The Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, MD, newspaper that lost five journalists in a shooting rampage last week won't forget:
We will never forget Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, John McNamara or Rebecca Smith, our five co-workers who were gunned down in a senseless attack. [snip]
Here’s what else we won’t forget: Death threats and emails from people we don’t know celebrating our loss, or the people who called for one of our reporters to get fired because she got angry and cursed on national television after witnessing her friends getting shot.
We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people.
No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do.There's a ton of evil, wrongs and injustice all around -- that's why we need a free press to stand up and be a witness.
Speaking of evil, you may have seen the tweet sent by spineless, NRA coin- operated Sen. Marco "Li'l Marco" Rubio (R- Elevator Shoes) in response to the Capital Gazette reporter's dropping of the f-bomb:
Sign of our times... the F word is now routinely used in news stories, tweets etc It’s not even F*** anymore. Who made that decision???— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 29, 2018
Creature who takes $3 million to protect the NRA's interests while routinely spouting "Scripture" in his tweets is offended by... a word. This is the best response to that little charlatan that we've seen:
Hey Marco...in case you lost your way...😁👇 pic.twitter.com/3ugigl2OTk— Wendy Marcinkiewicz (@WendyMarcinkie1) June 30, 2018
Speaking of naughty language, we have new rules for civility, first from The Onion (h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian):
Avoid unkind generalizations like equating the jailing of ethnic minorities with some malevolent form of fascism...
Recall that violently rejecting a tyrannical government goes against everything our forefathers believed in...
Make sure any protests are peaceful, silent, and completely out of sight of anyone who could actually affect government policy...
Give your political opponents the benefit of the doubt by letting this play out for 20 years and seeing if it gets any better on its own...
Realize that every pressing social issue is solved through civil discourse if you ignore virtually all of human history...
Now from Alexandra Petri (whose Washington Post editorial board published an egregiously ahistorical defense of "civility" recently) a tour de force of new rules for civility. Here's just a few of many excellent points:
When marching with a torch in support of white supremacy, be certain not to take up too much of the sidewalk, and give the space on the side nearest the wall to him who you wish to honor...
Children whose peers have recently been murdered due to gun violence ought always to show deference to conservative media personalities, who are, after all, their elders...
It is polite to give up your seat to a judge selected by Donald Trump, especially if you are Merrick Garland...
Asparagus may be eaten with the fingers, unless you are in Puerto Rico and no longer receiving food assistance...
Women ought to be addressed with respect. “Crooked Hillary” is rude. It is “Madam Crooked Hillary,” or “Miss Mika Brzezinski, Bleeding Badly From A Facelift.”...
It is rude to address people as “animals,” unless you are the president...
It is rude to say “infest” when speaking of people, unless you are the president...
T-shirts that read “TRUMP 2020: F*** Your Feelings” are wildly inappropriate. Instead, embroider this sentiment on a sensible button-down or, better yet, print it on a tie.It's one of Petri's best ever; it's the editorial the Post should've written. Lessons maybe some of our Democratic "leaders" would do well to absorb.
Vox's Sean Illing interviews Roosevelt University political scientist David Faris about his new book, "It's Time To Fight Dirty." Here is some of what Faris says in the interview about the procedural war Republicans have been waging:
... [N]o policy platform is going to win three or four consecutive national elections for Democrats because we know policy isn’t what decides elections; that’s not how most voters make decisions.
So there are no policy changes that are going to reverse the overall trajectory that this society is on right now. We have to address some of the structural barriers to progressive power in this country, and we need to take those things as seriously as we do the policy fights within the party. [snip]
We’re in the midst of a slow-motion unraveling of democracy in this country. If we don’t return the favor with some of this procedural war stuff, the only other option is to continue watching the other side do it. That’s not an acceptable option in my opinion.
I don’t think we can restore order by respecting rules that are not respected by Republicans. I do believe we’ll have to find a way to end this procedural war at some point, but now is not that time. Republicans need to know what it’s like to be on the other end of normative violations. The Republicans are behaving like a party that believes it will never be held accountable for anything they’re doing, and so far they haven’t been.
That has to change before we can fix this mess.Some of Faris' prescriptions for returning the favor might be categorized as spitballing, but it's an important starting point for discussion and action.
Finally, Infidel 753 has again assembled his link round- up to cover all the ground (and air and water) that we rarely get to here. It's our favorite stop for a spin through the internet.
