Little Green Footballs

Tech Note: LGF Pages Bookmarklet Supports Scribd and SoundCloud

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:26:40 PDT

I'm about to sling some code at you here, so watch out. There's a new improved version of the LGF Pages bookmarklet, and if you have an LGF account you can install it by deleting the old one (if you already installed it) from your browser's bookmarks bar, then dragging the "Create a Page" button to the bookmarks bar in its place.

The new version extends our exclusive auto-embed feature to add Scribd.com and SoundCloud to the auto-detected embed types. If you open the bookmarklet on any page containing an embedded Scribd document or SoundCloud audio file, it will be automatically added to your Page. If you want to test it out, here's a page at Right Wing Watch with an embedded SoundCloud file: Radio Host Frequented by Gun Activists Calls for Shooting of Bush Family & Obama, Sexual Violence Against Hillary Clinton | Right Wing Watch.

Here's the source code for the bookmarklet, in the interest of full disclosure. (Also because I want to test the latest version of our source code formatter.)

There are a couple of interesting tricks in this one; notice the method of loading jQuery by injecting a script tag into the page. I'll leave the rest as an exercise for the nerds amongst us.

The bookmarklet source code:

(function() {
	var j = '1.9.1', d = document;
	if (window.jQuery === undefined || window.jQuery.fn.jquery < j) {
		var done = false, s = d.createElement('script');
		s.src = '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/' %2B j %2B '/jquery.min.js';
		s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(){
			if (!done && (!this.readyState || this.readyState == 'loaded' || this.readyState == 'complete')) {
				done = true;
				jQuery.noConflict();
				init();
			}
		};
		d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
	} else {
		init();
	}
	function esc(s) {
		return escape(s).replace(/\%2B/ig, '%252B');
	}
	function init() {
		(window.LGF_post = function() {
			var f = q = w = '',
				u = esc(location.href),
				d = document,
				t = esc(d.title),
				s = esc((d.selection) ? d.selection.createRange().text : d.getSelection()),
				ob = jQuery('iframe').filter(function() {
					return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i);
				});
			if (ob.length && !u.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)) {
				f = esc(ob.eq(0).attr('src'));
			}
			q = (
				'u=' %2B u %2B
				'&t=' %2B t %2B
				'&f=' %2B f %2B
				'&s=' %2B s
			);
			w = (
				'width=670,' %2B
				'height=820,' %2B
				'scrollbars=1,' %2B
				'status=1,' %2B
				'menubar=1,' %2B
				'location=1,' %2B
				'resizable=1'
			);
			window.open('http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?' %2B q, '_blank', w);
		})();
	}
})();

And here's the minified version created with Google Closure Compiler:

(function(){function b(b){return escape(b).replace(/\%2B/ig,"%252B")}function d(){(window.LGF_post=function(){var a=q=w="",d=b(location.href),c=document,f=b(c.title),c=b(c.selection?c.selection.createRange().text:c.getSelection()),e=jQuery("iframe").filter(function(){return this.src.match(/https?:\/\/(www\.youtube|player\.vimeo\.|w\.soundcloud\.com\/player|www\.scribd\.com\/embeds\/)/i)});e.length&&!d.match(/www\.youtube\.com\/|vimeo\.com\/|soundcloud\.com|www\.scribd\.com/i)&&(a=b(e.eq(0).attr("src"))); q="u="%2Bd%2B"&t="%2Bf%2B"&f="%2Ba%2B"&s="%2Bc;w="width=670,height=820,scrollbars=1,status=1,menubar=1,location=1,resizable=1";window.open("http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-postpage.php?"%2Bq,"_blank",w)})()}var f=document;if(void 0===window.jQuery||"1.9.1">window.jQuery.fn.jquery){var e=!1,a=f.createElement("script");a.src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js";a.onload=a.onreadystatechange=function(){if(!e&&(!this.readyState||"loaded"==this.readyState||"complete"==this.readyState))e= !0,jQuery.noConflict(),d()};f.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(a)}else d()})();

Colbert Report: Why Does Eric Holder Hate Louie Gohmert's Asparagus?

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:26:55 PDT

(Click below if you can't see the MP4 video above.)

Comedy Central

Daily Caller Cooks Up Another Stupid Scandal, Commenters Spew Vile Racism

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:31:14 PDT

YouTube

The mind-numbingly stupid right wing fake outrage of the day: yes, now they're even going after the President for asking Marines to hold umbrellas for himself and the Turkish Prime Minister. I just can't even.

The hacks at wingnut propaganda site The Daily Caller lead the charge, but it's on every single right wing blog and media website, of course, because they do this stuff in lockstep unison like good little authoritarians: Obama Breaches Marine Umbrella Protocol | the Daily Caller.

Did Obama "breach protocol?" Let's see what the Marine Corps has to say about it:

Seeing a Marine with this particular accessory is "extremely rare," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Greg Wolf explained, but because the president's the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, if he says "hold my umbrella," it's permissible.

