to craft a narrative be damned. A kid fucking died. A kid died. I work with kids his age every day. They are halfway between kids and adults. Even the ones who are way way fucking bigger than me, because I am a little ass dude, are still kids. And this is the best you can give us? Don't even try.

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  7. AGoodQuestion11:39 PM

    It is telling that tax collection comes before violence and falsehood in the list of sins.

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  8. stepped_pyramids11:40 PM

    "Some people are more equal than others."


    I have no great love for Orwell, but it's still disgusting to me when reactionaries like Domenech use his words.

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  9. sharculese11:40 PM

    Yeah, but Roy used 'passel' correctly, so that excuses all their weirdgross medievalist bullshit.

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  10. stepped_pyramids11:41 PM

    I'm not really surprised that Scarborough would take that stance. His background isn't in journalism, it's in lying to journalists.

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  11. sharculese11:42 PM

    And Ben Domenech knows about using others people's words, if you know what I mean.

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  12. Derelict11:49 PM

    At least we might see some reforms of police departments if the Rightwing Wurlitzer starts making noise about militarized police.

    As for Ben's bit about journalists all being self centered: Project much?

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  13. sharculese12:01 AM

    Hey, I've read the version of the New Testament where Matthew is a pitiable figure scuttling around the corpse of Jesus.

    http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/images/01bulgakov/covers/glenny68.jpg

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  14. Spaghetti Lee12:15 AM

    if a civilian had done this – even one who had truly been assaulted and
    feared for his life – they would be in jail right now waiting
    prosecution


    Bullshit. It's people like you who pretended George fucking Zimmermann was an American hero, Domenech, you loathsome lying shitbag.

    Journalists love nothing more than to write about themselves, and particularly to write about themselves as martyrs or heroes.

    Jesus Christ. The rest of us have had to put up with six solid years of you Republican shitheads whining, every damn day, about how you're political prisoners in your own country, your rights are being squashed, your voices are being silenced, how you want to take your country back. And now you're going to turn around and accuse someone else of portraying themselves as a martyr? Do you have any shame at all, you putrid wheedling fuckstain?

    It is amazing how quickly the authoritarian instincts bubble up. Go back to any authoritarian regime in history and they had some lie to tell the masses about how dissenters were just liars and traitors who were in it for themselves. The Nazis had the dolchstosslegende, communist China and Russia had it's purgings of the bourgeois and intellectuals, the Taliban won't shut up about 'Western decadence', and now we have you saying it's OK for journalists to get kicked in the head, for attempting to cover what's arguably the most important domestic news story of the year, for attempting to do their damn jobs, because you, you lying useless hack, think they're a bunch of drama queens who had it coming.

    It’s not that your rights don’t matter, of course, it’s just that their rights, you see, are just more important.

    (Bashes head into wall.) THIS WHOLE FUCKING THING STARTED because the cops started beating on people who WEREN'T JOURNALISTS. The journalists showed up to COVER THE DAMN STORY. But you don't care about facts, because you just cackle with sadistic glee whenever anyone's head gets in the way of a cop's nightstick.

    It is good to know that no matter what troubles the populace endures, the monarch’s show goes on.


    Yeah, gotta keep the inane and useless Obama-is-Louis-XVI narrative going. It's not just that Domenech is pretending that it's the president's job to take command here, or that conservatives wouldn't throw a shitfit about state's rights if he actually did intervene, it's that he spent an entire article hinting that the victims deserved what they got and then has the balls to call Obama a cruel tyrant for not intervening on their behalf. Ben, have you ever written a single article without lying, slandering someone, or contradicting your own argument? Honest question.



    Fuck these people with Satan's barbed cock. I'm going back to bed. Wake me when it's over.

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  15. Captain Ambiguity12:25 AM

    It says a lot that things calmed down once the cops stopped brandishing rifles and firing tear gas.

    Specifically, it says that the cops were trying to start trouble and provoke a reaction from citizens . . .

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  16. bilejones1:13 AM

    So the people should be less able to protect themselves than the agents of the State?

