Villagers

Villagers https://www.dailykos.com/news/Villagers News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 06:05:37 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 06:05:37 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) A Breath of Fresh Air for 12.21.18 - A (Virtual) Holiday Party for All to Enjoy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/12/21/1819559/-A-Breath-of-Fresh-Air-for-12-21-18-A-Virtual-Holiday-Party-for-All-to-Enjoy ‘Twas the week of the party and WYgal was busy with all the virtual shopping, she was in a bit of a tizzy. The first ever Holiday Party was near and hopes were high she’d bring good cheer. The presents were wrapped in bright paper with tags (although some that were odd shaped, she put in a bag). The Spotify play list was cued up and ready (including a song by Alvin, Simon and Teddy). Okay...enough with the poet in me, let’s get to work on the rest of the party plans. rss@dailykos.com (WYgalinCali) Christmas friends helpers Party Villagers _1819559 Fri, 21 Dec 2018 13:00:08 +0000 How About A New Catch Phrase for the Trumps and the Rest of Their Crew: RICH White Trash? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/25/1647202/-How-About-A-New-Catch-Phrase-for-the-Trumps-and-the-Rest-of-Their-Crew-RICH-White-Trash Over at <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/security-parking-ivanka-trump-dc-neighbors" target="_blank" title="">Talking Points Memo</a>, Ben Nuckols reports how the neighborhood has gone downhill since Ivanka and her husband moved in. <blockquote> <div> WASHINGTON (AP) — Residents of a posh Washington neighborhood say the Trump clan doesn't make for very good neighbors, hogging parking on an already crowded street and leaving trash bags rotting on the curb. A big part of the complaint: a huge security presence, with even a trip to the playground requiring three vans. Neighbors of Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their three children have groused that sidewalks have been closed, public parking overrun and that the family and their staff can't even be bothered to learn the trash pickup schedule outside their $5.5-million home. </div> <div> "It has been a three-ring circus from the day that they've moved in," said Marietta Robinson, who lives across the street, speaking with The Associated Press. "They've completely ruined the neighborhood.” </div> </blockquote> You know what? That sounds like a good metaphor for what’s happening to the entire country under Trump. All hail the Kakistocracy! White privilege isn’t what it used to be. There used to be… standards. Remember how all <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/who-do-they-think-they-are-by-digby-in.html" target="_blank" title="">the villagers were horrified</a> when those awful Clinton people moved into Washington? Guess what folks — the real barbarians are here, they’re inside the gates, and they’re not going away. rss@dailykos.com (xaxnar) AP BenNuckols Digby Ivanka Kakistocracy TalkingPointsMemo trump Villagers WhitePrivilege _1647202 Sat, 25 Mar 2017 16:23:24 +0000 3 happy ideas just appeared in the Overton Window https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/10/1246245/-3-happy-ideas-just-appeared-in-the-Overton-Window <a href="http://charlierose.com">Charlie Rose</a> is a brilliant interviewer, but I call him a "success groupie" - his stock in trade is to ask guests at the top of various fields about the key to their success. Prime ministers, Billionaires, A-list actors, sports legends, top architects, artists and scientists come to his table because of his genuine interest, knowledge and intelligence.   Members of the 99% and grassroots organizers, not so much.  Bill Moyers he aint. Tonight Charlie interviewed 3 mainstream pundits - Steven Rattner, top Democratic financier, Mike Allen of Politico and Jonathan Martin of the NYT - first about the state of the hostage negotiations, then longer range political issues. Three(!) previously over-the-horizon, outside the Overton Window possibilities were mentioned by these Villager "wise men":  that the Democrats will retake the House in 2014,  that the Climate Crisis may be a major legislative priority if they do, and  if Hillary fails to catch the progressive passion of the Democratic base,  that Elizabeth Warren might. Maybe the times they are a-changin' - the Establishment is starting to notice that the Right has jumped the shark, and maybe it is our turn.  Of course, we have to make it happen, but at least we have a fighting chance. rss@dailykos.com (Albanius) CharlieRose ClimateCrisis Congress ConventionalWisdom Elizabeth Warren ElizabethWarren Hillary House2014 OvertonWindow Villagers White House WhiteHouse _1246245 Fri, 11 Oct 2013 05:20:48 +0000 The More Devastating the Tragedy, the More Pronounced the Stupid https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/18/1171540/-The-More-Devastating-the-Tragedy-the-More-Pronounced-the-Stupid Future historians (if that ends up being a thing) will, I hope, look back at the events in Newtown as the turning point for a nation that had become so insulated against any external threats that it became its own most dangerous enemy. It's clearly gone way past the moment when we as a country need to address not only our sick addiction to amassing enormous amounts