Widespread Panic
I was going to debunk Andy McCarthy’s un-sourced descent into the fever swamps of ”Obama Birther-ism”, but Philip Klein has already gone and done the work for me, so go give his piece a...
Author: Will
The future of the Republican Party? Not so much . . .
Jason Kuznicki pours cold water on E.D.’s Paul Ryan man-crush.
Slippery Slopes
Andrew Sullivan’s dissection of one Boston cop’s overtly racist response to the Gates arrest is worth reading in full, but this part caught my eye: And the more you read, the more you realize...
Practice what you preach
While I suppose we should all be glad that Townhall has officially disavowed the Obama ‘Birther’ movement, it’s hard to take them seriously when they’re simultaneously sending out ads for Birther merchandise.
Is the Criminal Justice System racist?
For the prosecution: Bruce Western. For the defense: Heather Mac Donald. As someone who is inclined to find fault with the status quo, I expected agree with Western, but Mac Donald’s defense of the...
“Like Bruce Springsteen, he has a lot of bad political ideas; but he was born in the U.S.A.”
National Review’s editorial smackdown of the ‘Obama Birther’ movement is quite good, but it’s a bit depressing that these rumors need to be debunked in the first place.
Balko
absolutely nails the lessons of the Gates affair here. I’ve tried to avoid speculating about the responding officer’s motives, and I think we can draw valuable lessons about the limits of police power from...
Birthers!
Politico’s look at the suprising political relevance of the ‘Obama Birther’ movement makes for a depressing read.
Second Thoughts
Over at First Thoughts, Joe Carter has one of the more measured, intelligent responses to the Gates arrest. You should read the whole thing, but the crux of his argument seems to be that...
Weird
Jon Krolik of the aptly-titled “Cavs: The Blog” has a fun entry (complete with visuals!) on the recent revelation that LeBron James did in fact smoke pot in high school. Which is weird, because...
Garden State
I just stumbled across this old post from Reihan Salam’s new policy blog, wherein he offers a very Foucauldian take on whether we have a right to healthcare. Definitely worth a read.
A few more things on Gates
That last post on the now-infamous Gates arrest raised the room temperature quite a bit, so I thought I’d revisit a few salient points. First, here’s Slate on whether Gates’ conduct can plausibly be...
Due Deference
[updated below] National Review’s obnoxious (and predictable) response to the mistaken arrest of a black Harvard professor has been to publish this truly remarkable post from Roger Clegg: Even if race played some role...
Wired
David Simon implores the New York Times and Washington Post to work together to save traditional journalism: On a specific date in the near future—let’s say September 1 for the sheer immediacy of it—both...
This is your justification?
National Review‘s best argument for “enhanced interrogation” now hinges on the threat posed by . . . Jose Padilla? So we’ve gone from defending torture on the grounds of a ticking time bomb scenario...
