Anyone who spends time on social media can sense that extremists view it as a way to influence others to their point of view, but a recent study had some surprising results with regard to how right-wing extremists and conservatives interact on Twitter.

Via ThinkProgress:

The real surprise came almost accidentally, when studying the content of the tweets members of the dataset sent out, with a substantial amount of it linked to the conservative movement in the United States and the Republican Party. Among the most popular hashtags used by those included in the dataset included “#tcot,” or top conservatives on Twitter; “#teaparty,” and “#gop.” The study also looked at the links these users sent out, categorized into mainstream, content-neutral, alternative, and extremist categories. More than half of the alternative links these users sent out were also to conservative websites, such as World Net Daily and Brietbart.com.

The authors of the study determined that the usage seemed to be “driven more by white nationalists feeling an affinity for conservatism than by conservatives feeling an affinity for white nationalism.” They were also quick to note that the data were pulled during a period of time surrounding the Republican National Convention, potentially providing a boost in references to the GOP. However, a comparison group — composed of left-wing anarchists — did not yield similar results linking them to progressive ideals or the Democratic Party.

Continue reading »

Oh, Tea Party Patriots. How many times must you be reminded that you are, for the most part, irrelevant? Make all the scary movie trailers you want to fire up the last vestiges of paranoid Americans, but rest assured the only ones it resonates with are paranoid right wing Americans.

RJ Eskow picked up on this little gem of a movie trailer which was, according to him, a hit at CPAC. Somehow I am not surprised. Here is RJ's short summary of the movie they're promoting:

These films portrayed centralized government as Evil incarnate. Their scriptural source was the Book of Revelations, whose cryptic, evocative prophecies have fascinated and frightened believers for millennia. The same message resonates in “Movement On Fire,” which opens with a young woman staring across a river toward a city. “It was created to give us freedom,” she says in a voiceover as a torch burns beside her. “Our city became a great beacon of liberty and hope to the world.” The wind lightly ruffles her hair. “It was a shining city on a hill,” she adds, quoting the phrase that passed from the Bible to Puritan minister John Winthrop before winding up in Ronald Reagan’s 1976 concession speech.

“But 15 years ago,” says the narrator, “something happened.” Shadowy hooded figures creep up behind her. “Freedom died.” In a shot that moves so quickly we barely see it, one of the figures covers her eyes.

News anchors report on the rise of the “Development Party,” which took control of the city after winning control of its “Senate.” (Hmmm. Cities don’t have “Senates.” Who could they be talking about?) We see a gray-haired man with large, black, nearly pupil-less eyes. “All must contribute,” the dead-eyed “Troy Marcus” intones, “because from each, everything shall be given to all.”

Continue reading »

In a speech today about proposed gun safety laws, the president went off script long enough to answer Wayne LaPierre's cynical speculation that given some time, Americans would forget about Newtown and settle back in to a comfortable level of apathy about guns and gun control.

From the transcript:

I read an article in the news just the other day wondering is Washington -- has Washington missed its opportunity, because as time goes on after Newtown, somehow people start moving on and forgetting. Let me tell you, the people here, they don't forget. Grace's dad is not forgetting. Hadiya's mom hasn't forgotten. The notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in Newtown happens and we've moved on to other things, that's not who we are. That's not who we are.

And I want to make sure every American is listening today. Less than 100 days ago that happened, and the entire country was shocked. And the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different. Shame on us if we've forgotten. I haven't forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we've forgotten.

If there's one thing I’ve said consistently since I first ran for this office: Nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. And that’s why it’s so important that all these moms and dads are here today. But that's also why it’s important that we've got grassroots groups out there that got started and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight. That's what it’s going to take to make this country safer. It’s going to take moms and dads, and hunters and sportsmen, and clergy and local officials like the mayors who are here today standing up and saying, this time really is different -- that we’re not just going to sit back and wait until the next Newtown or the next Blacksburg or the next innocent, beautiful child who is gunned down in a playground in Chicago or Philadelphia or Los Angeles before we summon the will to act.

Right now, members of Congress are back home in their districts, and many of them are holding events where they can hear from their constituents. So I want everybody who is listening to make yourself heard right now.

President Obama went on to call for everyone to reach out to their Representatives and Senators with a passion reminiscent of his campaign for re-election. If this is the bully pulpit people were hoping for, he is using it, as is Vice President Biden.

So do it. Call your representatives and your Senators, tell them that the NRA does not own them, that the NRA has no power over them, but we, the people will judge them on whether they stand up and do what's right or cower before the likes of a wingnut like Wayne LaPierre. As the president said in his remarks today, "We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn't just a bunch of platitudes -- that we meant it. "

I'm glad he's not letting this die. It's been frustrating to watch the NRA pretend they have the upper hand on this. It's time for all of us to shove them back under the rock where they belong.

Now that North Carolina is completely in the control of Republicans, the state is moving forward with ALEC model legislation intended to remove public oversight from charter schools. This is the next step toward full privatization of the public school system in North Carolina, with a goal to move toward this model nationwide.