of firearms that civilians have no business ever handling, but also the way we approach mental health, the way we treat our educators, and the manner in which our media and our leaders represent and react to violence. And while the first point is obviously the most pressing of all of these, it is over the latter problem that I am currently most incensed. The sad fact that horrifying massacres like the one in Newtown last week have become almost routine in these modern United States says more about our national character than we ought to be comfortable with. But what's just as depressing to me is the way in which our media has reacted to the death of 20 children and 7 adults. And I'm not talking about the actual reportage: the mad rush to break the identity of the shooter first, leading to several piece of inaccurate information being widely circulated is an occurrence so common these days as to be unremarkable. I'm talking about the opinioneers, the villagers, the pundit class. The group of people whose sole responsibility it is to speak on behalf of the rest of us and to the rest of us. I'm talking specifically in this case about the Daily Beast's Megan McCardle. In what is (so far) <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/17/there-s-little-we-can-do-to-prevent-another-massacre.html">the most incomprehensibly pointless and stupid thing anyone with fingers has written as a response to the Newtown massacre</a>, McCardle, who has written for a number of dinosaur publications like Newsweek and should therefore know better, argues that there is basically nothing we can do to prevent these kinds of mass shootings from occurring so we are all idiots and should just shut up and let the NRA hand out free assault rifles. Her "think piece" starts with an illustration of the fundamental mental disorder that leads certain people to become libertarians so perfect it should be encased in lucite: <blockquote>Most crimes are motivated by unlovely impulses that are at least comprehensible: the desire for money, sex, respect, revenge.  We don't do these things because we have been taught that "good people don't do that!"--and we want to think of ourselves as good people, or at least have the neighbors and our parents think of us as good people.  Or perhaps we're merely afraid of getting caught and punished.</blockquote> Notice something missing from that argument? No? Perhaps the fact that Ms McArdle seems not to have even entertained the idea that at the most basic level possible, beyond any externalized moralities or system of penalties, most people (and even some animals) recognize that it's not ok to commit crimes against other people because we humans are imbued with this thing called empathy that allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of another person, and when we do that, we can imagine how bad being the victim of such a crime might make that person feel. Wait, hang on, maybe she is in fact familiar with that empathy thing: <blockquote>But we can understand why people want to--we know what someone is after when they hold up a liquor store, or even kills their spouse for the insurance money.</blockquote> More brilliance below the fold! rss@dailykos.com (mnemosyne42) Firearms Gun Control Gun Violence GunControl Guns GunViolence Health Care HealthCare Media MeganMcArdle Morons NewTown Punditry Sandy Hook SandyHook Villagers Violence _1171540 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:04:02 +0000 GOP Sunday Villagers jump ship on marriage equality opposition https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/10/1168601/-GOP-Sunday-Villagers-jump-ship-on-marriage-equality-opposition <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iLPrQ_f7O78" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></center> Marriage equality appropriately came up in all the Sunday AM gab fests this week. The Supreme Court announced Friday they'd be hearing constitutional challenges to both the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. Depending on how they rule, there is a chance marriage equality may be universal in the United States as soon as June 2013. And it kind of looked like the GOP talking heads were making peace with that real possibility. In the wake of opposition's defeat at the ballot box, the usual suspects who are ordinarily happy to carry party water instead punted. Recall the GOP platform for 2012 had this language <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/exclusive-gop-platform-draft-strongly-defends-tr">authored by Christian Right conservative Tony Perkins:</a> <blockquote>"[W]e believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage."</blockquote> So, the official GOP stance is not at all supportive. George Will concern trolls, as he's wont to do, about the court getting ahead of public opinion like they supposedly did on abortion. (As though had they waited, we wouldn't still be having this fight about who gets to control women's sexuality.) But then, George Will delivered a body blow: <blockquote>“Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying. It's old people.”