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  17. bilejones1:14 AM

    The filth have long shifted from the mythical "protect and serve" to the real life Provoke and suppress.

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  18. montag21:21 AM

    Exactly. Fuck, Scarborough is a politician cum talking head, not a reporter. And an asshole. So whatever he has to say about journalism is not worth consideration.

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  19. mrstilton1:24 AM

    this tripe was just sitting on Domenech's hard drive



    Well; on somebody's hard drive, anyway.

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  20. 'Fraid you're gonna be asleep a looooong time. In bed.

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  21. Oooh, good Limeyism. I'd forgotten that one.

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  22. Budbear1:35 AM

    Put a hyphen twixt cum and talking and you've got my up vote.

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  23. montag21:42 AM

    Not to depend too much on generalities, but what we're seeing here is when bad training, bad community policy, bad leadership and bad recruiting policies collide. And, when they fucked up, their first instinct was to stonewall, and when that produced demonstrations, their impulse was to escalate to violence. So, of course, when they began to see, all too slowly, that they were looking stupid and venal to the public, they decided their biggest problem was the reporting and so they went after reporters. When that got reported, they started to wind things back a bit, and the tensions decreased a little.

    What they still don't realize is that a significant portion of their community now doesn't trust them at all, instead of not a lot. They've only succeeded in making a bad situation much worse.

    It's almost a microcosm of the way the government behaves in the rest of the world. Putting huge amounts of firepower in the hands of stupid people does not make them smarter. In fact, it often does the opposite.

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  24. Budbear1:43 AM

    Hey,Spagalee! So, what did you think about Domenech's column?

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  25. I discovered today that Joe-Scar's's a lawyer. Funny he never mentions it. Maybe the Wacky Wiki explains it:
    Scarborough's most famous case was representing Michael F. Griffin, the accused killer of abortion doctor David Gunn, in early to mid-1993. He made several court appearances for Griffin. "There was no way in hell I could sit in at a civil trial, let alone a capital trial," he claims now, referring to the prospect of prosecutors seeking the death penalty against Griffin."[8]Scarborough assisted Griffin in choosing a trial lawyer from the many who offered their services, and he also shielded the family from the media exposure, pro bono.

    Jesus, "representing" a terrorist murderer is worse than killing an intern. What the hell's the matter w/ him?

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  26. Tehanu2:15 AM

    Didn't Jesus hang out with tax collectors?

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  27. ColBatGuano2:46 AM

    I thought the problem was that Obama speaking about it was politicizing the situation? I get so confused.

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  28. He invented that "tithing" thing, didn't he?

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  29. ...our wonderful newsmedia's slide into opinion "journalism"...

    Bingo. As someone who has worked through the training and serious work as a journalist I'm here to say that the most egregious fault of most American journos is their complete disregard for reportage vis-a-vis editorializing.

    Here's a fucking hint to every cunt who sticks their face in front of a camera or a microphone for a living - nobody gives a shit what you think you think about what's happening...absolutely nobody but your mom and your own sense of shit-stained smugacity.

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  30. Journalists love nothing more than to write about themselves, and particularly to write about themselves as martyrs or heroes

    The projection is strong in this one. Libertarians don't even need to catch a whiff of tear gas (and the resultant mucous membrane meltdown) to write about themselves as martyrs, all it takes is a ban on sixty-four ounce buckets of HFCS.

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  31. A veritable Spagh Van Winkle, if you will...

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  32. Nah, the right won't make any noise as long as those people are the ones getting brutalized... unless Bundypalooza heats up again.

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  33. montag24:38 AM

    Boxturtle Ben has always thought he's a much bigger guy than he is, because he's a little boy standing on a huge pile of bullshit. If there's one person drawing wingnut welfare whom I thought would be the first to run away when the chips are down, it would be Domenech. When all the people he's complaining about are retching their guts out from tear gas, he's at home banging away at the keyboard about what self-absorbed dilettantes they are.

    It's not just projection. It's cowardice.

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  34. bargal205:17 AM

    "The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder."-Richard J. Daley.

