Joe Wilson the Thief Part II

by Erik Kain · September 11, 2009

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

Mark
x
Ignored
says:
September 11, 2009 at 11:08 am
Andrew Sullivan was busted for possession? Is that what you intended to link to?Report
Reply
- Jaybird in reply to Mark
  x
  Ignored
  says:
  September 11, 2009 at 11:11 am
  I scrolled up and saw a couple of items devoted to Obama’s speech and Healthcare… and scrolled up a little bit more and saw a metric buttload of items devoted to (no, the other) Joe Wilson.Report
  Reply
- E.D. Kain in reply to Mark
  x
  Ignored
  says:
  September 11, 2009 at 11:20 am
  Linked to the wrong section of memeorandum – sort of fixed it now. The top is devoted to Joe Wilson, Joe Wilson, Joe Wilson. How do you link to specific items at memeorandum? I don’t get it.Report
  Reply
- Michael Drew in reply to Mark
  x
  Ignored
  says:
  September 11, 2009 at 1:03 pm
  What does whatever Memeorandum have up prove?Report
  Reply
  - E.D. Kain in reply to Michael Drew
    x
    Ignored
    says:
    September 11, 2009 at 1:04 pm
    First – what is your point of disagreement?
    Second – memeorandum reflects what is being discussed most across the web at any given moment. Joe Wilson is currently being discussed more than the speech. That is the point of my initial post and this follow up.Report
    Reply
    - Michael Drew in reply to E.D. Kain
      x
      Ignored
      says:
      September 11, 2009 at 9:37 pm
      From their about language:
      “ABOUT MEMEORANDUM:
      Online news is changing. Increasingly, stories are broken and analyzed in near real-time and away from established news sites.
      memeorandum offers you a window into this new world of news, focusing primarily on U.S. politics and current affairs.
      It auto-generates a news summary every 5 minutes, drawing on experts and pundits, insiders and outsiders, media professionals and amateur bloggers.”
      It doesn’t claim to be a quantitative reflection on what is being most discussed, but maybe you know something I don’t.
      In any case, the mere fact that it is being discussed more doesn’t show that it is distracting from or having a greater impact than the speech. (To be clear, I have said I thought the potential impact of the speech on public opinion was minimal even in theory.) But the outburst being much discussed could equally be having the effect of keeping the speech fresh in peoples’ mind longer, allowing generally unexamined positive feelings about the speech (as contrasted to the outburst) to have a more extended, and thus larger impact on feelings about the health plans, Obama or both. I can’t prove that theory; I’m not even sure I think it’s likely, but it’s equally plausible and equally likely as yours.
      Hm. The more I think about this new theory, though, the more I dig it. Better to have the speech stay with people longer, sane and reasoned by contrast to the opposition’s incivility, than simply to be forgotten. Also, and I say this with a wry smile, the memorableness of the outburst allows those positive contrasted impressions of Obama to remain the primary memory of the speech, rather than the many good questions reasonable people would have had about his arguments that he largely left unanswered Weds.Report
      Reply
      - Michael Drew in reply to Michael Drew
        x
        Ignored
        says:
        September 11, 2009 at 9:41 pm
        Allowing myself a slight emendation:
        “…the memorableness of the outburst allows those positive contrasted impressions of Obama to remain the primary *non-outburst* memory of the speech…”
        You probably understood what I meant.Report
        Reply
Bob Cheeks
x
Ignored
says:
September 11, 2009 at 1:52 pm
E.D. Joe Wilson’s a hero in these parts! Shouting liar at a democrat is kind of a redundancy but Big Jim Trafficant is out and though he’s a bit of a wacko I believe he smacked down the IRS in such a way as to benefit all Americans!
Resist Marxism!Report
Reply
- Katherine in reply to Bob Cheeks
  x
  Ignored
  says:
  September 11, 2009 at 8:40 pm
  You don’t even have the foggiest idea what Marxism is, do you? It actually isn’t simply defined as “economic policies Bob Cheeks doesn’t like”.Report
  Reply

Ten Second News

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday she will not stage a vote on the House floor to officially launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
The decision came after Democratic leaders, returning to Washington following a two-week recess, had reached out to members of their diverse caucus to gauge the party's support for such a vote.
After back-to-back meetings with party leaders and then the full caucus, Pelosi announced that no such vote would take place. Democratic aides emphasized, however, that the process remains fluid and that Pelosi may reverse course and stage such a vote at any point in the future.
"There's no requirement that we have a vote, and so at this time we will not be having a vote," Pelosi told reporters during a last-minute press briefing in the Capitol.Imp

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

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Aaron Dean Charged with Murder in Killing of Atatiana Jefferson

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Aaron Dean Charged with Murder in Killing of Atatiana Jefferson

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[caption id="attachment_321197" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Body camera footage of Aaron Dean moments before the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson[/caption]

The former police officer involved in the killing of Atatiana Jefferson was arrested and charged with murder on the same day he resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department.

