One of the hallmarks of the current American political discourse is ossification: you can no longer seriously grapple with issues, because to be seen even considering a possible change in thinking is a sign of weakness and betrayal. The initial responses to my last post on the radicalization of American politics in response to the Fort Hood massacre is a case in point: an anti-abortion proponent jumped right in to essentially disavow the existentance of radicalized anti-abortion groups, implying that I had said there were only radicalized anti-abortion groups. The comment cites the case of Abby Johnson as a non-violent anti-abortion activist who is being harassed by a Planned Parenthood gag order , leaving out two salient facts made clear with the link provided in the comment : (1) Johnson is not prohibited from protesting, just talking about confidential medical and staff information; and (2) it would be illegal for her to share confidential patient health information in the fir...

In the ongoing Delaware blogging tiff in which jason at DL accused Dave at DP of supporting GOP agitprop by discussing 10th Amendment resolutions and then linking that to the PA shooting of three cops--to which Dave responded by categorizing jason as human garbage, there emerged this really interesting comment by Delaware Politics commenter Noman, who was (I think) trying to list all the false charges that anybody who is not a progressive or liberal Democrat should be consistently rebuking. It's an interesting list, and worth repeating: But we don’t have to wait for the politicians. You and I can start right here by calling bullshit every time someone says: Obama isn’t a citizen Obama is a Muslim Obama is an angry black nationalist Obama is anti-American Obama is raising your taxes Obama wants to confiscate your guns Obama wants to take your child to reeducation camps Obama wants to replace US currency Obama is a terrorist sympathizer Obama is violating the (x)th Amendment “They ...

Several years ago I visited the DHS Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, AL, where police, EM personnel, and firemen train for first response and security issues. There is a class section on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and booby traps, where they give you the cook's tour of how simple it is to rig them up and what are the latest gizmos for detecting them. There are two training rooms: one is a room that is mocked up to be a terrorist cell headquarters, and is filled with booby traps that you have to try and find without setting off the explosives (a light goes off to indicate that you will not be a recurring guest star on NCIS). This wasn't what interested me the most, however. Two of the walls were decorated with flags and graffiti of different domestic terrorist groups , including the Aryan Nation, Christian Identity movement, and ... The Nation of Islam. Problem is: for all that you may not like the Louis Farrakhan (I wasn't so hot on Elijah Mohamme...