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  35. Jaime Oria5:19 AM

    - the governor sent in the state patrol with orders to assume authority for security of the city, effectively making the local police force observers -
    And here, boys and girls, we can see in state-level microcosm, exactly why there needs to be an overarching - dare I say it? - federal authority that can step in when local government is clearly mucking things up.

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  36. Guilt? More like anger and envy. He sounded a lot like the perfectly healthy chickenshit members of the 101st Frightened Chairborne who somehow never got around to heading down to the recruiting office slagging on Tammy Duckworth.

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  37. There has always been a strain of conservatism very skeptical of government power…


    Skeptical? They aren't sure it exits?


    I guess he means they're skeptical government power is as effective as corporate power would be at keeping the peons in line.

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  38. It’s not that your rights don’t matter, of course, it’s just that their rights, you see, are just more important. Some people are more equal than others.

    And this…this is a huge part of why we are in these dire straits. There is an amnesia that a "free press" was constitutionally guaranteed so that abuses of power could be held in check, that Everyman would have a voice, that the citizens would have facts and evidence from which to make rational democratic decisions, and that they would be free to hold responsible those who represent them in government.

    Domenech's snarky observation only confirms his own ignorance in this regard. That government forces abridged the freedom of speech, AND the press; AND the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances is only about some journalist's career and/or feelings being hurt, in Domenech's and many people's little minds, only shows how deeply lost our democracy is.


    (It seems many "journalists" also seem to feel this way. I did a year of journalism school years ago, and even then I hardly met any classmates who wanted to be journalists. They all seemed bent on becoming talking heads on the TV.)

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  39. Yes. (I should have read the comments before posting.)

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  40. Remember, Spagh, it's not a lie, if you believe it.


    I would love to believe that these people are lying. Then we could have a Hollywood ending where the Bad Guys are unmasked, the People wake up, and a New Dawn comes to the land.


    Unfortunately, there is no unmasking. I fear that the folks running things, and the vast majority of their grunts, are as confused, frightened, angry, and delusional, as they appear to be. They will go to their graves knowing they are right, dragging the rest of humanity with them into hell.

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  41. Derelict7:30 AM

    Damn that Obama and his 11-dimensional chess mastery! By calling for calm, he's politicizing a situation in which he should be taking action by not acting at all.

    No wonder his opponents are so befuddled!

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  42. Derelict7:33 AM

    And, obviously, the next headline needs to be "Furor in Ferguson Good News for McCain."

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  43. Derelict7:36 AM

    Don't forget that The Virgin Ben and so many of his brethren were loud supporters of the creation of "free speech zones" during the Shrub's presidency.

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  44. Nobody should give a shit about opinions and editorializing, but unfortunately, it seems most of the Murkin public eats it up. I honestly don't think most know the difference between objective facts and opinion. They constantly conflate the scientific word "theory" for opinion, and many only get their "news" from Fox, Rush, et al.

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  45. This is not about voter suppression. But thanks for playing.

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  46. redoubtagain8:25 AM

    "Forget it, Jake, it's Pundittown." (The less you know, the more airtime they give you.)

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  47. Helmut Monotreme8:33 AM

    Radley Balko, (formerly of Reason magazine and the Cato institute) who wrote a "The Rise of the Warrior Cop" about the increasing militarization of the police force, appeared on cable TV news at least once during this mess to offer his thoughts. In my mind he's about the only credible right wing voice on the topic, as it's been his primary issue for years, even during the Bush administration.

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  48. Helmut Monotreme8:37 AM

    I thought Ben Shapiro was the virgin Ben. Ben Domonech is

    plaigarist Ben, who resigned in disgrace from the Washington Post. You need a scorecard to keep from getting these creeps mixed up.

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  49. redoubtagain8:38 AM

    (Like you said, loathsome, and if there was a point to all that it was likely "borrowed" from somewhere else.)

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  50. Helmut Monotreme8:39 AM

    Some reporters That one reporter does have an interesting, informative and entertaining take on news stories as they happen. Sadly Hunter S. Thompson is still dead.

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  51. tigrismus8:46 AM

    "In 2009 [Domenech] was selected as a journalism fellow by the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution."

