This was quite a week for fans of the truth.
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
Whether the truth was being covered up, as at Penn State, or whether it has been willfully obscured by revisionists with an agenda, as with the corporate media’s and the (un)Professional Left’s continuing hit-job on the Obama administration, people started speaking out.
As friend of this blog Goldie Taylor says, #TruthMatters.
Here’s a compilation of links to the best truth-telling we’ve read on the internets this week, along with a review of some of our own most-discussed posts.
The Penn State football program was not a shining city on a hill.
In the aftermath of the stunning revelations about how the Penn State athletic program shielded a child rapist in their midst for decades, our own asiangrrlMN took on the thankless task of reading the grand jury report and breaking it down for all of us in a seies of four unforgettable posts.
The consequences of the crimes committed by this one accused predator are staggering enough on their own. But when you multiply that by the total number of perpetrators and the many lives each of them has invaded, you begin to realize how many walk among us carrying the memories of abuse. The more people come forward and talk about their own experience, the better. Our brave pal Goldie Taylor wrote a series of tweets, followed up on her blog and gave interviews about her decision to name and confront the man who used his position as a coach to prey upon her and other girls. Our own Extreme Liberal’s latest post chronicles his childhood abuse and offers a set of helpful resources.
Michael Moore is not a journalist.
Twitter addicts watched as Michael Moore set out on a campaign to link President Obama directly with the police violence at OWS sites, first by “asking” if it were so, then palming off an obscure blog post without any on-the-record sources as evidence. Imani ABL was one of the first to write about this meme-generating campaign in two posts. Joshua Holland, no Obamabot he, takes the whole kerfluffle in stride, thinks through the “evidence” and concludes that there was probably no coordination. Tommy Christopher finishes Moore off at Mediaite.
What’s truly mystifying, though, is Michael Moore’s desperation to attack President Obama. There are many liberals who are critical of the President (myself included), but it’s rare that a liberal outpaces the most rabid of right-wing fabricators to do so.
Firebaggers and Emoprogs are invested in untrue narratives.
In a refreshing change of pace, more mainstream respected left-of-center journalists and bloggers have started taking a closer look at some of the persistent memes our perpetually disgruntled pundits and opinion-shapers on the left use to berate the Obama administration, and subjecting them to analysis and interpretation.
- Jonathan Bernstein at WaPo’s Plum Line concludes that Obama didn’t sell out the public option in the health-care debate.
- Smartypants takes on the collective myth that President Obama and Democrats “cave” and deconstructs it with relish.
- Krugman recognizes that the supercommittee was designed to fail and that this is a good thing.
- Steve Benen at Washington Monthly dissects the counterfactual nature of Drew Westen’s increasingly nasty and fact-free screeds against the Obama administration.
We at ABLC heartily endorse this trend, and remain hopeful that, as with Michael Moore’s most recent experiment, we denizens of the internet will be more effective, timely and pro-active in shooting down false memes before they have an opportunity to become entrenched.
Chris Matthews has a book to sell.
Chris would like you to read his book about JFK. He has a funny way of selling his book that mostly involves comparing the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and his family negatively to the idol of his youth. Matthews mouthed off in an interview on MSNBC that the Obamas haven’t demonstrated enough “gratitude” and said, “If I could say one thing to Barack Obama, it’s ‘stop showing us how smart you are and lead us!’”, and set off a Tweetstorm. Friends of this blog Joy Reid and Marion Watts weighed in with sharply contrasting opinions on the substance and implications of Matthews’ comments, and to what extent his comments were racial dogwhistles. We at ABLC see merits in both their posts, and would like to remind you that while people are talking about where Chris Matthews sits on the racial animus spectrum, Pat Buchanan is still on the payroll at MSNBC.
UC Davis has some explaining to do.
Imani ABL flagged this amazing video of UC Davis police pepper-spraying Occupy demonstrators, and the firestorm that has ensued. We’d like to share a Facebook status update from Christopher Cabaldon, the mayor of Davis neighbor West Sacramento, that manages to assimilate all conflicting opinions toward the Occupy movement while standing firm against police brutality.
I’m a progressive and I also govern a police department and public spaces. Having been forged in the anti-apartheid movement, I know the power and the desperate need for protest, even as I’m troubled by the misdirected targeting of good public servants and the people’s sacred realm of public spaces rather than the truly corrupted (and THEIR property, assets, and playgrounds) whose power extends beyond the triviality of a campus or city limits. But even through many mixed feelings and a search for the right path, there is no doubt in my mind or soul that what UCDPD did on Friday was fundamentally wrong. And that the powerful moment captured by this video says so much about tragedy, meaning, and reflection.