The sad thing is that this laughable story actually ended up on the front pages of the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and the Los Angeles Times.

This is why the wingnut lockstep army does this kind of freakishly moronic outrage-mongering -- because the mainstream media enables it.

Meanwhile, again as usual, the commenters for the Daily Caller's rage-inducing article are, yes, spewing all kinds of vile racism. They got the subtext right away -- it's a white man holding an umbrella for a black President.

I thought afro-sheen was waterproof?

[...]

Just another occasion where Obama shows his "superiority" to any and everyone around him. Shameful.

[...]

Just another example of the illegitimate Kenyan illegal alien's arrogance, ignorance, and contempt for the military - and the Marine Corps in particular.

[...]

Next they'll be carrying shopping bags for Michelle as she strolls 'Miracle Mile' looking for a bargain.

[...]

I would roll that umbrella up and shove it where the sun don't shine. Kenyan Fraud. III%

[...]

The MONKEY BOY BATH HOUSE QUEEN WOULD MELT if SHE GOT WET!!!!!

[...]

Too funny! The first black man given the opportunity to run the most powerful country on earth and he turns out to be no different than all the other two bit corrupt black dictators around the world. For all the world to see no less. Way to go BO!

[...]

Someone...please throw some shoes at this Kenyan clown!!

On and on it goes -- currently there are more than 1700 comments, almost all spewing hatred and deranged conspiracy theories. The right wing base in all its glory.

Also see:
Guest Post From a U.S. Marine About Barack Obama's Shocking and Disgusting Use of an Umbrella

CBS Evening News: Republican Sources Caught Doctoring Emails

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:06:22 PDT

Video

SCOTT PELLEY: Also at his news conference today the president called for tighter security for U.S. diplomatic facilities to prevent an attack like the one in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Of course, Benghazi has become a political controversy. Republicans claim that the Administration watered down the facts in talking points that were given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for television appearances while Mr. Obama was running for reelection. Republicans on Capitol Hill claim that they had found proof of this in White House e-mails that they leaked to reporters last week. Well, it turns out some of the quotes in those e-mails were wrong. Major Garrett is at the White House for us tonight. Major?

MAJOR GARRETT: Scott, Republicans have claimed that the State Department under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The White House released the real e-mails late yesterday and here's what we found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by Republicans. One e-mail was written by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes. "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation." But it turns out, in the actual e-mail Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all the relevant equities, particularly the investigation." Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an e-mail written by State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version notes Nuland discussing: "The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda." The actual e-mail from Nuland says: the "...penultimate point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings..." The C.I.A. agreed with the concerns raised by the State Department and revised the talking points to make them less specific than the C.I.A.'s original version, eliminating references to al-Qaeda and affiliates and earlier security warnings. There is no evidence, Scott, the White House orchestrated these changes.

More: Wow, This Is Pretty Epic

Also see:
WH Benghazi Emails Have Different Quotes Than Earlier Reported

Monkey Shares Lollipop With Puppy, Then Bonks Him With It

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:03 PDT

YouTube

Via: Boing Boing

Glenn Beck's Crazy Crypto-Racist Rant of the Day: Whites Lynched by KKK Would Be Tea Partiers Today

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:56:57 PDT

YouTube

On his radio program today, Glenn Beck uncorked a bizarre rant about the NAACP and Martin Luther King and Booker T. Washington and by the way, 20 PERCENT OF KKK LYNCHINGS WERE OF WHITE PEOPLE! AND THEY'D BE TEA PARTIERS TODAY!

Beck's strategy for defending himself against charges of racism seems to be to confuse the issues so thoroughly that nobody can figure out what the hell he's trying to say. But yeah, he's still a racist pig.

"They are a joke," Beck said of the NAACP, calling them "an affront" to everything that Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, and Booker T. Washington stood for. "You are an affront to their memory. You really are."

Somehow, that discussion then prompted Beck to declare that "20% of the lynchings [carried out] by the KKK were of white people ... and you know what, I contend [that] the white people that were lynched are exactly the kind of people that would be in the Tea Party today."

Via: Right Wing Watch.

GOHMERT!

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:15:21 PDT

Bristling Gohmert

The dumbest man in Congress, Texas Representative Louie "Terror Babies from the Future" Gohmert, got all lathered up yesterday because Eric Holder said, in so many words, that Gohmert didn't know WTF he was talking about when he asked a weird, pointless question about some tortuous Muslim-Christian persecution fantasy he apparently got from World Net Daily. So the hearing wasn't a complete waste.

"Because of political correctness, there was not a thorough enough investigation of Tamerlan to determine this kid had been radicalized," Gohmert said of one of the Boston bombing suspects. "On the one hand, we go after Christian groups like Billy Graham's group - we go after Franklin Graham's group - but then we're hands-off when it comes to possibly offending someone who has been radicalized as a terrorist."

Holder responded by saying that Gohmert didn't have access to all of the facts.