    Was this an award or a recognition of ignorance most in need of correction?

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  52. satch9:02 AM

    Mr. Monotreme, meet Charles Pierce...

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  53. satch9:06 AM

    Classic:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjQuJDjZar8

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  54. satch9:09 AM

    Fortunately, by then Jennings was dead...

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  55. glennisw9:16 AM

    as if any black person who showed up packing during Ferguson's hot nights wouldn't have had his head blown off.



    Um, one did. He's in critical condition in the hospital and the cops plan to charge him with assaulting a police officer if he manages to recover.

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  56. montag29:18 AM

    Not exactly Mattera's finest moment, is it? It's particularly snicker-worthy when he says, "I have friends who've gone," as if that's a reasonable equivalency for going himself.

    If he really thinks he's "fighting the war of ideas," does he have any understanding at all that he lost?

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  57. glennisw9:22 AM

    Ben Domenech is Box Turtle Ben. Ben Shapiro is Virgin Ben.

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  58. Derelict9:23 AM

    The PD in my tiny town (population under 15,000) has all sorts of neat new toys, and they use those toys every chance they get. Simple drug busts where they could have just arrested the suspect out on the street are now full-on SWAT affairs with body armor, M-16s, grenade launchers, and armored vehicles.

    And this turns into a kind of self-propelling fallacy. The cops get this stuff from DHS, then go back to DHS and say "Look how much we use this stuff! Obviously, we need moar stuff!"

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  59. Derelict9:24 AM

    Mixing my Bens--I need to get my caricatures straight!

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  60. HKatz9:27 AM

    Check out this story from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/340419821/after-a-traffic-stop-teen-was-almost-another-dead-black-male


    "Mouthing off" can mean asking about a warrant. And the "reaching for the gun" allegation is one that some police officers may throw around freely in certain situations...

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  61. montag29:31 AM

    I wonder if the selection committee had actually read any of Domenech's original work? (How could they? There isn't any! *rimshot*)

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  62. dstatton9:57 AM

    Domenech and all the other conservatives cannot bring themselves to show an ounce of sympathy for that boy and his family. Same for Travon Martin. There's something in common here, but I just can't put my finger on it.

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  63. tigrismus10:03 AM

    I heard that this morning, the event was horrifying(though sadly not shocking) but their obvious love for each other was what moved me to tears. Two lovely people, I'm glad both of them are still with us.

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  64. Greg Costello10:04 AM

    Box Turtle Ben is still around? Christ, I've been walking this beat for awhile now.

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  65. tigrismus10:04 AM

    Can't tell the players without a program!

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  66. gocart mozart10:18 AM

    "Why wont Obama get involved!"
    "Why is Obama interjecting himself into a local Matter!"

    Also, upvoted for "Satan's barbed cock."

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  67. It's amazing how often that ending you describe happens in the movies. Three very different movies with that exact ending spring to mind: the 1957 classic A Face In The Crowd, the animated children's movie Monsters Inc., and Weird Al's UHF. (Yes, there's plenty more, but I'm just thinking off the top of my head.)


    In each movie, the lying manipulator is caught saying what he REALLY thinks before a live audience or into a live mike, and people realize that he's the bad guy.


    I agree with you that the real life manipulators are probably as deluded as anyone, but let's imagine that they aren't for a moment. Imagine that the Hollywood ending happens in real life, and one of these liars is caught on video admitting that they have been cynically misleading the public all this time.


    What would happen next? My guess is that the deluded masses would not "wake up" at all; they would find some kind of rationalization that could enable them to keep believing whatever they were believing before.

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  68. I was watching old episodes of Dragnet the other day, and I ran across this one episode about a charge of police brutality.


    After a VERY thorough investigation (headed up by Joe Friday and his partner Gannon,) it was discovered that the officer in question actually struck a citizen with the back of his hand while making an arrest. Everyone in the LAPD took this action very seriously, and the officer was immediately punished.