</blockquote> Which is remarkably fact-based for Will. And every political strategist knows, the GOP has old people locked up best they can, it's the youth vote they're losing by the boatloads. The panel spends much time talking about the historical context in relation to Roe v. Wade. They still totally miss any references to an obvious one: Loving vs. Virginia, the last time the court asked to sort out disparate marriage laws among the states. Hmmm ... [Or as <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1168617/48683621#c74">LuvSet points out,</a> Turner v Safley a case involving prisoner's rights to marry (they got 'em, gays don't), a case that is, in part the basis of the Olsen/Boies challenge.] But if they want to talk about the court rushing public opinion, let's point out gay marriage is way ahead of interracial marriage at the time the court legalized that. The year after that decision, <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/149390/record-high-approve-black-white-marriages.aspx">in 1968, Gallup polls showed only 20 percent of Americans approved of interracial marriage</a>, versus well over a dozen polls showing consistent majority support for marriage equality (and now four elections to prove it). So, though marriage equality's opponents love to call it "divisive" and "controversial," it's light years ahead of where interracial marriage was in 1967. More impressions from Sunday talk after the fold ... rss@dailykos.com (Scott Wooledge) DanSavage GeorgeWill LGBT Marriage Equality MarriageEquality Media MeetThePress SundayTalk TheWeek UpwithChris Villagers _1168601 Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:30:05 +0000 David Gregory "hearing from people" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/11/1143438/-David-Gregory-hearing-from-people I couldn't help but notice the Tweet that ran across the bottom of the screen during MSNBC's debate debriefing. It was from @DavidGregory -- which I assume to actually be David Gregory -- and it said "Im hearing from people who see this as basically a tie". rss@dailykos.com (gas28man) DavidGregory Debates Joe Biden JoeBiden MSNBC Paul Ryan PaulRyan Vice President VicePresident Villagers _1143438 Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:56:51 +0000 Pundit retraining https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/2/22/1067017/-Pundit-retraining <div class="dkimg-c"><a href="http://images1.dailykos.com/i/user/121704/retraining720.png"><img src="http://images2.dailykos.com/i/user/121704/retraining550.png" alt="Slowpoke cartoon" width="550" /></a></div> (Click to inflate the cartoon's ego.) I realize "creative destruction" happens when technology changes, and to some extent it's inevitable and good.  (The kind of destruction Romney practiced at Bain: not so good.) But some people become cheerleaders for economic disruption without the appropriate amount of empathy for affected workers, and that annoys me.   If you think the pundit in the cartoon bears a passing resemblance to Thomas Friedman, I won't argue with you. Friedman isn't as empathy-challenged as they come, but he's pretty bad. He endlessly fantasizes about retraining Americans to be high-tech imagineers, even though our current unemployment woes are broad-based, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/the-great-sectoral-non-shift/" target="_blank">not structural</a>. "In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle... Average is over," he wrote in a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/opinion/friedman-average-is-over.html" target="_blank">tone-deaf column</a> that glowingly referred to the above-average workers in China who were roused in the middle of the night to work a 12-hour shift installing iPhone screens. Aside from his apparent lack of concern that such labor conditions totally suck, it's kind of haughty to imply that the unemployed are suffering from a case of averageness. There are plenty of highly-educated Americans who can't find jobs -- never mind the fact that many jobs out there barely utilize your education. If we are to dismiss the average or subpar, then perhaps Friedman's column should be the first to go. Get a <a href="http://slowpokecomics.com/prints.html" target="_blank">signed print</a> of this cartoon from the artist. rss@dailykos.com (Jen Sorensen) Cartoons Comics Economy Jobs Labor Villagers _1067017 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:50:02 +0000 The Orderlies Need To Claim Gingrich As Their Own https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/6/1042748/-The-Orderlies-Need-To-Claim-Gingrich-As-Their-Own Last week I suggested that Newt Gingrich’s greatest competitive advantage is that he can appeal to both wings of the Republican Party:  <a href="http://casacognito.blogspot.com/2011/12/shameless-gop-primary-speculation.html">the Crazies and the Orderlies</a>.  Following up on that, I have to admit that I find <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/151325/Republicans-Gingrich-Romney-Acceptable-Nominees.aspx">the break down in the latest Gallup poll</a> kind of fascinating for what it might reveal about the Republican Party’s future: <a href="http://s1182.photobucket.com/albums/x441/swellsman/?action=view%C2%A4t=GallupInternals.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x441/swellsman/GallupInternals.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" width="500" /></a> The conventional wisdom is that back in the 1960s and even into the 70s the GOP was the party of fiscal prudence and even (for Northeastern Republicans) of civil rights legislation.  