What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments!
Ah, I get it – it’s like a police blotter for those that deviate from the elite Party norm. I’ll say it again: Material like this is a blatant slap in the face to our Commander in Chief.
Moralistic outrage combined with an absence of factual content. Excellent firebagging!
Wow, who would have thought that Allan would retreat from his own words (qua “factual content”) so fast? Would be hilarious were he not slamming the Commander in Chief of the United States of America in doing so.
You want “factual content” try providing some.
Even by firebagger standards your reply qualifies as lame.
And yes, I know, now you’re going to whine “ad hominem” and such. Tough bounce, pal. I’ll address you as I like when I see fit.
LOL, it’s the vague threats I always find most hilarious and revealing. Seriously, is this blog vying for a “Real Housewives” franchise?
What “vague threat” are you referring to?
Comprehension is obviously neither your long nor your strong suit.
(Predictable troll is predictable.)
:) Directly above my previous comment.
You’re not pointing out anything even close to a threat, just factual statements. Unless your capacity for reading things into such statements far exceeds your grasp of reality, that is, which is a definite possibility.
Exact words, then, Sparky, or STFU.
(The trolls here in general are clearly getting stupider with the passage of time, and you’re even dumber than most.)
LOL, I love how TGWTP just takes the “Real Housewives” premise and runs with it. In all seriousness though, it’s precisely these kind of vague threats and partisan bullying which are a slap in the face to our Commander in Chief.
You need to start respecting President Obama now.
Happy Monday, Sunshine!
From the moment you arrived on my post you’ve offered no actual content to the conversation. Others have used this space to offer feedback on the linked stories, and even offer up other material they encourage others to read.
I’m guessing that you have some sort of animus toward this blog that predates my post. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you’re not enjoying the content we choose to provide. Perhaps you should vote with your browser and never patronize ABLC again — though we do appreciate the page hits, and our readers seem to enjoy the opportunity to mock you mercilessly, so there’s that…
Still skipping your meds, then? Not the best idea you’ve ever had, then again, neither was coming here.
You’re really not very good at this, you know. Perhaps a less demanding environment would suit you better.
Seriously TGWTP, stop threatening him with your Obot rays.
Dude’s dumber than a bag of hammers. (With my sincerest apologies to the hand tool industry as a whole for the demeaning comparison.)
“LOL, it’s the vague threats I always find most hilarious and revealing. Seriously, is this blog vying for a “Real Housewives” franchise?”
That post says nothing.
That post means nothing.
Well said, Dividend. And thumbs down to this piece of “work.”
I was reading the comments on the Alternet article, that site appears to be made up entirely of emoprogs and the like. It’s funny too, because they give no evidence except some general arguments that revolve around what are essentially conspiracy theories.
The problem with the Firebaggers and Emo-Progs is that they have skulls as thick as prison wall. Still its great that folks are shooting down the BS coming from hysterical alarmists like Moore and Hamshear.
Milt Shook over at Please Cut The Crap takes down Glenn Greenwald:
http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2011/11/the-professional-left-is-not-your-friend-example-glenn-greenwald.html
I’d suggest most everything Milt has been posting recently. Additionally, today I chirpified a series of tweets he posted on why it is imperative to vote because, to paraphrase, marches raise awareness; policy enforces change.
http://chirpstory.com/li/3144
Second that. I had actually intended to include Milt in this roundup, thanks for the reminder!
I understand that jreid is a friend of this blog. I honestly love her writing.
But in all due respect, no one is talking about Pat Buchanan. She has called out Pat Buchanan before. Buchanan is easy – big target, GOP, just another “contributer” at MSNBC, etc. The fact is Buchanan has *nothing* to do with Joy’s poorly reasoned defense of the indefensible. In her article, she even managed to go further than Tweety in insulting the First Lady. Reid said:
“As for the part of the interview that seems to be getting the most heat, Matthews stepped on something of a third rail of racial politics, by appearing to say that the Obamas should show more “gratitude” for being in the White House, and that Mrs. Obama should spend less time flogging the obesity issue, and more time flaunting the greatness of simply being American.”
Since Joy took up the role of Tweety’s translator, going so far as to claim “Matthews is being attacked for expressing his own romanticism about what the presidency” — she should explain what “flaunting the greatness of simply being American” means. How can Ms. Obama do that in ways she hasn’t done before?
