The folks who run that mine up in Wisconsin where they brought in the paramilitaries has now come out with a video showing what at least their supporters call a “domestic terror attack” that prompted them to bring in security. Calling it that is ridiculous and I don’t think you need to bring in commandos. But I’d want some security guards too. Watch.
I think this is a big problem for people who actually care about immigration reform happening.
Group of Colorado counties want to secede and create the state of ‘North Colorado’ which would be a paradise for gun rights and oil drilling.
Mark Sanford of all people gets behind a push to defund the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Fellow historian and TPM Reader BA thinks I’m cutting conventional libertarians a bit too much slack on how deeply the ‘neo-Confederate’ stain goes in the movement. I don’t fully agree with the argument. I think there are a lot of libertarians who have the sort of philosophy I noted. But he’s right and could have said even more about how much the ‘clean’ libertarian movement for lack of a better word has courted and interwoven with these noxious folks …
While I think your forthright denunciation of neo-Confederates as racists, plain and simple, is on the mark and valuable, the sharp division you attempt to draw between such people and “philosophical” libertarians is based on little evidence. I understand the desire to see people at the Cato Institute as “philosophically consistent, [not] basically about race but … a form or what I’d call hyper-individualism. Not my cup of tea but a perfectly legitimate political movement.” Being able to have civil, political discussions with those with whom one disagrees is important. Worthy political opponents are, in general, a good thing.
Pope makes new laws criminalizing sexual violence/abuse, child porn and prostitution in the Vatican city state.
Pelosi calls Boehner’s struggle to get immigration reform through the House “their usual amateur hour.”
Why do the Pauls have such a problem again and again getting tied up with neo-Confederates and borderline white supremacists? It’s not just a prime example of that classic Onion headline “Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My C$#k?” It goes to the heart of what contemporary libertarianism is – or to put it more precisely, how there are very different movements and political agendas operating under that one label. Read More
A very interesting piece in the Times.
Notwithstanding the violence and the tense standoff now gripping Egypt’s capital, many bread and butter aspects of life – energy shortages, blackouts, lack of police on the street, etc. – have suddenly got much better in the country since Morsi’s ouster.
As the Times puts it, “The apparently miraculous end to the crippling energy shortages, and the re-emergence of the police, seems to show that the legions of personnel left in place after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 played a significant role — intentionally or not — in undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.” Read More
At TPMPrime, we just opened up a conversation about whether it is and what the fallout will be if it’s going down in flames. Let us know what you think.