But Pat Buchanan sold Richard Nixon on pursuing a “Southern Strategy” designed to break the country in half and capture the biggest half for the Republicans, and the party began making its political appeal almost strictly on a race/cultural issues basis.  The rise of the Religious Right in the 1970s helped foment this change, and the GOP started running on the (i) God, Gays and Guns  (ii) “family values/abortion” and (iii) “the good Christian” platform. rss@dailykos.com (swellsman) 2012 Election 2012Election crazies Gallup Mitt Romney MittRomney Newt Gingrich NewtGingrich orderlies Republicannomination Rescued Villagers _1042748 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:57:51 +0000 Did Boehner really win? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/15/967237/-Did-Boehner-really-win Mixed reactions around the blogosphere about Boehner needing Democratic votes to pass the budget bill. Reaction from the left has been, effectively, "Yeah, so what? He still won." Writing in WaPo, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/john-boehner-does-what-he-has-to-do--again/2011/03/28/AFohdVeD_blog.html">Jonathan Bernstein</a>: <blockquote>Yes, 59 Republicans deserted him on the final vote, meaning that Democratic votes were used to put the measure over the top. However, it’s not at all clear that he didn’t have the votes, if needed; after all, with a final vote of 260-167, Boehner could have lost over forty more votes and still managed to pass the thing. Boehner may very well have released many of the 59 dissenters, allowing them to vote No in the knowledge that he could get the bill passed without them. We’ll never know how many of them would have been available if push came to shove — so their defections don’t mean that Boehner is losing control.</blockquote> <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/whos-big-winner.html">Digby picked this up</a> and expanded on it a bit, excoriating any of us for claiming victory: <blockquote>Please, please spare me the gloating about how Boehner is the big loser in this budget stand off because the "Tea Party" freshmen all defected and he had to count on Democrats to pass the bill.</blockquote> If Digby says it, I generally don't take exception to it. However, I came across another article this morning that sees it another way. More below the jump. rss@dailykos.com (Fish in Illinois) Budget JohnBoehner Obama Villagers _967237 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:33:10 +0000 "We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/6/933819/--We-don-t-have-a-revenue-problem-we-have-a-spending-problem Certain Republicans—oh, hell, let’s just generalize and say all of them—enjoy throwing out homespun analogies as a way of validating the soundness of their policy ideas.  They say things like, "You know a family has to balance its budget, and so, by the Lord Harry, should the fed’ral guvmint!" Because there isn’t one Republican member of Congress alive who doesn’t wish deep in his crabbed little heart to be <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sam_ervin.html">Sam Ervin</a>.   Being Republicans, of course, proof of the soundness of ideas is not required.  Everybody knows that certainty (signaled by the phrase "everybody knows"), along with a lacquer of <a href="http://commonsensegovernment.com/">Good Old American Common Sense</a>is enough to dismiss any reservation about a lack of so-called evidence (See?  I did it right there, with "so-called."  Whee!). It spoils these analogies to examine them in detail, but, well, we’re Democrats.  It’s what we do.   rss@dailykos.com (kay dub) Debt Republicans Rescued revenue Villagers _933819 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:20:05 +0000 Villagers: real estate collapse? What real estate collapse? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/29/932308/-Villagers-real-estate-collapse-What-real-estate-collapse If you needed any more evidence that the Villagers in DC are utterly isolated from the concerns of the "real Americans" they claim to represent, look no further than <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/28/AR2010122801269.html">this</a>: That's right: while most Americans saw the value of their homes continue to slide, "The Washington region posted the highest year-over-year home price gains in the nation this fall, as real estate values slumped in nearly every other metropolitan area". Don't you wonder how it is, living in that bubble? Must be pretty sweet, eh? "Honey, look at this. It says we just made another $20,000 in home appreciation." I just don't know what to say. rss@dailykos.com (RobLewis) Housing RealEstate Villagers _932308 Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:42:23 +0000 When the villagers speak everyone else suffers. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/24/931272/-When-the-villagers-speak-everyone-else-suffers I don't know about what you all think but John king usa is probably one of the worst political commentary shows I've seen. In all honesty CNN's entire 5-9 line up is utter crap. I was watching either yesterday or the day before and they had on their usual panel of dunces who spout utter foolishness in the hopes of appearing knowledgeable. Gloria Borger, offers absolutely nothing to a conversation; Alex Castellanos the man who said sometimes women can be bitches; Jessica yellen indifferent about her; Erik Erickson I could slap for the idiocy he brings; John avalon of the no labels group and some other lames. Anyway so I guess right now the big issue is debt and deficits so the Villagers say and this is the way to get America moving forward. And naturally the two or three things that need to be trimmed are go figure social security Medicare and Medicaid. rss@dailykos.com (Allamr18) debtanddeficits Job Creation. JobCreation Lame Villagers _931272 Fri, 24 Dec 2010 12:02:38 +0000 Barack Obama is Nixon, Mao, and Charlie Brown https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/21/795811/-Barack-Obama-is-Nixon-Mao-and-Charlie-Brown Yes folks apparently, the beltway establishment is completely at a loss.  Barack Obama is driving them crazy.  Richard Cohen is railing against Obama.  Ruth Marcus is obsessed with defending Fox's right to smear the White House. rss@dailykos.com (mka193) Barack Obama BarackObama ConventionalWisdom Fox News FoxNews Villagers _795811 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:01:02 +0000 How Anti-Health Care Reform Interests Bought Off NBC https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/2/760785/-How-Anti-Health-Care-Reform-Interests-Bought-Off-NBC A few weeks back, news broke about the Washington Post <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ombudsman-blog/2009/07/wps_salon_plan_a_public_relati.html">essentially trying to sell favorable coverage to the health care industry in exchange for $250,000 checks</a>. The sickening mix of power, fame, and fortune that is the beltway Media Village stew essentially shrugged this story off; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070201563.html?hpid=topnews">the Villagers claimed that the scandal was the fault of a new account manager</a>, and didn’t really reflect on the ethics of Village Journalism. rss@dailykos.com (The Bagof Health and Politics) Corruption Health Care HealthCare Media RichardWolffe Villagers _760785 Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:31:04 +0000 The Village Bleats https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/29/725942/-The-Village-Bleats By now everyone has seen the spectacular <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402902_pf.html">Broderism of Broder</a> last weekend: <blockquote> But now Obama is being lobbied by politicians and voters who want something more -- the humiliation and/or punishment of those responsible for the policies of the past. They are looking for individual scalps -- or, at least, careers and reputations. Their argument is that without identifying and punishing the perpetrators, there can be no accountability -- and therefore no deterrent lesson for future administrations. It is a plausible-sounding rationale, but it cloaks an unworthy desire for vengeance. </blockquote> Speaks for itself, no? But I'm still rather horrified by the fact that Broder thinks a <a href="http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/4/25/155330/873">consensual sex act in the White House</a> was somehow more perverted than the Vice President and a number of cabinet secretaries <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/Story?id=4583256">choreographing torture in the White House</a>. Maybe that's just my unworthy and vengeful heart speaking. Along the "nobody is above the law in the United States, but these people should be above the law" lines of High Broderism, there's Newsweek's <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/195186">Jon Meacham</a>: <blockquote> And to pursue criminal charges against officials at the highest levels—including the former president and the former vice president—would set a terrible precedent. . . . That is not to say presidents and vice presidents are always above the law; there could be instances in which such a prosecution is appropriate, but based on what we know, this is not such a case. [emphasis mine] </blockquote> Presidents and Vice Presidents are just sometimes above the law, and by all means, that should include potential war crimes. Then there's the "torture is horrible but the terrorists are worse" arguers. Take <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/27/AR2009042702692.html">Richard Cohen</a>: <blockquote> But it is important to understand that abolishing torture will not make us safer. Terrorists do not give a damn about our morality, our moral authority or what one columnist called "our moral compass."