    Some people like to watch fantasies involving dragons and elves and things. I like to imagine a fantasy world where people in authority almost always deserve respect, and people generally get what they deserve, one way or another. Wouldn't that be great?

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  69. dmsilev10:32 AM

    Coming up next: "Obama arranged for Michael Brown to be shot as a way of distracting from Benghazi."

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  70. Ellis_Weiner10:36 AM

    First, I would like to buy this comment several drinks until it calmed down enough to get home. Second, Harry G. Frankfurt on bullshit:

    (The bullshitter) "...does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is the greater enemy of the truth than lies are."

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  71. gocart mozart10:44 AM

    They are disappointed that they can't yet accuse Obama of playing the race card.

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  72. FrenchFriar10:45 AM

    Ms Hemingway strikes again with her embarrassing logic. Yeah, amendment #2 worshipers love it till minorities carry the guns. Then their advocacy disappears into the grassy knoll.

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  73. Ellis_Weiner10:53 AM

    You cynic. I suppose arresting and beating up the wrong guy, and then charging him with "destruction of property" when he (purportedly) bleeds on your uniforms, is something you'd call "bad policing", too.

    http://tinyurl.com/l3349w2

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  74. Ellis_Weiner10:54 AM

    Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark--on Ben's PERMANENT RECORD.

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  75. It won't last. Right wing extremists are always scared of police (which is why they've killed so many cops), but your movement conservatives are a different story. This will last right up until stop and frisk becomes an issue again.

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  76. It's like a crappy koan. Is not non-action, in truth, a form of action?

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  77. Can you imagine the reaction if he'd nationalized the National Guard? Katie, bar the door because we'd have been hearing about that when my unborn great-grandchildren were starting to think, "Gee, maybe a little Grecian Formula wouldn't be such a bad idea after all."

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  78. I can't believe these guys still use the term "race hustler." It's amazing that they can be this crass and lowbrow and still complain when liberals curse.

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  79. Um, can I take this comment to the Prom? I want to show the fuck off!

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  80. I'm not sure what you mean, but if you're talking about the neighborhood stocking up on AR-15s and AK-47s, you should talk to your local 2nd Amendment absolutists. I'm sure they'll be happy to facilitate purchases up and down the streets. In fact, I see a Kickstarter campaign in their future.

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  81. whetstone11:19 AM

    I expect that Ben Domenech would be whistling a different tune if cops tear-gassed people who looted others' prose.

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  82. The torch was passed. Thanks be to God.

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  83. Sometimes Matthews pisses me off. Not this time.

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  84. randomworker11:32 AM

    Yep. Wonder if the NRA or GOA is going to support The New Black Panthers Party open carry shindig.

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  85. Derelict11:37 AM

    Maybe. But I note that this time we're not just hearing from the usual suspects--we're hearing from one or two Democrats who are pushing actual legislation to make the police less like counter-insurgency forces. I consider this remarkable as Democrats since the mid-'80s have quaked in fear over the slightest hint that they're "soft on crime."

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  86. glennisw11:43 AM

    I heard that story too. I concur.

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  87. glennisw11:45 AM

    Considering that Dragnet was about LAPD during the bad ole days (not to be mistaken for the bad new days), I'm surprised there weren't more dragons and elves.

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  88. "Yes, Ben, and I'll be fucking your pretty new wife tonight, so please have a nice evening at the pub. On me. Or should I say, On the kingdom! Ha ha!"

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  89. Yes, it's like deciding not to decide. Same thing.

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  90. LookWhosInTheFreezer11:53 AM

    Nobody's barbed cock deserves that. Otherwise, Amen to everything you wrote.

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  91. Oh, it's pure propaganda; there's no doubt about that. I enjoy watching it, though I can't explain why.

    During this episode I'm talking about, Friday tells the officer being punished "When you lost control at 2 a.m. this morning out there on Garland Street, you laid another bruise on every man who wears a uniform and a badge. Your newspaper story will give credence to those whose sole aim is to kick authority right in the groin. And you've shaken the confidence of those who believe in order with justice."

