christopher_hallam

Dahlia Lithwick writes about Prop 8 supporters effort to disqualify Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled that Prop 8 was unconstitutional, because he is gay and in a committed relationship: And what of the argument that Judge Walker stood to benefit personally from his own ruling in the Prop 8 case? Wouldn’t—by this logic—a straight judge […]

The New York Times Charlie Savage reports that the FBI is altering its own agency guidelines, relaxing rules about what sort of investigative tools can be used to gather information on a target before opening an “assessment,” which obligates agents to document their steps. That kind of documentation has been key to determining when FBI […]

One of the dumber aspects of how the American conception of racism has evolved is the “bad words” theory of racism, wherein someone who simply uses a racial epithet, regardless of context, is immediately labeled a racist. That’s part of the reason why some people have trouble figuring out in what context their use is […]

Matthew Yglesias writes that the new X-Men movie paints Magneto in a fairly favorable light, and that speculates as to why most of the non-white mutants ended up following him: The film is a pretty serious departure from the conventional depiction in this regard, but it’s quite thoroughgoing. Magneto’s mutant pride attitude is in every […]

Princeton chair of the Center for African American Studies Eddie S. Glaude Jr., attempting to defend his colleague Cornel West‘s shallow, racialized critique of President Barack Obama, offers up the usual parade of strawmen, arguing that West’s critics want black people to “shut up and suffer” through crushing unemployment and the foreclosure crisis’ destruction of […]

Charli Carpenter points us to a paper by Shawheen Saffari, a student of hers, who examined the conduct of the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars to determine how closely they followed international law standards established at the time of the original trilogy’s first release: While the Rebels generally adhered to law regarding uniform and distinction […]

Bob Somerby writes that Digby is ” is increasingly losing her way due to her tribal loathing.” What did Digby do? She posted a video from the American Family Association’s Brian Fischer in which he asserts that Herman Cain is “the real black man in the race.” He can’t talk enough about how white he […]

Alyssa Rosenberg on Ned Stark: All season, the show’s drawn out how miserable Robert Baratheon is atop the Iron Throne. Tonight, he’s smacking his wife for insisting that he’s wrong in his role, losing his temper when Cersei tells him “I should wear the armor and you the gown,” then confessing to Ned Stark, “See […]

Jon Walker writes of the PATRIOT Act: The often praised “bipartisanship” is rarely ever the product of both parties coming together around what the people want, and almost always about using each other as cover to avoid electoral consequences for voting in opposition to the will of the electorate. Well that’s true sometimes. But sometimes […]

Barack Obama, in a speech to several thousand people in Dublin, reaffirmed his commitment to a dangerous and radical ideology: This nation has faced those questions before: When your land couldn’t feed those who tilled it; when the boats leaving these shores held some of your brightest minds; when brother fought against brother. Yours is […]