... If Obama thinks the world will respond to his new torture policy, he is seriously misguided. Indeed, he has made things a bit easier for terrorists who now know what will not happen to them if they get caught. And by waffling over whether he will entertain the prosecution of Bush-era Justice Department lawyers (and possibly CIA interrogators as well), he has shown agents in the field that he is behind them, oh, about 62 percent of the time. </blockquote> Huh? So the world thinks it's hunky-dory when the U.S. tortures? And now terrorists know what won't happen to them so their job is easier? Huh? I somehow don't think Cohen talked to the rest of the world, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/29/725812/-THIS-JUST-IN:-Spanish-Judge-Opens-Torture-Probe-%5BUpdated%5D">particularly Spain</a> when he penned that one. But the cake goes today to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/opinion/29friedman.html">Tom "Suck on This" Friedman</a>. <blockquote> Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has testified to Congress that more than 100 detainees died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, with up to 27 of those declared homicides by the military. They were allegedly kicked to death, shot, suffocated or drowned. Look, our people killed detainees, and only a handful of those deaths have resulted in any punishment of U.S. officials. The president’s decision to expose but not prosecute those responsible for this policy is surely unsatisfying; some of this abuse involved sheer brutality that had nothing to do with clear and present dangers. Then why justify the Obama compromise? Two reasons: the first is that because justice taken to its logical end here would likely require bringing George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials to trial, which would rip our country apart; and the other is that Al Qaeda truly was a unique enemy, and the post-9/11 era a deeply confounding war in a variety of ways.... So, yes, people among us who went over the line may go unpunished, because we still have enemies who respect no lines at all. In such an ugly war, you do your best. That’s what President Obama did. </blockquote> That's some "situational" law at its extreme. The murder of 29 detainees shouldn't be prosecuted because they were terrorists. But what happens if any of those 29 murdered detainees just happened not to be terrorists, but instead were among the innocent that got picked up in this war? Because we know that happened, too. Apparently war crimes only happen in some kinds of war, and not in wars against a "unique enemy," in which you can only "do your best," which might include committing war crimes.  So, in a "unique war" shit happens. After all, we were just "doing our best," and it's time to move along now. If America does it against a terrorist, it's not a war crime. Friedman indeed speaks for the Village. rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) DavidBroder JonMeacham RichardCohen ThomasFriedman TraditionalMedia Villagers _725942 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:14:04 +0000 Ed Henry:  Uber Douche Fighting the Good Fight (SATIRE) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/26/713345/-Ed-Henry-160-Uber-Douche-Fighting-the-Good-Fight-SATIRE Yesterday, over at <a href="http://tpzoo.wordpress.com">TheZoo</a>, we reported that <a target="_blank" href="http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/chuck-todd-arrogant-washington-elitist/">Chuck Todd, an uber Washington elitist</a>, and total <a target="_blank" href="http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/blogosphere/on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-the-term-the-villagers/">Villager</a>, had the audacity to ask what specific sacrifices Obama was going to ask of the American people.   I was advised that I should have included Ed Henry in my original post  because Mr. Henry decided to write <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/25/henry.obama/">a little self-serving piece</a> at his CNN home.   Keep reading to find out what Ed Henry was REALLY thinking as he prepared to do battle with Obama.   I promise you will find this absolutely hysterical! rss@dailykos.com (MsJoanne) CNN Ed Henry EdHenry Humor Obama Satire Snark Villagers _713345 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:30:01 +0000 Morning Feature: Hey Villagers, the Natives are restless! (Non-Cynical Saturday) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/31/691255/-Morning-Feature-Hey-Villagers-the-Natives-are-restless-Non-Cynical-Saturday There are two amazing diaries on the wee-hours Rec List: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/30/18496/8068/450/691104">Claire McCaskill calling for a maximum wage for TARP recipients</a>, and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/31/25311/6526/382/691196">The Field's diary supporting Obama's call for continued community organizing</a>.  Add to those with <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/30/92035/3315">xysea's compelling righteous rant yesterday</a>, and some things Herself and I are hearing, and it might be time to put the Villagers on notice: The Natives are restless! More below the fold.... rss@dailykos.com (NCrissieB) Barack Obama BarackObama ClaireMcCaskill CommunityOrganizing Health Care HealthCare KentState MichaelMoore MorningFeature MorningReaction Natives Oilprofits Rush Limbaugh RushLimbaugh SocialUnrest TARP Timothy Geithner TimothyGeithner Villagers WallStreetbonuses WealthDisparity ZephyrTeachout _691255 Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:18:07 +0000 WaPo, So Much Wanking, So Little Time https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/20/675517/-WaPo-So-Much-Wanking-So-Little-Time The Villagers are in a retrospective, and all too typical self-congratulatory, mood with the death of Deep Throat. LithiumCola has already taken on <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/20/12556/958/948/675359">Len Downey</a>, so now