Police declined to say whether Dean was arrested by a Fort Worth officer or if he turned himself in. The department's major case and internal affairs units were "working diligently to conclude the criminal administrative investigation" into the shooting, said Sgt. Chris Daniels.
"We value the trust that we've had in our community, we will continue to build that trust," Daniels said. "To the citizens and residents of our city, we feel and understand your anger and disappointment."
Dean was served a written administrative complaint Sunday, placed on detached duty and stripped of his badge and firearm, interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said. He resigned Monday.
"My intent was to meet with him today to terminate his employment with the Fort Worth Police Department. However, the officer tendered his resignation this morning before we met," Kraus said.
If Dean had not resigned, he would have been fired for several policy violations, including the department's use of force and de-escalation policies, and unprofessional conduct, Kraus said.
The department has presented a preliminary case to the FBI to review the officer's actions for possible civil rights violations, Kraus said.
"None of this information can ease the pain of Atatiana's family but I hope it shows the community that we take these incidents seriously," he said.
Dean was hired in August 2017 and commissioned as a licensed officer in April 2018, Kraus said.

Numerous reports state Dean made bail and is awaiting his next court appearance.

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Beto O’Rourke Doubles Down on Revoking Tax-Exempt Status of Churches Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage

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Beto O’Rourke Doubles Down on Revoking Tax-Exempt Status of Churches Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage

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After making controversial statements about gun confiscation, Beto once again grabbed the spotlight at the CNN Equality Town Hall by saying that Churches opposed to Same-Sex Marriage should have their tax-exempt status yanked.

He was asked if he meant this and said that this should also apply to Mosques and Conservative Black Churches as well.

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Two Rudy Giuliani Associates Arrested

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Two Rudy Giuliani Associates Arrested

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[caption id="attachment_319944" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Amazinggena via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

The plot thickens...

Two Soviet-born donors to a pro-Trump fundraising committee who helped Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to investigate Democrat Joe Biden were arrested late Wednesday on criminal charges stemming from their alleged efforts to funnel foreign money into U.S. elections and influence U.S. politics on behalf of at least one Ukrainian politician.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Florida businessmen, made a brief appearance in federal court in Virginia Thursday, dressed in T-shirts. Both men are U.S. citizens born in former Soviet republics. They were arrested at Dulles Airport on Wednesday while awaiting an international flight with one-way tickets, according to people familiar with the matter, a day before one of them was scheduled to testify before House committees.
Mr. Giuliani said in an interview Thursday that Messrs. Parnas and Fruman were headed to Vienna on Wednesday evening for reasons related to their business. He declined to elaborate on those reasons. He said the two men had also left the country about two weeks ago and had traveled to Vienna between three and six times in the last two months. He said he had been scheduled to meet with the two when they returned to Washington within days.
A federal prosecutor told a judge the government remains concerned that the men will flee. Attorneys on both sides said they would reach an agreement about the conditions of their bail and would return to the judge later Thursday or Friday.
In a 21-page indictment unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged Messrs. Parnas and Fruman were engaged in political activities in the U.S. on behalf of one or more Ukrainian government officials—including a lobbying campaign, targeted at a Republican congressman, to remove the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv. President Trump ordered the ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, removed from her post in May, the Journal has reported.

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Trump sends letter to Congress: There Is No Try

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Trump sends letter to Congress: There Is No Try

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[caption id="attachment_184907" align="aligncenter" width="599"] Public Domain
White-house-1941[/caption]

CNN reports:

In the White House's letter to congressional Democrats, President Donald Trump's lawyers say the President and his administration won't cooperate in an ongoing impeachment inquiry, arguing the proceedings amount to an illegitimate effort to overturn the 2016 election results.

You can read the letter at the link.

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