Not even a black Confederate activist could stop Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Florida from changing its name to something less KKK-ish.
Ed Kilgore: Can the Right unite to block another “electable moderate” in 2016?
A new poll shows that that South Carolina sheriff who refused to lower the flag to half-staff to honor the passing of Nelson Mandela wasn’t alone: 45% of Republicans also opposed the gesture.
I just noted two stories about the Pope this morning – one atmospheric, celebrating his 77th birthday with homeless men from Rome, the second more significant about the future direction of the Church, removing from a key committee a particularly outspoken foe of abortion and same-sex marriage who is a favorite of right-wing Catholics in the USA.
My Lord, a few days ago we reported how Tea Partier and Texas Crazy Congressman Steve Stockman had the city Fire Marshal condemn his campaign headquarters as an unsafe workplace last month. This came out just after Stockman announced he was challenging John Cornyn for Senate – and I guess gives some insight into why Stockman is so against government regulations. But I didn’t realize it was this bad. We just got hold of the photos of the condemned property. And they’ve got to be seen to be believed. Particularly check out the bathroom, the second photo in the list.
If you had a chance to read Sahil Kapur’s history of the fall of the filibuster, he’s answering your questions about the article and the filibuster right now at The Hive (sub req).
Yesterday I mentioned how ‘Paper’, the iPad drawing/note-taking app, had dropped support for the Pogo Connect stylus in what appeared to be a brazen betrayal of its users. I think I’m now convinced that it was a tech/calendaring issue and they’ve now released a new version in the App store that restores said support.
Today is your last chance to submit your nominations for the 2013 Golden Duke Awards. So fer God’s sake, don’t miss your chance to be part of what is definitely the best annual awards program for conspicuous achievement in scandal and, admittedly, quite possibly the only one. For this year’s category and instructions on how to submit your nomination for the 7th annual Golden Dukes, click here.
Special Sponsor Alert!: This year’s Golden Dukes is sponsored by Media Matters and its annual Misinformer of the Year Award which will be announced on December 27th.
From TPM Reader TS …
As an avid and long-time reader of TPM, I must commend you on your focus on the Catholic Church and Pope Francis. My reaction to your post has little to do with theology or catechism. I am reluctant to place too much emphasis on the supposed politics of Pope Francis’ move with respect to Cardinal Burke as it relates (or does not relate) to American politics. This is not really a victory for progressives versus conservatives. It is just great news for the Church.
Part 2 from TPM Reader TF …
I am a progressive, non-traditionalist Catholic, which makes me a little unusual because most of the people like me have left the Church deliberately or have drifted away. Francis was not first on my list of picks for Pope (like I get a vote or something!), but he was among the top few. The reason has nothing to do with the label “progressive” or “traditional” because I didn’t know anything about his real positions. He looked to be a bit conservative for my tastes, but they all are in the wake of John Paul II and Benedict.