it's <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121903054.html">Ruth Marcus's</a> turn. Let's start with this mind-boggling question that frames her discussion: <blockquote> In Felt's time, this conversation took place through the prism of the Weather Underground and the FBI's illegal break-ins, known as "black bag" jobs. Today, the same tensions manifest themselves in the impassioned national discussion about the Bush administration's interrogation and surveillance policies. But, at bottom, they implicate the same difficult set of issues: How much can and should government infringe on personal privacy and individual liberties in the name of guarding against risks to public safety? What should be the role of criminal law when government officials overstep permissible bounds in the name of national security? </blockquote> Simple answers to simple-minded questions. The government can and should infringe on individual liberties within the scope of existing law. When that law is broken, by either government officials or Joe Blow, the role of criminal law is to prosecute the law breaker. The whole "in the name of natinal security" strawman, of course, occurs to Ms. Marcus, as it does all Villager apologists who have somehow conveniently forgotten the fact that we've created a glorious system of government that allows for laws to be amended as needed. A whole bunch of smart people have been elected and appointed, ostensibly, to defend and protect the Constitution that set up that system. It worked, with a few hiccups, to get us to 2001 in pretty good stead. That it's failed since 2001 is a much a reflection on the failures of those people we elected to protect as it does the supposed watchdogs like Ms. Marcus who are supposed to be in a position to call foul when they see it being subverted. Which of course, Ms. Marcus is just not capable of doing, as her conclusion demonstrates. <blockquote> And so Felt's death comes at a moment when the country is in the midst of another chapter of this debate. When Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledges having participated in the development of "enhanced interrogation" policies that most civilized people consider torture, when he expresses his approval of the use of waterboarding to obtain information from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, is he subjecting himself to -- should he be subjected to -- prosecution for war crimes? Should President Bush, on his way out of office, issue the Carter equivalent of a blanket pardon to officials who crafted and participated in torture in the interrogation and surveillance programs? Should the new administration launch criminal investigations of its predecessors or turn the page to a new era? I happened, as a young reporter, to cover some of the Felt and Miller trial and remember feeling torn about the case -- revolted by their actions but sorry at some level for the actors. In the current unspooling, I unexpectedly find myself more in the camp of Reagan than Nields. I understand -- I even share -- Nields's anger over the insult to the rule of law. Yet I'm coming to the conclusion that what's most crucial here is ensuring that these mistakes are not repeated. In the end, that may be more important than punishing those who acted wrongly in pursuit of what they thought was right. </blockquote> Given her already demonstrated lack of understanding about the whole "rule of law" concept, I find it hard to believe that she has the depth of understanding to grasp the insult to it that Bush/Cheney have done. But let's get the core of it (which <a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/20/marcus/index.html">Glenn has done briiliantly here</a>). <ol><li value="1"> The Bush/Cheney lawlessness was not a "mistake," no more a mistake than the Nixon era abuses which created many of the laws that Bush/Cheney willfully and knowlingly broke--not by accident, not by mistake, but purposefully.</li></ol> <ol><li value="2"> The very purpose of our legal system is to prevent <del>mistakes</del> law-breaking by punishing the perpetrators. We don't ensure that law-breaking stops by giving amnesty to the lawbreakers, or at least when the system wasn't broken by people who share Marcus's belief that it's okay for the people in charge to break the law, because they know best.</li></ol> Marcus demonstrates the sickness that's invaded Washington, a sickness that calls torture "enhanced interrogation," that excuses law-breaking because it's the path of least resistance. It's a sickness that allows the most most egregious insults to our rule of law--torture, wars of choice, warrantless spying on innocent Americans--to be written off as "mistakes." rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Rule of Law RuleofLaw Torture TraditionalMedia Villagers WarrantlessWiretapping _675517 Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:50:04 +0000 Hillary, MoveOn, Talk Radio and the Villagers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/19/498983/-Hillary-MoveOn-Talk-Radio-and-the-Villagers Someone surreptitiously recorded Hillary Clinton lambasting MoveOn and the activist base. <blockquote> "We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me." </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Mike Stark) Hillary Clinton HillaryClinton MediaCriticism MoveOn Talk Radio TalkRadio Villagers _498983 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:15:52 +0000 A wild party with the Villagers: A horror story https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/29/445451/-A-wild-party-with-the-Villagers-A-horror-story Let me start out by saying I am an Edwards person to the very end.  