That article gets even worse. Reading it with the clip was as bad as any thing I have ever seen on the ProLeft. To me, it was far worse than the book-selling bullshit Tweety originally burped up. She enshrined and provided cover for his bullshit, throwaway comment, shilling his book – and why? Did getting called out on Twitter make her feel she had to write that? All of this is aside from the fact that she was translating and changing his words like those originally offend were not just wrong, but too – what, reactionary? Stupid? – to understand what he really meant as a “student of American History.”
At any rate, I can’t give her a pass for that hypocrisy and really hope she can explain or apologize. Sorry for the long comment.
People call out Buchanan for the antedeluvian racist xenophobe he is here on a semi-regular basis.
As for Chris Matthews, having worked with him on multiple occasions going back several years now, I can say from personal experience that he genuinely has an almost schoolboyishly romantic view of our governmental processes and institutions. And that he is most assuredly not in any way I can determine a racist. Garrulous, yes. Racist, no.
BREAKING: New must-read link to a hot steaming mug of truth by Jonathan Chait at NYMag. Turns out we always do this when Democrats are President!
Allan, read the article and you make a great point. Its funny that many of the same lefties who are deifying Carter were spitting on him in 1980. And my favorite tidbit of political cat fighting, where Bill Clinton told Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio and Democracy Now to go screw herself after she tried to hang DADT, Welfare Reform and DOMA around his neck after the 2000 elections. His point to her “Bitch, if you and your latte liberal friends would have spent less time snipping at me and more time fighting the GOP with me in the 90′s, I wouldn’t have to had to cut those bullshit deals to keep the country the moving.” Now, I actually like DN! and I’m not the biggest Bill Clinton fan, but I fell over in my seat laughing listening to Bubba putting the Glenn Beck of Hippiedom in her place. ***
If George Bush had done as much for the right as Obama has done for the Left, John Boehner would be trying to make his birthday a National holiday and would put his face on Mount Rushmore. But, as history has shown us, liberals love to bitch and imagine a world that can’t really exist without hard work.
Along with the fact that frankly, a lot of white liberals still can’t take that the Black guy is in charge, Obama has a tough row to hoe this election. Liberals can’t understand that politics is European boxing matches won on points and strategy, not UFC style brawls driven by knockouts and choke holds. The President’s biggest fight for re-election will be against the ‘haters’ in his own party and of his own ideological stripe.
Now, it would be even tougher fighter for Obama if the GOP candidates weren’t such bad parodies of conservative politicians that even their own party leaders can’t take them seriously. But that’s another story.
*** FYI, for the uninitiated, Pacifica Network, though good a times, is like a Firebaggers’ wet dream complete with moneyshots. Between Truthers, anti-Obama screeds on about every other program and magic water diets – you can’t find a better (or worse, depending on POV) example of why the Left seems so stuck.
I’d love to hear that clip. The sanctimonious Left is just so sanctimonious. It oozes from their pores.
Here it is.
As you see, Bill Clinton told her, what the hell did he exactly do that was bad. I heard the full interview and frankly it was hostile. Goodman has a tendency to attack her subjects if they don’t fall lockstep in Firebagger political dogma (as irrational as it sometimes is). And she’s made it clear over the years that she thinks Bill Clinton is worse than pond scum. You may hate the man, but, pardon the Jay-Z reference, you ‘Respect the Throne’.
Again Ranger, I like Pacifica for the same reason I like NPR, because I get to hear news and opinions that just doesn’t make it to the networks. But I realize that listening to 24/7 of Pacifica, MSNBC and reading far left tirade blogs will make me just as closed minded and almost as misinformed as any Fox News drenched Teabagger.
Thanks for the link! I’m the exact opposite in that I don’t listen or watch anything at this point. Anger-control reasons. I don’t feel I’m out-of-the-loop at this point but who knows.
This article was more truth than these asswipes can handle. Come to the conclusion that all liberals should just freebase Prozac whenever a Democrat becomes President. It’d make life so much more pleasant for those four or eight years.
The left has a tendency for infighting and/or breaking up into factions, in this country and other countries. This persuauion seems to like doctrinal purity, and arguments can tend to get pretty arcane.
Change is hard, as people do not want to change ( inertia is a problem) and people have a stake in the system as it exists. Even in an autocracy chnage can be hard.
And add Bob Shrum to the list of people holding down Drew Westen and taking his lunch money, leaving him pantsless on the playground.