"Unless somebody has done something inappropriate, you don't have access to the FBI files," he said. "I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know."

Gohmert bristled at the suggestion that he was making false statements, repeatedly telling Holder that he "challenged my character."

Pickering and Mullen Don't Trust Darrell Issa - and They Shouldn't

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:58:29 PDT

Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, who oversaw the Accountability Review Board that reviewed the government's response to the Benghazi attack, are clearly unhappy with Republican hitman Darrell Issa and his distorted characterizations of their work: Pickering, Mullen Challenge Issa to Let Them Testify in Public.

The dispute between Issa and the co-chairmen came to a head after neither Pickering nor Mullen attended a May 8 House Oversight Committee hearing on the attacks, sparking a heated back and forth about who was invited and when. The rhetoric intensified Sunday during a highly contentious joint appearance with Issa and Pickering on NBC's "Meet the Press" in which Issa maintained the two "refused to come before our committee." Pickering insisted that he was not invited despite expressing a willingness to testify.

"Chairman Issa sent word back that he might want to take me up some time in the future" Pickering said.

Issa also suggested on the program that Pickering and Mullen meet with the committee behind closed doors so as not to create "some sort of stage show." But the two assert in their letter that a public hearing is a "more appropriate forum" and accuse Issa of changing his "position on the terms of our appearance."

By demanding that the hearing be open to the public, it's clear that Pickering and Mullen simply don't trust the blatantly partisan Issa to tell the truth -- and they shouldn't.

Tech Note: The LGF Pages Popup Window and Google Chrome

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:25:14 PDT

In last night's thread about the new features in our LGF Pages posting bookmarklet, several people mentioned that the Chrome browser was blocking the window from opening.

Here's how to fix that problem:

[Item List]

And you're done! Chrome will now allow the LGF Pages bookmarklet to open a new window (or tab), and all is right with the world.

Tech Note: Automatic YouTube/Vimeo Embedding for LGF Pages

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:50:27 PDT

We have a great new feature to announce tonight: when you click the LGF Pages bookmarklet on any web page that contains a YouTube or Vimeo video, the bookmarklet now automagically grabs that video's information and embeds it in your post.

The LGF Pages bookmarklet could always do this if you opened it on the YouTube or Vimeo website, but now it can sense the presence of these video providers on any web page, and react with aplomb, dignity, and quiet reserve. Ahem.

To use this new feature you will have to reinstall your "Create a Page" bookmarklet. First delete the old one, either by dragging it off the bookmark bar or by right-clicking and choosing "Delete." Then drag that button at the top of the right sidebar labeled "Create a Page" to your bookmark bar in its place, and you're good to go.

Here's a page you can test it on, at Right Wing Watch: Robertson Tells Woman Whose Husband Cheated to Remember 'He's a Man' and Be Grateful She Lives in America | Right Wing Watch.

And here's a screenshot, showing what it looks like when you open the LGF Pages bookmarklet on that page (notice that the video code is automatically generated, along with a link to the original page it came from):

UPDATE at 5/15/13 10:03:22 pm

The first release had a small bug, but it's now fixed. Reinstall the bookmarklet one more time and everything will be groovy.

Live Video: President Obama Makes a Statement

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:21:09 PDT

[Live event concluded.]

UPDATE at 5/15/13 3:27:18 pm

The acting commissioner of the IRS has resigned, and new safeguards will be put in place.

In other news, the White House has released 100 pages of emails and notes on the Benghazi attack.

BREAKING: White House releases 100 pages of emails and notes on Benghazi attacks.

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 15, 2013

Stephen Colbert on the Heritage Foundation Immigration Study

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:43:05 PDT

(If you can't see the MP4 video above, click the following link...)

Comedy Central

Republicans Oddly Silent Over DOJ Raid on AP Records

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:17:34 PDT

Amid all the scandals and freak-outs this week, Republicans are curiously silent about the Justice Department's raid on Associated Press records.

Republican senators who have long been critics of Attorney General Eric Holder were noticeably muted on Tuesday when asked to respond to the news of the Justice Department seizing reporters' records as part of a broader probe into national security leaks.

"Well, I think we need to see how this plays out," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of Holder's biggest critics and who last year demanded that the attorney general resign amid the Fast and Furious gun-running probe. "I have questions about it, but I'm wiling to wait and see how this plays out, whether it was narrowly targeted or whether it was a net that was too broadly cast," Cornyn said.

"I want to see the details -- what was their rationale, why did they do it -- before offering an opinion," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who earlier this week accused the administration of engaging in a "cover-up" in Benghazi. "For me, to rush to a judgment without knowing all the facts is just not appropriate."

Republicans who are reluctant to rush to judgment? Has the Apocalypse arrived?

The political calculation's pretty obvious here; the Republican Party and the right wing media have spent the last couple of decades demonizing the mainstream media, with special vitriol being directed at the AP. It's not going to work for GOP politicians to suddenly flip and start defending the Associated Press now, after all that -- the right wing Tea Party base would break out the tar and feathers and RINO signs.