He gave everything to this election and I will be with him till the last dog dies, so I have no agenda for either Obama or Clinton.  But friends, I am soooo worried about what I have been reading from some progressives.  We are living the first scenes of a horror movie, and I’m watching it and saying "don’t do that, don’t do that." Cause I know exactly what is going to happen.  Let’s call our horror movie the wild party.  You are a real Obama fan and are furious at the Clintons.  You are invited to a wild party that is celebrating the horror of the Clintons.  You’re suspicious of the invitation, but this is a topic you want to celebrate.  You go and things are off the hook.  There’s William Kristol doing the electric slide, and you got Richard Cohen over there doing the frug.  Wanna know how the party turns out.  Well just below the fold. rss@dailykos.com (wilbur) clintons mutants Villagers _445451 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:08:38 +0000 Choice Village-speak at the NYT https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/18/439238/-Choice-Village-speak-at-the-NYT Good lord, more often than not, I read the papers, and I feel I am reading some young kid's attempt to generate something for his or her resume.  (Cue image of some kid with tongue sticking out of side of mouth, eyes squinting, face a mask of concentration.  Or, picture GWB trying to understand "economics" as ours goes to hell in a handbasket.) So what to make of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/us/politics/19thompson.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin">this</a>? We should watch this writer.  ...... rss@dailykos.com (TimetoGovern) Villagers _439238 Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:54:26 +0000 Bhutto: The villagers lose one of their own https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/31/428300/-Bhutto-The-villagers-lose-one-of-their-own In a very real sense, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is, to be sure, a serious political crisis, one that reverberates beyond the borders of Pakistan. But there is, sadly, another aspect to this story that we perhaps should keep in mind: her assassination was a blow to the world and narratives of the DC villagers. We need to keep this aspect of this event in view in order to keep our own heads in proper perspective as this all unfolds. The fact that Bhutto was a member of the Kool Kids gang, the cocktail circuit, the Serious People (tm), or whatever you want to call the DC villagers, is so tellingly revealed in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/weekinreview/30bumiller.html?ref=weekinreview">this article</a> by one of the Kool Kids, E. Bumiller, in the NYT on Sunday.  In this article we learn... rss@dailykos.com (TimetoGovern) DCestablishment Incest Villagers _428300 Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:37:23 +0000 I've been busy... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/11/409215/-I-ve-been-busy Juliet Eilprin is a front page reporter at the Wash Post - and professor of journalism...  She appeared at the Miller Center to talk about Partisan Rancor (and to bash the blogs).   I was able to engage with her a bit... BTW - Will Marshall of the DLC was also there...  It'll be a little while before I get our exchange up... video and text outtakes beneath the flip rss@dailykos.com (Mike Stark) highBroderism JulietEilprin Villagers _409215 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:32:15 +0000 Village Courtiers https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/5/394407/-Village-Courtiers Over at Hullabaloo, <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/scared-by-tristero-strange-thought.html">Tristero</a> (who really has one of the coolest obscure handles on the interwebs) and <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/now-i-dont-want-to-say-that-republicans.html">Digby</a> have been trying to get a <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/village-parties-by-digby-both-atrios.html">handle</a> on what to do about <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/meet-villagers-by-digby-from-you-cant.html">The Villagers</a>, those out-of-touch, self-important, insulated members of the Washington D.C. elite.  <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/OpenLeft-FrontPage/%7E3/165339927/showDiary.do">Stoller</a> has picked up the meme and <a href="http://feeds.salon.com/%7Er/salon/greenwald/%7E3/164713329/index.html">Glenn Greenwald</a> connects it to Adam Smith's 1776 treatise, Wealth of Nations, warning us of the dangerous behavior of our Washington establishment's orthodoxy, the immunity the "Beltway Village" enjoys from the consequences of their imperial intrigues. More on The Village's Imperial Reality under the fold: rss@dailykos.com (Mark Adams) Media realitybasedcommunity Secrecy Villagers _394407 Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:24:39 +0000