Via The Progressive Pulse, a list of what ALEC has in mind:

Tillman deferred to legislative staff to explain the details of the bill as amended by Sen. Apodaca. Some of the many provisions included:

• The proposed NC Public Charter School Board would include nine appointed members by the Governor, the President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. Two ex-officio members would be the Lieutenant Governor and the State Treasurer, creating 11 voting members. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction would serve as the Secretary and the sole non-voting member.
• The State Board of Education would have the ability to veto by a three-fourths vote any action adopted by the Charter Board if the State Board’s veto vote is taken within 45 days of the date the Charter Board voted to adopt the action.
• Charter school applicants would no longer have to submit applications to LEAs or their local school boards.
• Local school boards would be required to lease available buildings or land to a charter school for $1 per year unless they can demonstrate the lease is not economically or practically feasible or that the local board does not have adequate classroom space to meet its enrollment needs.
• The Charter Board would be able to establish fees for charter applications.
• Charter school operators would not be accountable to local boards of education, only accountable to the state charter board.
• If a charter school is dissolved, assets would be returned to the state’s General Fund, not to the LEA.
• Charter schools shall “make efforts to reasonably reflect” the racial and ethnic composition of the LEA in which they are located. The language weakens this previous requirement.

This language comes straight out of the ALEC "Second Generation Charter Schools" proposed legislation, particularly the provision involving a board stacked by the governor.

NC PolicyWatch:

Continue reading »

For the past eight years or so, a pair of herons return to our lake in late February and let nature take its course. This time I had the camera on them.

Unfortunately it seems they weren't successful this year. They've left for other, more fertile places. But in years past, this has been the result.

Open Thread below....

Some topics are so overdone in our real lives that they just shouldn't find their way into entertainment. The term "legitimate rape" is one of those, but that didn't stop Law & Order SVU from using it for their episode airing tonight.

After a woman is raped by a co-worker and becomes pregnant, she presses on with her rape charge even though she has chosen to keep the child. They really did pull the whole plot from the headlines, didn't they? Not just Todd Akin's comments, but the whole "child of rape" thing, too.

NYMag:

The rape caucus of the 2012 election gets its close-up tomorrow night, when Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs its "legitimate rape" episode. Judging from the promo clip, Todd Akin's campaign-sinking term is ripped from the headlines and pasted into a very different context: an expert witness explaining why a pregnant plaintiff could not have been raped. (Boooo.) Mariska Hargitay's eye-roll, however, has ways of shutting that whole thing down.

This feels unnecessary to me. It just perpetuates a debate that isn't one at all. I realize everyone is out to make a buck or two, but surely there's got to be an original thought in one of their pretty heads.

2010 exclusive CBS News investigative report on Christian World Adoption, Inc.

There's a fierce runoff race happening in South Carolina right now between tea party candidate Curtis Bostic and disgraced former governor Mark Sanford for the right to run against Elizabeth Colbert Busch for Tim Scott's open Senate seat.

Curtis Bostic seems to have a bit of a past that is just coming to light now. He was the attorney of record for the Christian World Adoption agency, the subject of 2010 CBS News investigation into the possibility that CWA was nothing more than a human trafficking organization.

Christian World Adoption is one of 70 agencies licensed to operate in Ethiopia. Beyond the alleged payment to their father, the Bradshaw sisters say they were told by local employees of Christian World they were only coming to America for an education; that they could return home when school was out. Not true. In fact it's virtually impossible to reverse an adoption in Ethiopia.

"I thought I was going to be kind of like an exchange student," Journee said. "Honestly, I never knew that I'm going to be here forever."

"We have watched our kids grieve and cry and scream and melt down from the bottom of their souls over the loss of their country and their family," Katie Bradshaw said.

A 2007 video shows Christian World representatives entering an Ethopian village and appearing to recruit children from poor villagers - an unethical practice against Ethopian law.

"If you want your child to be adopted by a family in America you may stay," said Michelle Gardner. She spoke those words on a tape produced by Christian World for American parents seeking to adopt in Ethiopia. And now says she deeply regrets it.

CWA declared bankruptcy in 2012, but Bostic received hundreds of thousands in fees before he declared his candidacy and handed CWA off. He is not listed as a creditor, but look at the money flow all the way through January of this year in the image on the right. BreitbartUnmasked reports:

Well it seems that God filed for bankruptcy and those who paid CWA for children were left holding the bag when they filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in February 2013.

As a result of a CBS News investigation and the banning of adoption agencies worldwide, CWA went bankrupt in February 2013. A few months prior to the bankruptcy filing Mr. Bostic’s law firm was still being paid for services connected to the CWA — even though they were soon to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. Records obtained by BU show that The Bostic Law firm was paid 26,641.07 dollars on November 7th 2012, and another 5,000.00 dollars on November 20th 2012. On December 5th 2012 Bostic’s firm was paid 5,906.86 along with another 243.25 paid December 12th 2012. The last payments to them were 5,000.00 on December 19th 2012, and 1,942.73 which was paid on January 16th 2013; less than one month prior to the filing. The total over the three month period was 44,733.91 dollars.