Tuesday Night Jam: David Byrne & St. Vincent - I Should Watch TV

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:50:40 PDT

YouTube

WaPo Fact-Checker Says Obama "Got Away With" Stating a Fact

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:57:36 PDT

This is possibly the strangest and most ridiculous piece yet from Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler, as he gives four "pinocchios" (the "most dishonest" rating) to President Obama's completely factual claim that he almost immediately used the T word to describe the Benghazi attacks: Obama's Claim He Called Benghazi an 'Act of Terrorism'.

You can read the whole thing if you like, although I wish I hadn't wasted the time myself. Are we really going to be reduced to parsing the difference between "terror" and "terrorism?" And is this really supposed to be Washington Post-level analysis?

I'll just quote from Kessler's conclusion, to demonstrate how weird this pedantic piece is:

During the campaign, the president could just get away with claiming he said "act of terror," since he did use those words -- though not in the way he often claimed. It seemed like a bit of after-the-fact spin, but those were his actual words -- to the surprise of Mitt Romney in the debate.

Yes, that's right -- Kessler thinks the President "got away" with ... something ... because he stated a fact. Wow.

White House Email Contradicts Weekly Standard/ABC Benghazi Leaks

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:17:58 PDT

Those "leaked" emails about Benghazi talking points first reported by the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, then picked up and trumpeted to the world by ABC News, were apparently distorted and mischaracterized to smear the State Department and the White House.

Imagine my surprise.

ABC News reported that Rhodes wrote: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting." The Weekly Standard reported that Rhodes "responded to the group, explaining that Nuland had raised valid concerns and advising that the issues would be resolved at a meeting of the National Security Council's Deputies Committee the following morning."

Whoever provided those quotes seemingly invented the notion that Rhodes wanted the concerns of the State Department specifically addressed. While Nuland, particularly, had expressed a desire to remove mentions of specific terrorist groups and CIA warnings about the increasingly dangerous assignment, Rhodes put no emphasis at all in his email on the State Department's concerns.

Previous reporting also misquoted Rhodes as saying the group would work through the talking points at the deputies meeting on Saturday, September 15, when the talking points to Congress were finalized. While the previously written subject line of the email mentions talking points, Rhodes only addresses misinformation in a general sense.

So whoever leaked the inaccurate information earlier this month did so in a way that made it appear that the White House - specifically Rhodes - was more interested in the State Department's concerns, and more focused on the talking points, that the email actually stated.

Also see:
Jake Tapper Blows a Hole in Benghazi `scandal'

Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a 'Fallen Eagle'

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:11:50 PDT

Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a "Fallen Eagle"

More: Whoa! Obama's Twitter Account Includes a 'Fallen Eagle'

Whitehouse Twitter

The official Whitehouse Twitter account has this as their page, and now the RWNJ Blogs are going berserk with it. It's actually a picture of the ceiling of the oval office taken from the perspective of someone standing facing toward the presidential desk.

Of course, it wouldn't be Jim Hoft without our daily dose of derp, so here it is -- hold on to your hats (and stomachs)...

Islam often makes use of symbolism to flaunt the destruction of non-believers.
Now, Obama does too.

RBS

In Historic Vote, MN Senate Approves Marriage Equality Bill

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:36:17 PDT

Michele Bachmann inconsolable.

With deafening cheers and overwhelming emotion, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to legalize same-sex marriage.

"Today, love wins," said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick.

The vote, on the heels of a vote last week in the House, brings to a close a decade of debate over marriage that has echoed through the Capitol, bringing thousands of friends and foes of gay marriage to its marbled dome to express their deeply held feelings.

The measure next moves to Gov. Mark Dayton, who will welcome it with his signature in a celebratory ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol.

Tech Note: A BBEdit Text Filter to Minify Javascript With Google Closure Compiler

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:50:28 PDT

BBEdit is the pinnacle of text editors for Mac OS; it is the El Supremo in the room at the top of the stairs. I've been using it on an almost daily basis for more years than I like to think about, and it just keeps getting better.

One of BBEdit's great features: "Text Filters" that let you write a script or short program in almost any language, and have it work on the contents of the current text document. Today I searched in vain for an already-written text filter that would call the Google Closure Compiler to "minify" Javascript code, and ended up just writing one myself, and I'm passing it on in case someone else out there might find it useful.

To use this, you have to first install the Closure Compiler Java app on your system, which isn't difficult:

[Item List]

That's it -- the Closure Compiler is ready to go. Unless you've removed it, Java is already installed in Mac OS, so you shouldn't need to do anything else.

Now for the Text Filter. In BBEdit, open a new window and and enter this short and simple Bash shell script:

#!/bin/bash

echo -n $(java -jar /usr/local/lib/compiler.jar --compilation_level SIMPLE_OPTIMIZATIONS <&0)

This script needs to be placed in:

~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Text Filters

Easiest way to get it there is to first save it to the Desktop, as Closure Compiler.sh, then use the Finder's Go->Go to Folder menu again to open the Text Filters folder, and move the file in. (This time, you shouldn't need to enter a password because it's your own Library folder.)

