Study says voter ID laws could disenfranchise 10 million Latinos

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 1 Comment

A fake voter

Good news for anti-fraud crusaders and racists, both of whom happen to be Republicans: a study by the Advancement Project estimates that new voter ID laws could prevent as many as 10 million legitimate Latino voters from casting ballots in the November election. If you hate primary sources and, paradoxically, second sources, Fox Latino has you covered. Meanwhile, judges heard closing arguments yesterday regarding a South Carolina law that would require voters to show one of five forms of voter ID at the polls.

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Bill Keller on Islamic protest culture

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 1 Comment

There is very little Combat! blog today, as I spent the night throwing up and the morning at the dentist. It’s frankly one of the worst combinations I can think of, but the good news is that I finally have a real fake tooth—and only seven months into the six-week process. While I plot revenge, how about you read Bill Keller’s editorial in the New York Times about The Innocence of Muslims, Salman Rushdie, and Middle-Eastern protest culture? Sample:

One of the principal goals of the extremists, I was reminded by experts at Human Rights First, who follow the region vigilantly, is to pressure these transitional governments to enact and enforce strict laws against blasphemy. These laws can then be used to purge secularists and moderates.

It’s like Lenin said: I am the walrus. Back tomorrow in bare feet.

 

Friday links! Fantasy of persecution edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 6 Comments

A modest sense of self at Glenn Beck’s Rally to Restore Honor

I pretty much only know via books, but being persecuted appears to suck. Anne Frank, the dude in Invisible Man, every character in the field of postcolonial studies—the only good thing about these people’s situations is that they are fictional and we sympathize with them. The real lives and diaspora on which they are modeled offered no such comfort, in both cases pretty much by definition. Actual persecution is a drag, but imagined persecution—especially when it’s imagined by members of a comfortable majority—rules. You get none of the actual inconvenience of institutionalized prejudice, plus the benefits of victim status. Today is Friday, and our link section is chockablock with jerks who have convinced themselves that they are crushed under the heels of jerks. Won’t you manufacture a smug self-pity with me?

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Thursday scary graph jam

By Dan Brooks in American History 1 Comment

If only there were some way to make this graph that did not put percentages on both axes. That would be class warfare, though. You’re looking at a visual representation of historical US income inequality that is A) extremely conjectural in red and blue, and B) terrifying. It’s from this article in the Atlantic, which tentatively alleges that ours is a less equal America than it was on the eve of the Revolution and the Civil War. Numerous qualifications after the jump.

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Guns and religion vs. 47%

By Dan Brooks in Republican Candidates 0 Comment

So long, fuckers!

As the Mitt Rombot inches closer to becoming self-aware, pundits across the internet have turned to deciding how his “47% of Americans will never care for their lives” remarks compare to the worst gaffe in American history: Barack Obama’s 2008 “guns and religion” comment. Both statements cost the speakers their respective elections. But which is worse? Mary Bruce of ABC News put the question to Jay Carney at yesterday’s White House presser. William Saletan quotes 500 words of 2008 Obama in what is definitely not a half-assed run at his deadline. And Jamelle Bouie at the American Prospect points out that each gaffe came at a different point in the horse race. Unifying theme after the jump.

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