    Anyone with a sense of irony must be able to appreciate a speech like that. Sargent Friday absolutely HATES the phrase "police brutality," and he hates to hear people say it. In this same episode, he says "I never thought I'd live to see the day it would be stylish to shout down constituted law and authority, to scream 'Police brutality!' at almost every opportunity."

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  92. montag212:16 PM

    Cynic that I am, I'd say it's the law as chutzpah.

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  93. Tehanu12:18 PM

    Hear, hear. This is why I don't watch TV news any more. The opinions of brainless wannabe-celebrities are, oh, what's the kindest word? BORRRRRRING!! -- when they're not just wrong. Echhhh.

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  94. Derelict1:01 PM

    Or an anchor: Paging Wolf Blitzer! Wolf Blitzer to the discourtesy phone!

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  95. Derelict1:05 PM

    Slappy White once told about touring the Maytag washing machine plant in South Carolina. He complained to the plant manager that all of the washing machines were white. To which the manager supposedly replied, "Yes, but inside every one of them is a black agitator!"

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  96. RogerAiles1:06 PM

    Unfortunately, by then Richard Cohen was still alive...

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  97. RogerAiles1:09 PM

    Bob Draper's at the Post now?

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  98. tigrismus1:13 PM

    The opinions of brainless wannabe-celebrities are awesome! For me to POOP on.

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  99. TGuerrant1:17 PM

    Let's start a rumor that the dispossessed David Gregory is taking not just Scarborough's time slot but Scarborough's show and Mika is over the fucking moon about it. Who knows? It might even be true.

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  100. Gromet1:29 PM

    In support of your guess I submit Romney caught on tape calling 47% of Americans no-good moochers. "Finally someone tells it like it is," says Moocher America, not realizing the billionaire means them. "Only Romney can save us from the unsustainable indignity of all these moochers."

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  101. ColBatGuano1:48 PM

    It takes about 5 comments in that thread to get the pure unadulterated racism that lurks in those folks hearts.

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  102. Good example! That one didn't occur to me. It really does resemble the Hollywood moment we're talking about.

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  103. KatWillow2:02 PM

    Tom Delay and his pals, gloating over using "the crazies" to get bills passed. "The crazies" just found someone new to bullshit them.

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  104. Mooser2:22 PM

    "Yes, but inside every one of them is a black agitator!"


    A hopeful thought.

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  105. The Great Oberlord had to find something for Bowe Bergdahl to do.

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  106. George Allen found out otherwise.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Allen_%28U.S._politician%29#.22Macaca.22_controversy

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  107. I forgot about that.


    Every once in awhile, people DO get what they deserve. I should remember to cherish those moments...

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  108. BigHank535:27 PM

    It is Satan. I'm willing to bet he's kind of kinky that way.

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  109. Ellis_Weiner7:06 PM

    To which I assume the person he was talking to said, "Oh, yeah? Then tell the pigs to stand down, douchebag." Right?

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  110. montag21:01 AM

    But, Bush nationalizing a bunch of national guard units and sending them off to be blown up in Iraq and Afghanistan in a couple of stupid and/or illegal wars was o-kay.

    No whining about states' rights then, by gum.

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  111. montag21:03 AM

    I suspect no small amount of Domenech's permanent record was borrowed from someone else, too.

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  112. AGoodQuestion1:11 AM

    Good counter-example. Although I think part of that was Virginia not being as white or as Right as he remembered it being.

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  113. montag21:31 AM

    I think there were always more civil libertarians among Dems than Repubs (how many times have we heard from the wingers over the years that the ACLU was a commie front?).

    However, this is not going to be hauled back any time soon, though. IIRC, Grayson entered a bill in the House to prevent the gift or sale of a whole slew of DoD combat equipment to local and state police, and it went down like a stone tied to a submarine. Only forty-three Dems and nineteen Repubs voted for it.

    As long as the people getting their heads cracked are black people, old hippies (or the new hippies--Occupy) and such, there won't be any impetus to stop it.

    When Suzy Creamcheese and her parents are getting their skulls bashed in, that's when the outcry will mean something to the politicians.

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  114. AGoodQuestion1:35 AM

    Read that book not too long ago. It was truly trippy.