Bostic, of course, has a response ready for his critics, as he expressed in the CBS interview. He wants everyone to know that attorneys don't really have to know the truth to represent their clients and that it was all just a misunderstanding. The first statement is the one that should set South Carolina voters to wondering.

Is Bostic telling them the truth, or is he just representing someone powerful and more wealthy? Based on past history, it seems to be just a continuation of his belief that everything can be explained away as a big "misunderstanding."

I think the families bilked out of thousands of dollars might differ with that. At least Mark Sanford had the cojones to come clean about his Appalachian trail adventure.

Notice to wingnuts: The DHS buys ammunition every year for agent training and target practice. It is an order that allows "up to" a certain number of rounds. That does not mean they buy that many. Since you won't read to the end, I'm putting the truth at the beginning.

Yes, gear up for the new wave of old right wing conspiracy theories. This one concerns an ammunition purchase by the DHS and the Alex Jones conspiracy nuts' conviction that such a purpose proves beyond all doubt that the United States government is going to declare war on its citizens.

Media Matters:

Fox News is reviving conspiratorial questions about federal ammunition purchases that the network previously debunked as the ravings of "those people who are watching us now from a cave in the Rockies where they are provisioned for a year or two.

"Fringe media figures have long speculated that large ammunition purchases by the Department of Homeland Security is evidence of a government plot to kill American citizens.

On March 26, Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade highlighted a recent purchase of rounds by the Department of Homeland Security, which Kilmeade suggested raises questions from Congress about "why they need all those bullets. Can someone answer please? Hello?"

Despite the fact that Charles Krauthammer debunked their own myth, it didn't stop the yahoos at Faux from putting up more nonsense on their website. ZOMG, they're buying up all the ammo so they can control us all. (cue scary music):

Local law enforcement agencies across the country are facing an ammo shortage, as gun owners concerned about new laws at the federal and state level stock up on firearms and bullets.

Continue reading »

Synched transcript and audio, courtesy of the Oyez Project

Tuesday morning at the Supreme Court looked a lot like it did a year ago when the court heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act, except that people outside seemed to be in much higher spirits. It was the day for the court to hear arguments on whether California's Proposition 8 passed in 2008 violates the constitution.

John Aravosis was there:

It was a powerful morning – almost a jovial atmosphere outside the Supreme Court. I got there around 8:45am, the arguments began at 10am. But by 8:45am it was already packed outside – wall to wall people, and all, 100%, on our side. The bad guys were NOWHERE to be found. It was a huge tactical mistake on their part – they organized elsewhere and decided to show up at 10am AFTER much of the media had already taken its photos and left. Any freshman in college PR major could tell you that the media wants photos in front of the Supreme Court. And the only people in front of the Supreme Court were gay people and our allies. Oh well.

Before the court decides the question of Prop 8 itself, they first have to decide if the Proposition 8 proponents even have standing to bring the case before the court. Because California's Attorney General declined to join the action and argue for Proposition 8's constitutionality, the proponents of the original ballot initiative stepped in to do it.

From what I heard, it appeared that the court was leaning toward deciding the proponents did not have standing, which would allow them a way out of making a decision on the merits, while allowing the lower court's opinion to stand.

Chris Geidner has a detailed report here that does a great job of summarizing all of the high points. For me, the most significant moment in the entire hearing was when Justice Kennedy, widely considered to be the swing vote, jumped in with this:

Justice Anthony Kennedy, however, shot back by asking Cooper whether the "voice of the[ ] children" of same-sex couples "is important in this case," to which Cooper responded that there is "no data" on whether children of same-sex domestic partners face disadvantages from those of married same-sex couples.

That was how Chris phrased Kennedy's question. It was actually more powerful than that. Here's the quote from the transcript:

Justice Kennedy: I -- I think there's -- there's substantial -- that there's substance to the point that sociological information is new. We have five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more.

On the other hand, there is an immediate legal injury or legal -- what could be a legal injury, and that's the voice of these children. There are some 40,000 children in California, according to the Red Brief, that live with same-sex parents, and they want their parents to have full recognition and status. The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?

Imagine, someone who is actually thinking of the children!

Oral arguments are a lousy indicator of final outcomes. But if I had to bet, I'd probably place a small bet on the standing issues giving the court a way not to rule on the substance.

Today's arguments are about the constitutionality of DOMA. If the court rules DOMA unconstitutional but leaves the Prop8 decision in the lower court, they will have split the baby, leaving the question of same sex marriage to the states, but with the risk that narrow definitions of marriage may violate the 14th amendment as the lower court ruled with regard to Prop 8.

I'm tired of politics. If it weren't for my pug, I'd be crabby and mean. Pugs are so goofy and cute they make you laugh even when you don't feel like it.

Be sure to watch all the way through to the blow-dry.

Open Thread below...