Onyx Lynx

• Melissa McEwan on the Republican Party:
  

  Republicans' primary problem with women is, and will always be, this: They think that we're stupid. They think that there's some way they can trick us into not caring or not noticing that their policies are crap.

  This can also be corroborated at Margaret and Helen.
• Zandar Versus The Stupid spots Rand Paul airing his inner fool in Guatemala.

  Remember when the Dixie Chicks were blackballed for suggesting as Americans that George W. Bush's foreign policy on Iraq was wrong? Eleven years later, it's now 100% acceptable for a sitting US senator to go abroad and openly attack the President, with the head of state of a foreign nation in attendance.

  Gee. Ya think?
• Batocchio last week was on fire, and I'm only quoting one paragraph because otherwise I'd end up quoting the entire post, and the one before, and the one before.

  Pushing for gay rights, including marriage and protection from getting fired for one's sexual orientation, isn’t about seeking elevated status, but mere equality. This is a crucial distinction. Yes, the push for gay rights makes social conservatives upset, and yes, it entails a change from decades ago. It is not, however, an assault on their freedom, which has not changed, only a diminishing of their privilege, which they took for granted. Cultural norms have shifted and no longer support what they view(ed) as the natural order. The same thing happened with slavery and women's suffrage and Jim Crow laws – things changed, and frankly, progressed. To quote another old post that can apply to bigotry or cultural narcissism in general, "of course people of faith have a role in the public square, they just shouldn't have a privileged role. They can propose public policies, but they don't automatically get to have their way by citing their religion. They don't automatically get to win."

• Comrade Misfit points up an interesting statistic. Yes, I am thinking about the Michael Brown killing and the police riot in Ferguson. Yes, there is rage. Later.

Actually, with the songwriters of "War."  But you know what I mean.

The Slacktivist reminds us of the reasons "some people have earned the right not to be listened to".  (Thank you, Mr. Fallows.)

P.S.  Invariably the people in favor of war will not have to fight it.  I think that disqualifies them right there.

Richard Attenborough, actor and director.

1. I am fine.  Shaken but fine.  (I'm not in Napa County.)
2. As I look at the news from last week, I am reminded that humans (I include myself here) fail consistently in the "Love one another." requirement.  Which is really why we can't have nice things.

• Don Pardo, announcer.
• B.K.S. Iyengar, teacher and practitioner of yoga

Lauren Bacall, actress and legend.

Robin Williams, actor and comic.

Video on bank regulation or lack of same, at Naked Capitalism.  Some of which is comprehensible.

That would be Stan Freberg.

(Mentioned back here.)

• Steve Post, New York radio personality.
• Manny Roth, club owner. 

Two years of investigating Benghazi have yielded no administration wrongdoing.

Thompson said the report "confirms that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order (to U.S. forces) was given."

That conflicts with accusations of administration wrongdoing voiced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), whose House Government Oversight and Reform Committee has held hearings on the Benghazi attack.

My, what a surprise. Not.

Via Driftglass, who noticed that:

While there were the usual flood of wingnut-driven Benghaaazi hair-on-fire "news" stories choking the internet over the weekend, so far as I could find, there was nothing related to this story (other than this SFGate article) when I searched for news about "House Intelligence Committee" or "Mike Thompson".

The story came out on Friday afternoon, incidentally. But still.

I missed my anniversary!

Six years!  Break out the Cold Duck!