John Oliver and the Confederate Flag

There is something stupid that happens if you get into a discussion about the Confederate flag. Well, lots of stupid, but one thing that stands out as ironically stupid. You'll get all kinds of defense of the flag that sounds awfully similar to the kind of defense Josh Duggar was getting after duggering four of his sisters, "it's not about slavery, it's about heritage," blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, sure, okay. But then, some "smart" person will pipe up to "educate" everyone: "That isn't even the Confederate flag! It's the second Confederate Navy Jack!" 

Oh! Well, never mind then! That just changes everything! It completely erases everything that happened in between that brief four-year secession thing, and slavery, and the fact that this flag has been used by the KKK and other white supremacists for over 100 years! It's a pointless point. An irrelevant factoid. It's like the knee-jerk gun fetishist who says, "THAT isn't an assault weapon! THIS is an assault weapon!" It almost never as any relevance or impact on the argument at hand.

Okay, now some comedic education from one of the political satirists who isn't retiring this year.

[Excerpt]

John Oliver Tells The South Exactly Where It Can Stick The Confederate Flag

John Oliver said there's really only one purpose for the Confederate flag. “The Confederate flag is one of those symbols that really should only be seen on T-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world," Oliver said Sunday on "Last Week Tonight. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

Santorum Has Frothy Victory!

Frothy Mix & family. Image from MSNBC.

UPDATE 7:57 PM: Santorum wins Mississippi.

As I type this, Rick (don't Google me) Santorum has won the Alabama primary, and seems poised to win the Mississippi one too, or come damned close. Pretty amazing, considering that Mitt Romney has all the money, and that Santorum was an afterthought until sometime in February. He had the virtue of sharing the "Not Romney" title with Newt Gingrich, along with not being Gingrich. Why Newty is staying in (at this moment) is beyond me. Maybe by the time you read this he'll have dropped out.

Anyway, Santorum earned his Google nickname by being a nasty, hateful dude. And he has not wavered from that personality trait. I am not cocky enough to predict that if Santorum wins the GOP nomination, that President Obama wins by default. But I certainly think it would be Obama's to lose. There are other factors, I know, like gas prices and the general economy. But Santorum is utterly incapable of tacking to the center. He's a hard-right guy, even though some hard-right nutters think he's not hard-right enough. If I woke up the day after the election, and we had a President Romney, I wouldn't be happy. But if I woke up to a President Santorum? Well, that's a nightmare, and I won't be able to tell if I ever woke up!

[Excerpt]


Santorum wins Alabama; Mississippi too close to call

Rick Santorum was projected to win the Alabama Republican primary as he, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were locked in a three-way battle to win Mississippi's primary.

Mitt Romney was left looking to Mississippi to achieve a feat he hadn’t yet accomplished this cycle – win in one of the Republican Party’s conservative strongholds – as results from the twin primaries in GOP strongholds trickled in Tuesday evening. . .

Read more at: MSNBC