Now you're ready to minify some Javascript. Open a BBEdit window with some code, then go to Text->Text Filters, and choose "Closure Compiler." Wait a few seconds and BAM! All that code is suddenly compressed with the best minifier available. We're talking maximum shrinkage here.

If you mark a selection before using the text filter, just that section will be minified. If you're feeling adventurous, you can set the compilation_level option in the text filter to "ADVANCED_OPTIMIZATIONS," but this won't work with all code; there are some strict requirements. Check the Closure Compiler docs for more on that.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell Found Guilty of Murder

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:02:38 PDT

Kermit Gosnell, whose clinic in West Philadelphia was described as a "house of horrors," has been found guilty of three counts of first degree murder, and may face the death penalty.

This horrible story does have a lesson for us, although it's not the lesson the anti-choice movement seeks to promote: The Lessons of the Gosnell Case: Exactly the Opposite of the Right Wing Spin.

National Review Defends White Nationalist-Linked Heritage Immigration Expert

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:12 PDT

Just a few months ago, the National Review was forced to fire or distance themselves from not one, but two overt white nationalists who had been writing for the publication for years.

So it's not really surprising to find editor Robert VerBruggen mounting a vociferous defense of Jason Richwine and "scientific racism" research; it's what they do. (Notice that VerBruggen never mentions Richwine's articles for the white nationalist website AlternativeRight.com.)

Heritage Was Wrong.

As you no doubt have already heard, on Friday the Heritage Foundation accepted the resignation of one Jason Richwine, who in 2009 had completed a Harvard dissertation in which he probed the nexus between immigration and IQ.

The decision revealed a shocking unwillingness on the part of Heritage to stand up to bullying and protect the academic freedom of its researchers. Perhaps the only good thing to emerge from all this has been the wide-scale distribution of the dissertation itself, a worthy if highly debatable document. It's a pity that none of Richwine's detractors seem to have seriously engaged the paper, because an actual discussion of the ideas therein would be fruitful.

VerBruggen is 100% on board with Richwine's contention that Latinos are not as smart as white people -- and he explicitly wants to use this research to drive US immigration policies:

It may be unseemly to ask what might happen with Hispanic IQ as Hispanics move from immigration to assimilation. But given the above facts, and given the reality of large-scale Hispanic immigration to the U.S., there is no denying that the answer is relevant to the future of this country.

Republicans have no trouble believing in the "science" of white racial superiority, and want to use it to disenfranchise people they consider less intelligent than themselves...

But climate change? That's a hoax.

Heritage Immigration Study Co-Author: "I Do Not Apologize"

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:51:31 PDT

Byron York interviews Jason Richwine, who resigned from the Heritage Foundation when his ties to white nationalists and racist writings surfaced, and it will serve very nicely as an example of how deeply entrenched this kind of racism is in the Republican Party: A Talk With Jason Richwine: 'I Do Not Apologize for Any of My Work'.

Of course he doesn't apologize; that's the standard posture when right wing racists are exposed. They always double down and insist they were just "telling un-PC truths."

But Richwine's excuses for publishing articles at the white nationalist website AlternativeRight.com are simply amazing.

Richwine, the Harvard intellectual, thought he could discuss perhaps the most radioactive subject in America -- a mixture of race, ethnicity, and group intelligence -- in the context of another highly controversial topic -- immigration -- and act as if it were all a matter of scholarly inquiry. In addition, he made what was at best a careless mistake -- why post anything at AlternativeRight? - and further damaged himself by making tone-deaf remarks during a public discussion in Washington. Given the intensity of the immigration fight now raging in Washington, that was more than enough to do him in.

"At best a careless mistake?" Right.

"Oops! I published racist articles at a white nationalist site? How in the world did that happen?"

Here's Richwine's excuse -- he had no idea the site was run by the Ku Klux Klan in $300 suits. He thought it was just, you know, a "paleo-conservative" site. Because after all, John Derbyshire was writing for it, too.

Yes, that's the John Derbyshire who was fired from the National Review for his overtly racist views.

Richwine published the rebuttal in a relatively new website, AlternativeRight. Why there? For several reasons, Richwine told me. First, The American Conservative declined to publish the response on its own site, which left Richwine looking for a place to post. Second, he had met AlternativeRight's founder Richard Spencer at an AEI event. And third, Spencer asked Richwine to write for him. "There was a new website called AlternativeRight," Spencer recalled. "I thought it would be like a paleo-conservative website. I had seen that [former National Review writer] John Derbyshire had also published something there ... Later on, it took on a more extreme version."

Absolutely stunning. They're so immersed in reactionary racism, they don't even see it any more.

By the way, Richwine's claim that AlternativeRight.com only became "extreme" later on, after he wrote for them, is pure, unvarnished bullshit. But you probably already knew that.