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  115. anonymouse3:42 AM

    Hello, American friends. There's a high probability that I will be visiting your fair shores in the next few months (for business, primarily) for a short period of time. I am... unheartlandishly hued, shall we say, and at 6 foot 3, a tall drink of water. Let me be clear that I don't think the US is filled with crazed racists. I wouldn't be doing business there if I thought that. Also, some level of background racism is just a fact of life for me anyway, I just want some advice to stay safe.

    My question is, what can I do while enjoying your fair country to avoid being shot/beaten/harassed by local law enforcement? I doubt they'll check my passport before getting stuck in, so I was hoping there's some sort of code of behaviour for black people over there to avoid such unpleasantness. I've got plenty of money, but I've had enough nigger moments to know that means jack shit when things go south.

    Also I should add that my parents were ANC members and taught me to defy authority when said authority violates the law and commonly accepted human rights. I'm quite worried that my mouth might literally get me killed in a situation where deference, ugly as that might be, might keep me alive. Especially since I plan on renting a nice car to get around while I'm there and traffic stops seem to follow a more ad hoc set of rules than I'm used to.

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  116. You have described the entire GOP. "Oh shit! I forgot THOSE people are listening and they can vote. No problem, I'll just blurt out some lame excuse that wouldn't fool a four year to calm 'em down."

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  117. RHWombat7:35 AM

    A broad Oz accent helped an aboriginal friend of mine in a slightly tense situation in LA a few years ago. I don't know whether that translates across the Indian Ocean.

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  118. cleter8:46 AM

    You should avoid Texas. And maybe Florida.

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  119. cleter8:48 AM

    That's nice that they stopped at Goodwill and got him some sort of suit on the way to the courthouse.

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  120. Ellis_Weiner10:21 AM

    Upvote for Suzy Creamcheese. "WE...ARE...theotherpeople..."

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  121. I wonder what the records at local hospital(s) look like.


    Wouldn't they have some way of keeping track of the number of police-civilian interactions end with someone needing medical attention?

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  122. Derelict1:57 PM

    i.e., Rick Santorum and "the blahs?"

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  123. Derelict2:00 PM

    "Suspect repeatedly punched self in face after tasering self. Additionally, officers reported that suspect jumped in front of accidentally discharged firearm in effort to steal bullets for later sale as scrap metal."

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  124. willf3:00 PM

    Uh, no.


    Just... no.

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  125. montag24:17 PM

    That's almost as creative as the cops in my little burg who found a guy in an alley, propped up against a wall, hands tied behind his back with a bullet in the back of his head, then declared it to be suicide.

    I guess they confused the literal and the metaphorical.

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  126. StringOnAStick7:15 PM

    They truly do see themselves as Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

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  127. sigyn8:19 AM

    I don't think the outcome of this particular case matters to Kid Rock. (IjustrealizedIknowtoomuchaboutthis) ahem.


    He probably saw this as a chance to show some solidarity with his fan base.

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  128. DocAmazing11:12 AM

    If you are visiting coastal cities and are in economically comfortable settings, you should be all right; privileged white people in the US just do not want to be present when the hammer falls. Stay in mixed, relatively well-off crowds, and the cops will not threaten you. (Once you are alone, be prepared to show them your ID and to explain who you are, where you're going, and why you look like the suspect in several unsolved and unspecified crimes.)

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  129. DocAmazing11:17 AM

    Be very careful what you wish for. Remember always that the FBI is one of those federal arms, and they're notorious for gross laboratory errors. entrapment scams, and spying on political dissidents.

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  130. billcinsd11:38 AM

    Are there really all that many people that have glass dildos? or is much of his fan base ICP haters?

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  131. sigyn3:17 PM

    No, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of overlap as far as fandom goes. I was referring to the cheap-looking suit.

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  132. realinterrobang11:50 AM

    Dang. That's possibly a better headline than "Man arrested in Wal-Mart with Gun, Ammo, Anti-Government Literature,
    Meth." (A real headline -- KSPR-33 News, 26 November 2010.)

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