In today’s New York Times, Dan Savage is asked to boss the president around in advance of Tuesday’s State of the Union address: The president — perhaps after introducing Daniel Hernandez Jr., the openly gay intern credited with saving Representative Gabrielle Giffords’s life — should declare that the trend is clear: this country increasingly believes […]
Eli Sanders
Eli Sanders is The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won this, but he also once crashed his bike into a parked car while on his way to a staff meeting, never mind this, so… His website, which probably hasn't been updated in a while, is www.elisanders.net.
Posted inNews
Bomb Found Along Spokane MLK Parade Route
The Seattle office of the FBI says that a “deadly destructive device, likely capable of inflicting multiple casualties” was found yesterday inside a backpack left near the route of Spokane, Washington’s Martin Luther King Day parade. The FBI released the following picture of the backpack and some of its contents: Courtesy: FBI As a part […]
Posted inPolitics
At This Time in 2007, There Were 14 People Running for President
As David Weigel helpfully reminds. By contrast, in this election cycle, not even dark horse candidates like Herman Cain or John Bolton have announced anything yet. It’s another sign of the strength of President Obama. (Also, John Bolton? I’d forgotten about his dark horsiness, but now that Weigel mentions it… Obama vs. Bolton—and Bolton’s mustache—would […]
Posted inPolitics
Sarah Palin: Troll
This blog comment, which offers a perspective on Sarah Palin that I’m surprised to have never heard before, is currently making the rounds of political reporters. It was attached yesterday to a post about women news makers, and how Sarah Palin gets “as much attention as the Secretary of State and the [former] Speaker of […]
Posted inPolitics
Evidence That the Answer to Gun Violence is Not More Guns
William Saletan examines the case of the “armed hero” who rushed to help when he heard the Giffords shooting—and almost shot an innocent man in the process. Now comes the tragedy in Tucson. And what do gun advocates propose? More guns… The new poster boy for this agenda is Joe Zamudio, a hero in the […]
Posted inNews
A Premeditated Assassination
That’s what the charges filed today against Jared Lee Loughner suggest. As for the weapon, it was allegedly a Glock pistol purchased at a place called Sportsman’s Warehouse: And: Politico tracks down a man whose teachings about grammar and mind control sound a lot like Loughner’s videos.
Posted inNews
The Politics of Jared Loughner
</object If it turns out that this video was in fact posted by the same Jared Loughner who is suspected of shooting Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, then we have some sense of his politics. As Ben Smith notes: “You don’t have to accept the federalist laws,” the video above says; It also insists […]
Posted inPolitics
You Hate Obama’s Compromises? Here’s What He Thinks of Your Complaints.
From the president’s press conference today, in which he answered the final question with an address to the disgruntled left about his lines in the sand and his frustration with sanctimonious purists: With respect to the bottom line, in terms of what my core principles are, yeah look, I’ve got a bunch of lines in […]
Posted inHomo
Dan Savage on Colbert
In which pegging and promises for a Stephen Colbert “It Gets Better” video are discussed: (Bonus heartwarmer: Colbert’s inability to let his character make light of the challenges faced by gay kids.)
Posted inTech
What the Internets Lack: Shame
So says Julie Zhou, a design manager at Facebook, in her New York Times op-ed on how to defeat trolls: Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory or provocative messages in public forums, is a problem as old as the Internet itself, although its roots go much farther back. Even in the fourth […]
Posted inHomo
BREAKING: Prop 8 (Reportedly) Ruled Unconstitutional
UPDATE! It’s official now. The judge declared it an unconstitutional violation of equal protection and due process rights. Original post: The official court site is crashing because everyone in the world is hitting refresh at once and Twitter is awash in rumors that can’t be confirmed, but New York magazine, the first reliable site I’ve […]
Posted inNews
What Time Is the Prop 8 Decision Coming?
The word is that it’s coming this afternoon: According to the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which organized the federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn Prop. 8, the judge’s ruling will be e-filed today between 1 and 3 p.m. and can be found at the court’s web site.