Oh... and of course, in the comments for York's article at the Washington Examiner, here come the racists to defend Richwine. As they always do. These views are an integral part of today's right wing.

Our ancestors charged cannon fire and muskets to overthrow tyrannical rule and take charge of their own destiny. Today we cower in fear of being called "racist."

[...]

I feel bad for Richwine. People do what they have to do and say what they have to say in order to stay employed and "feed their families." This is an example of how the conservative movement has come to resemble the former Soviet Union. Others like Derbyshire and Sam Francis have been purged. I encourage people to go to Richard Spencer's National Policy Institute website and watch his video response to these events. Many of the readers of this site will find his comments apt.

The accusation of racism is one of the worst things that anyone can call you in public life," he says. "Once that word is out there, it's very difficult to recover from it, even when it is completely untrue."

But saying there is a connection between race and IQ is clearly "racist." The fact is that the universe is "racist" because it gave different innate attributes on average to different races. Mainstream conservatives make a mistake when they say it is wrong to be "racist" because when they do that they are cutting themselves off from the truth that supports their side.

Mainstream conservatives have internalized the politically correct ground rules of the left, and in doing so they have fatally weakened their own cause. When they say it is wrong to be "racist" they are also saying that it would be wrong for whites to look out for their own group interests.

Meanwhile, whites are the only race or ethnic group that doesn't have group identity politics to represent its interests in the political mainstream. The GOP takes white votes while doing nothing to look out for white interests fundamentally. Whites are becoming a minority in this country as a result of immigration (both legal and illegal), and the GOP has done nothing to stop it. Whites are officially discriminated against by their own government, but the GOP avoids this issue in the hope that it can win over a few more black and Hispanic votes. Someone has to stand up for whites explicitly in the mainstream. If the GOP and the conservative movement don't start doing this, then hopefully they will meet the same fate as the former Soviet Union, and it will be sooner rather than later.

[...]

Richwine learned the hard way as did Charles Murray did when he wrote "The Bell Curve." You do NOT touch this subject. No matter how objective your analysis may be, if the conclusions don't support politically correct assumptions, you publish at your peril.

I take no offense in learning Asian-Americans perform better on standardized tests or qualify for loans at a higher rate than whites. I also don't find it troubling that blacks or Hispanics perform/qualify lower/less often than whites. In fact, any finding to the contrary would be surprising indeed. Why then does data which comes from an objective, controlled study offend so many people?

The answer is politics. The data may be perfectly valid but it must take a back seat to ideology and leftwing ideology refuses to accept ANY data which shows selected "victim groups" are "inferior" to others. Of course, the data in NO WAY shows racial superiority or inferiority. It simple demonstrates trends and correlates them to race. Liberals know this but admitting the data are true flies in the face of both their ideology and its agenda. So we hear screams of "social Darwinism" and "racism" and "xenophobia" rather than an intelligent, objective response. Richwine IS a bigot. Oppose gay "marriage?" You ARE a "homophobe." Don't want a Muslim cultural center near Ground Zero? You ARE an "Islamphobe." Don't think the federal government should pay for a woman's birth control? How dare you? You ARE a misogynist. No discussion. No facts. End of story. You suffer from some liberal-attributed clinical malady. You ARE sick. Disagree? You're not in the "party of science" and probably not worthy of even drawing further breath. If you're allowed to do that, you'll just hasten the looming climate catastrophe by expelling CO2. Who needs that or YOU?

[...]

And the guy is abandoned and left with people thinking that he's a racist and that's what motivates the study. Why is it that we never circle the wagons around our own and speak out to defend and protect them. The left will always protect their own, no matter what and they win the debates in public opinion. When are we going to learn that we have got to back up our folks and stand up the the race baiters? I'm so sick of thisl

Pat Buchanan Calls for 'Southern Strategy' Against Latinos, Immigrants

Mon, 13 May 2013 03:10:33 PDT

Pat Buchanan has a plan to win more white voters for the GOP.

In an article published by the website World Net Daily last week, Buchanan describes increased black voter turnout and Latino demographic growth as a "crisis for the Grand Old Party." To combat it, the conservative pundit implies that the Republican Party should adopt a new version of the "Southern Strategy" revolving around immigration.

The Southern Strategy, first adopted by Richard Nixon, aimed to cultivate the support of Southern voters in part by appealing to racial tensions while avoiding overt racism. The strategy played a key role in alienating African-American voters from the GOP.

But Buchanan thinks it's gotten a bad rap. It did, after all, play well in the electoral college:

After Richard Nixon cobbled together his New Majority, the GOP carried 49 states in 1972 and 1984, 44 states in 1980 and 40 in 1988. In four elections - 1972, 1984, 1988 and 2004 - the Republican Party swept all 11 states of FDR's "Solid South."

Such were the fruits of that evil Southern Strategy.

