Ah, CPAC...where old white people go to hate on people who aren't like them.
- Yes, there is a segment of the conservative movement that believes itself the next incarnation of the confederacy:
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — A panel at the Conservative Political Action Committee on Republican minority outreach exploded into controversy on Friday afternoon, after an audience member defended slavery as good for African-Americans.
The exchange occurred after an audience member from North Carolina, 30-year-old Scott Terry, asked whether Republicans could endorse races remaining separate but equal. After the presenter, K. Carl Smith of Frederick Douglass Republicans, answered by referencing a letter by Frederick Douglass forgiving his former master, the audience member said “For what? For feeding him and housing him?” Several people in the audience cheered and applauded Terry’s outburst.
After the exchange, Terry muttered under his breath, “why can’t we just have segregation?” noting the Constitution’s protections for freedom of association.
This is either horribly frightening, or the most epic troll of all time.
- Debate: do we applaud Sen. Rob Portman for evolving on marriage equality, or do we wonder why it always takes Republicans having close gay family members to evolve?
- Tweet of the day:
Anil Dash Anil DashVerified account @anildash
Eventually one of these Republican congressmen is going to find out his daughter is a woman, and then we're all set.
- If there's one thing that best encapsulates Republicans at CPAC, it's this. By far. And now that you've seen it, you'll never unsee it. Make sure you are not drinking coffee or any other beverage, as it is likely to end up all over your monitor.
- God's plan for rape:
The former pastor of an Indiana megachurch who is awaiting sentencing in a sex crimes case told a 17-year-old girl that Jesus wanted her to have sexual relations with him.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday released letters in which former First Baptist Church pastor Jack Schaap explained that the underage girl should have sex with him because it was part of God’s plan.
“In our ‘fantasy talk,’ you have affectionately spoken of being ‘my wife,’” Schaap wrote to the girl. “That is exactly what Christ desires for us. He wants to marry us + become eternal lovers!”
Last year, Schaap pleaded guilty to having the girl transported across state lines into Michigan so he could have sex with her. Prosecutors said that the former pastor had tricked church members into bringing the girl to his cabin in Cadillac, Michigan because she was “in an extremely vulnerable state” and needed to spend extended time alone with him.
Ain't it great when god wants exactly what you want?
- This is awesome:
President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they should consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways.
...
In taking the step, Obama would be fulfilling a vow to act alone in the face of a Republican-run House of Representatives unwilling to pass measures limiting greenhouse gases. He’d expand the scope of a Nixon-era law that was first intended to force agencies to assess the effect of projects on air, water and soil pollution.
“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said last month during his State of the Union address. He pledged executive actions “to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
"Republicans" and "future generations" are mutually incompatible ideas.
- Animated GIF art. Because, why not? It's pretty cool.
- An absolute must-read on the Lyndon Johnson tapes.