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One minute you’re encouraging armed extremists to menace law enforcement officials with firearms, next you’re hearing that one of them ambushed and killed a couple cops on break eating a pizza. How could such a thing happen?
George Will laments that focus on rape has led to victimhood becoming a “coveted status.”
The latest on the two suspects in that policy ambush yesterday in Las Vegas. They allegedly bragged about being part of the Bundy Ranch stand off. This comes after police reportedly found white supremacist paraphernalia among their belongings and they draped the murdered officers in Gadsden flags, a Revolutionary War era flag recently adopted as a symbol of the Tea Party.
As the ambush began one of the assailants allegedly yelled “this is the start of a revolution.”
Virginia Dem reportedly agrees to block Medicaid expansion in Virginia in exchange for a job for himself and his daughter.
We’ve been unpeeling the many layers of mendacity involved with Mitch McConnell trying to say that Kentucky could keep its exchange even if he succeeds in his ultimate goal of repealing Obamacare. The dance he’s doing is obviously a nod toward the success of the state’s own exchange, a success McConnell can’t completely ignore for political reasons. And a success he doesn’t want to stand accused of proposing to eliminate, even though that’s exactly what repeal would do.
But on practical level it’s worth noting, as Dylan Scott does in this report today, that McConnell and his staff have ignored the Kentucky exchange up until now. A top state official tell us there’s been “radio silence” from McConnell throughout the creation and implementation of his state’s exchange.
As some of you know, I was trained as an historian. I have a PhD in American history from Brown where I studied Early American History under Gordon Wood. My subject focus was 17th century New England. I decided, as you can see, not to become an academic – something I discussed here. But I never lost the simple curiosity and hunger to know about the past. All I ever read on my own time is history. I don’t read novels or books about politics or about almost anything else that has to do with day job or anything else but history or biography to the extent it is a literary annex of history. And that’s made me for some time want to set up a history blog here at TPM.
More reporting out of that police ambush today in Las Vegas that left two officers and one civilian dead – in addition to the two suspected assailants. From the Las Vegas Review Journal …
Details are sketchy but Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sources close to the investigation say the shooters shouted that “this is the start of a revolution” before opening fire on the officers, and draped their bodies with cloth showing a Revolutionary War-era flag. Investigators have also found paraphernalia associated with white supremacists.
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From Rand Paul …
“Mr. President, let’s set up a new trade. Instead of 5 Taliban, let’s trade 5 Democrats!” #RPTCon14
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 6, 2014
Video after the jump …