More: Pat Buchanan Calls for 'Southern Strategy' Against Latinos, Immigrants

The Evidence for Climate Change Without Using Computer Models or the IPCC

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:54:00 PDT

YouTube

SOURCES are listed in the next video, because of space constraints. Predictable posts are answered here. Please spend your time and effort in addressing the evidence presented in the video:

"This is a straw man argument. Of course skeptics [sic] accept that CO2 warms the atmosphere,
We just don't think the warming will be catastrophic."

Answer: "Skeptics" have all kinds of positions on climate science, depending on their personal beliefs and feelings. This video addresses those critics who claim there is no evidence for the link between CO2 and global temperature. Whether you want to call such changes "catastrophic" or benign, or terrible, or bad, or good is your feeling, and therefore outside the scope of the science.

"Correlation does not mean causation."

Answer: It is still consistent with the theory. And where a mechanism has been shown that should produce a correlation, then the correlation is yet more confirmation that a theory is correct.

"Here's a piece of evidence -- there's no hot spot"

Apart from the fact that this 'no hot spot' idea is another piece of Internet mythology, the idea of the 'hot spot' is based on a computer model. If you think computer models are all wrong, then the lack of a hot spot must be wrong.

And critics -- please try to address the evidence shown in this video, rather than repeat myths that have been dealt with in my previous videos. If you're not sure, check them out:

"Warming is due to galactic rays/cosmic rays/the sun"
See: 2. Climate Change -- the objections
20 - Are cosmic rays causing global warming?
Monckton bunkum Part 5 -- What, MORE errors, my lord?
1. Climate Change -- the scientific debate

"There was a consensus about global cooling in the 1970s"
See: 3 - Climate Change -- Anatomy of a myth

"There's been no warming since 1998."
See: 8. Climate Change -- Has the Earth been cooling?
8a. Climate Change - Phil Jones and the 'no warming for 15 years'
24 - Global warming has stopped? Again??

"The climate always changes"
See: 8. 5. Climate Change -- isn't it natural?
Climate Change -- Has the Earth been cooling?
Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"31,000 scientists disagree"
See: 9. Climate Change - Meet the Scientists

"We're headed for another ice age"
See: 10. Climate Change - An imminent ice age debunked
21 - "Earth facing mini-ice age!!" say the media. Now for the science....

"Global warming will cause more hurricanes"
See: 11. Climate Change -- Hurricanes, atolls and coral

"A recent study found that warming will be just 1.64 degrees"
See: 12 - 'Doubled CO2 means just 1.64 degrees of warming...' or maybe not.

"Global warming is drowning islands "
See: 13 - Misleading media reports on sea level rise - a case study
11. Climate Change -- Hurricanes, atolls and coral

"Global warming will bring an end to snow in the UK"
See: 14 - BP oil spills and an end to snow

"Greenland/arctic ice is not melting"
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 1 - Global cooling and melting ice

"There is very little amplification due to CO2 rise"
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 2 - Sensitivity

"There is no correlation between CO2 and temperature in the past"
See: 5. Climate Change -- isn't it natural?
Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"Himalayan glaciers are not melting."
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 3 - Correlations and Himalayan glaciers

"[So-and-so] said...."
See: Monckton Bunkum Part 4 -- Quotes and misquotes

"It's been shown that climate scientists engaged in fraud"
See: 22 -- Climategate mark 2 -- the quotes and the context
6. Climate Change -- Those hacked e-mails
7. Climate Change - "Those" e-mails and science censorship

"The Medieval Warm Period proves...."
See: 23 -- Medieval Warm Period -- fact vs. fiction

"CO2 always lags temperature rise"
See: 25 - Climate Change -- The "800-year lag" unravelled

"I don't believe it"
See: 26 -- Science vs. the Feelies

"Evidence never convinces me, I believe whatever I hear in my head."
See: A psychiatrist

Former Defense Secretary Gates: Benghazi Critics Have "Cartoonish" View of Military

Sun, 12 May 2013 11:11:49 PDT

Video

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Bush appointee, said today on Face the Nation that some of the critics of the Obama administration's response to the Benghazi attack have a "cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces."

"Frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were," said Gates, now the chancellor of the College of William and Mary.

"We don't have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, and so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible." he explained.

Suggestions that we could have flown a fighter jet over the attackers to "scare them with the noise or something," Gates said, ignored the "number of surface to air missiles that have disappeared from [former Libyan leader] Qaddafi's arsenals."

"I would not have approved sending an aircraft, a single aircraft, over Benghazi under those circumstances," he said.

Another suggestion posed by some critics of the administration, to, as Gates said, "send some small number of special forces or other troops in without knowing what the environment is, without knowing what the threat is, without having any intelligence in terms of what is actually going on on the ground, would have been very dangerous."

"It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces," he said. "The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that."

Well said. A cartoonish impression of military capabilities goes along with a cartoonish world view.

Former Guatemalan Dictator Rios Montt Found Guilty of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:26:16 PDT

Photo from havanatimes.org.