A typical ABL partisan bullying comment aimed at smearing and delegitimizing the President of the United States: http://www.angryblacklady.com/2011/11/20/angry-black-links-setting-the-record-straight-edition/#comment-21173
Tiresome one-note troll is tiresome.
Or…
Could it be…
Does “dividend” believe itself to be President of the United States?
::backs slowly out of the room, smiling non-threateningly::
awesome, i have my own party now!? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME!!!???
i’m queen of the world! WOO-HOO!!! #dicapriovoice
:) It’s called the Democratic Party.
Time for you to seek professional help, grasshopper.
Thanks for providing me with ready-made proof of exactly the kind of partisan bullying I’m talking about, TGWTP. Honestly, I couldn’t pay you for better concrete evidence. But as a matter of fact, maybe I do.
Why do you hate the President of The United States so much?
“Why do you hate the President of The United States so much?”
You know, I would be fascinated to hear *your* response to that question, dividend. Take as long as you need to write it up.
Uh-oh, looks like the Loyalty Brigade is having trouble backing up its own loyalty on the ground… Time to radio in reinforcements?
The smearing of President Obama via partisan bullying tactics stops NOW.
Non-responsive.
Kudos for admitting it.
Do you seriously think you’re in any position to give anyone orders here? Really? You’re worse off than any of us thought.
OK, that’s it. You just got on my last nerve here, Oswald.
What the fuckety-fuck are you on about anyway? Who came into this otherwise normal thread on a blog filled with people defending the President and proceeded to enact the metaphorical equivalent of shitting on the living room carpet?
(Hint: That’s YOU.)
And really, even by ABLC troll standards, you’re a pitiful excuse for one. Granted, most trolls don’t make much sense, even on their good days, though you would have to have the best day of your life to even dream of rising to the level of abject stupidity.
And you will never have the best day of your life, it’s going to be nothing different than your tired, frustrated, humdrum daily drudge of falling short in every measure that qualifies a worthy human being.
I’m willing to bet that your mother’s preparing her product liability suit against Trojan right now.
You can’t comprehend, you can’t argue, you can’t bloody accomplish anything here other than making a nuisance of yourself.
So go someplace else. Anyplace else, really.
Hell would be a good start.
There’s literally no reason for a complete waste of human genetic material such as you even to be here when there’s a perfectly serviceable straitjacket going unused somewhere, to say nothing of several fires going un-died-in because you’re here wasting our time.
Now that you’ve had the appetizer, you really want to stick around for the entree?
Now beat it, before I get mad.
LOL, the typical anti-POTUS Partisan Bully routine, all willingly and deliberately laid out by TGWTP above: They insult and sexualize your mother, hurl profanities, tell you to go to hell, call you a waste of human genetic material, issue vague threats of more personal attacks, and then use the schoolyard language of an 11-year old to tell you to “beat it.”
I’ll repeat again: This kind of behavior is a slap in the face to our Commander in Chief.
To quote our estimable OP above:
Not that there’s any surprise there. Just random noises and a foul odor.
…and they say you are making “random noises” and have a “foul odor.” It all checks out— much appreciate the addendum. This disrespect of the President clearly knows no bounds.
What are you, five? That “I’m rubber, you’re glue” schtick is pretty well played out, you know.
(With apologies to the kindergarteners of the world for the comparison.)
Nope – just repeating what you yourself said, which is extremely direspectful to the President of the United States.
Here’s a little song about you. Enjoy!
Pot calls kettle black
Thanks Allan, you’re right. It takes a real “Johnny One Note” to defend against the repeated and vicious attacks on our Commander in Chief. And I guarantee you I will continue to do so as long as it goes on here.
It’s cute how you pretend that that’s what you’re doing, but you guarantee you will continue to do so? Oh really? You guarantee that? Try again now.
#ohsnap
I wish everyone could see inside our spam filter so they could enjoy watching “dividend” trying to outsmart it, and failing.
As I see it, you are not exactly discouraging such behavior. Lead by example
You know, on further thought it occurs to me that I can’t recall ever before seeing blog comments written in orange crayon.
Hmm, I do not recall Michael Moore claiming to be a journalist. Source, please.
A Documentary filmmaker, by definition, is a form of journalism. In Michael Moore’s case (very) yellow journalism, but journalism not the less.
Right, that is why Michael Moore won an Academy Award and not a Pulitzer prize
Look just because he claims he’s not a journalism, doesn’t mean he’s not. And remember, he got his start as, you guessed it, a journalist at his local Flint newspaper.
Well, Michael Moore is definitely an author of several books as well.