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity today at his trial in Guatemala City. He was immediately sentenced to 50 years imprisonment on the genocide charge, with an additional 30 years on the charge of crimes against humanity.

"The damage incurred is irreperable," said Judge Jazmin Barrios, reading the court's verdict to a packed courtroom. "As de facto president, it is logical that he had full knowledge of what was happening and he did nothing to stop it."

The 86-year-old former General and head of state was charged with the crimes over a counterinsurgency campaign in 1982-1983 that resulted in the deaths of 1,771 Maya Ixil.

[...]

More: Rios Montt Found Guilty of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity - Boing Boing There are links to earlier coverage and good background information at this link too.

Xeni Jardin provided excellent Twitter coverage of the trial, and took fantastic photographs. Here's a link to her Instagram page so you can see for yourself. A sample:

Above, Maria Sajiq (L) and Ana Laynez Herrera of Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala (R). Photo: Xeni Jardin

The New York Times article about the verdict is here. It dovetails well with the article linked above. This excerpt is from the end:

[...]

The involvement of the United States in Guatemala's politics received scant attention during the trial.

The American military had a close relationship with the Guatemalan military well into the 1970s before President Jimmy Carter's administration cut off aid. When General Ríos Montt seized power in March 1982, President Ronald Reagan's administration cultivated him as a reliable Central American ally in its battle against Nicaragua's Sandinista government and Salvadoran guerrillas.

Those interests influenced the way American officials treated evidence of the massacres. They were quick to accept military explanations that guerrillas had carried out the killings, said Kate Doyle, a Guatemala expert at the National Security Archive, a Washington research group that works to obtain declassified government documents.

By the end of 1982, however, the State Department had gathered evidence that the army was behind the massacres.

But even then, the administration insisted that General Ríos Montt was working to reduce the violence. After a regional meeting, President Reagan described him as "a man of great personal integrity and commitment."

As Xeni Jardin points out in her last two paragraphs, this isn't over yet.

Saturday Jam: XTC Live on Rockpalast, 1982

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:25:04 PDT

YouTube

A great YouTube discovery via Dangerous Minds, here's a 1982 performance on German TV's Rockpalast by XTC, a band that almost never plays live. It's a shame that Andy Partridge hated touring so much -- he's really a good performer (and never got enough credit for his guitar playing).

This is a full concert, and the video quality is remarkably good considering how old it is. I took the liberty of setting the start time at one of my favorite songs:

"No Thugs In Our House"

The insect-headed worker-wife will hang her waspies on the line;

Her husband burns his paper, sucks his pipe while studying their
cushion-floor;
His viscous poly-paste breath comes out,
Their wall-paper world shattered by his shout,
A boy in blue is busy banging out a headache on the kitchen
door.

And all the while Graham slept on,
Dreaming of a world where he could do just what he wanted to.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

The young policeman who just can't grow a moustache will open up
his book,
And spoil their breakfast with reports of Asians who have been
so badly kicked,
Is this your son's wallet I've got here?
He must have dropped it after too much beer.
Oh, officer, we can't believe our little angel is the one you've
picked.

And all the while Graham slept on,
Dreaming of a world where he could do just what he wanted to.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

They never read those pamphlets in his bottom drawer,
They never read those tattoos on his arm.
They thought that it was just a boy's club badge he wore,
They never dreamt he'd cause folks any harm.

The insect-headed worker wife will hang her waspies on the line;

She's singing something stale and simple now this business has
fizzled right out;
Her little tune is such a happy song
Her son is innocent,
He can't do wrong,
'Cos dad's a judge and knows exactly what the job of judging's
all about.

And all the while Graham slept on,
Dreaming of a world where he could do just what he wanted to.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy.

Rachel Maddow Reviews the Right Wing Obsession With Benghazi, Mockery Ensues

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:59:30 PDT

MSNBC Video

Also see:
A Look at the Republican Benghazi Talking Points as They've Been Laid Out So Far - the Maddow Blog

Michele Bachmann (R-Mars): 9/11 and Benghazi Were God's Judgment

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:10:38 PDT

YouTube

rightwingwatch.org

On Wednesday, Religious Right activists and members of Congress gathered together for a prayer event held in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol called "Washington: A Man of Prayer."

Among the speakers was Rep. Michele Bachmann, who used the opportunity to promote the 9/11 prayer event being organized by Birther-king Joseph Farah, saying that "it is no secret that our nation may very well be experiencing the hand of judgment" and declaring that both the original 9/11 attack and the attack in Benghazi on 9/11 of last year were God's judgment.

As such, the only recourse, Bachmann said, is to humble ourselves before God and cry out in repentance for this nation.

#Breitbart.com Exclusive Bombshell of the Day: Hitler Was Gay!

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:01:18 PDT

You may not have thought it possible, but Breitbart.com gets even creepier and more disgusting with the latest far right propaganda piece by psycho hack William Bigelow: NEW EVIDENCE FROM HIS DOCTORS SHOWS HITLER WAS GAY!!!

(h/t: C&L.)