Author: Elspeth Reeve

FBI Nails an Alleged KKK Member for Wacky Terrorist Death Ray Plot

YouTube

One of the FBI's methods of fighting terrorism in America is to have undercover agents or informants recruit Muslims for fake terror groups, give them ideas for fake terror plots, and in some cases, arm them with fake terrorist weapons. For those troubled by these methods, perhaps it will be some comfort to know the FBI also recruits white guys as terrorists.

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 24, 2013

Let's All Support John Boehner and His 'Really Cool' New Son-in-Law

The National Enquirer, which is a tabloid but occasionally very reliable on marital matters, reported Wednesday that the fiancé of Boehner's daughter, Dominic Lakhan, was pulled over in Florida in 2006 and reportedly charged with a misdemeanor having to do with marijuana. But there's so much more than that — including wedding registries!

Comments | 2,331 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 24, 2013

Jeb Bush Is Cleaning Out His Closet for 2016

Have enough Americans forgiven George W. Bush that they'll vote for his brother for president? Jeb Bush is doing several things that indicate he thinks so — speeches, a book, more speeches... oh, and he just got some potentially embarrassing news out of the way.

Comments | 3,121 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 24, 2013

Donald Trump Outs Jon Stewart as a Jew

Jon Stewart is pretty great at skewering Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is pretty good at typing on an electronic device in order to post a short message on Twitter. Trump struggles in this asymmetrical warfare.

Comments | 18,839 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 24, 2013

Rand Paul Doesn't Want to Send Drones to Your Liquor Store After All

The senator said his position on using drones on Americans hasn't changed, clarifying an interview on Fox Business Network Tuesday that gave the impression he thought droning a robber might be OK.

Comments | 773 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 24, 2013

Americans Aren't That Mad Gun Control Failed

After senators filibustered a gun background checks bill, President Obama gave an angry speech, promising that "we can still bring about meaningful changes that reduce gun violence so long as the American people don't give up on it." But according to a new Washington Post/ Pew Research Center poll, the American people are kind of over it.

Comments | 1,754 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 23, 2013

Rush Limbaugh Thinks 'Lovable' Photos of Tsarnaev & Trayvon Are a Conspiracy

"He's not a normal kid," Limbaugh said on his radio show Tuesday. "There's nothing normal about this, and we don't want it to be normal." Well, yeah, that's the point.

Comments | 6,422 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 23, 2013

Here Comes the Post-Boston Anti-Muslim Paranoia

The Tsarnaev brothers don't provide an easy answer for how to stop something like the Boston marathon bombing to ever happen again. That leaves the Tsnarnaevs' religion — and, apparently, all the liberals who think religious profiling is a bad idea.

Comments | 9,726 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 23, 2013

For a Libertarian, Rand Paul Supports Awfully Broad Police Powers

Since his anti-drone filibuster, the Kentucky senator has been celebrated as the leader of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. But there are limits to his belief in national security limits.

Comments | 972 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 23, 2013

The Campaign to Love George W. Bush Has Arrived

George W. Bush always claimed that he would be vindicated by history. Even he might be surprised at how quickly history worked its magic. 

Comments | 6,883 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 22, 2013

Mark Sanford's Bare-All Apology Tour Isn't Working

Mark Sanford placed a full-page ad to explain why he was busted for trespassing on his ex-wife property, following many other explanations in his campaign for a political comeback. But his endless confessions work for Oprah's couch, not for politics.

Comments | 2,330 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 22, 2013

There's Nothing Wrong with Prosecuting Tsarnaev as the American He Already Is

When the U.S. served Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with federal charges and announced that it would be trying him in civilian court — not as an enemy combatant — it was a moment when rationality beat emotion. What the brothers Tsarnaev allegedly did was really awful. But the Constitution still covers people who committed really awful crimes.

Comments | 2,524 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 22, 2013

Rand Paul Wants to Ban 8-Year-Old Immigrants from America

The Kentucky senator won the coveted position of "Republican liberals kind of like" with his drone-related filibuster earlier this year. Paul will surely disappoint them today with his demand that the Senate delay immigration reform until until we figure out how the Boston marathon bombers got into America, and how to prevent that from happening in the future.

Comments | 3,494 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 22, 2013

Jeff Flake Pulled a Fast One on This Aurora Victim's Mom with His Gun Vote

The Arizona Republican senator told her, in a handwritten letter, that "strengthening background checks is something we agree on." A few days later, background checks was not something they could agree on, because he voted to filibuster the bill.

Comments | 5,254 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 22, 2013

The GOP Fends Off the GOP from Using Boston to Block the Immigration Deal

Conservative supporters of immigration reform are reportedly coordinating their talking points to marginalize Republicans who say the Boston bombings are reason to rethink proposals for more lax immigration laws.

Comments | 970 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 19, 2013

The Surreal Sight of SWAT Teams in Banal Suburbs of Boston

One of the strangest things about watching heavily-armed tactical teams sweep through Watertown, Massachusetts in search of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the fugitive Boston marathon bomber, was seeing all this war pouring through quaint suburban streets.

Comments | 7,724 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 19, 2013

The Lessons of the Bombing Are Clear to These People: Boston Needs More AR-15s

Politicians finally have enough material to begin exploiting the Boston marathon bombing. Immigration, plus a little guns.

Comments | 6,179 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 19, 2013

The U.S. Anti-Muslim Crowd Is Quite Pleased with Itself

The suspected Boston marathon bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsaraev, are Muslim.Were their actions motivated by religion? And if it was, were they part of an organized radical Islamist group? We don't know. But that doesn't matter to a segment of anti-Islam bloggers who are latching onto the sparse biographical details as vindication.

Comments | 28,384 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 18, 2013

So Much for the Hunt for a 'Dark-Skinned Male'

Unlike the the 17-year-old track star of Moroccan descent featured on the front page of Thursday's New York Post, the immediate reaction to the FBI's release of photos of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing was how normal these guys looked. Which, after two days of false reports, sounded a lot like code for: they don't look Middle Eastern.

Comments | 19,067 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 18, 2013

Being 'Sweet and Nice' Is Driving the DG Sorority Sisters at Maryland to Madness

A profane and occasionally ALL-CAPS email to the sorority's listserv offers a compelling (and funny) portrait of a woman driven into social anxiety and paranoia by her club's middling social success, no matter which way success has been measured at UM and beyond since the letter went public.

Comments | 29,616 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 18, 2013

The Rapidly Diminishing Returns of Outrage at Guns

There was mass fury at the Senate for filibustering a weakened gun background checks bill that had been driven by the outrage that one man with an AR-15 could kill 20 schoolchildren. What's more interesting is whether all that rage will end up changing anything on its own.

Comments | 4,815 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 17, 2013

MarcoPhone Turns Out Not to Exist Either

One of the main complaints some conservatives have against immigration reform is that a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants would create millions of moochers living off federal benefits. And what is the No. 1 symbol of American moocherdom? The Obamaphone.

Comments | 1,922 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 17, 2013

Louie Gohmert Wins the Race to Say Something Offensive About Boston

The race was not a sprint, but a long, hard slog. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert won that race today, but he could never have done it without the hard work of others who went before him.

Comments | 6,917 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 17, 2013

When IEDs Come Home: What Boston Looked Like to Iraq Veterans

What happened at the Boston Marathon was inconceivable, horrific, shocking to most who have seen the videos and photos, but there are lots of Americans for whom the scene was appallingly familiar: veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Comments | 23,607 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 16, 2013

Pretty Please Politicize the Boston Marathon Bombing

No one wants to politicize the Boston Marathon bombing. But a political opponent politicizing the Boston Marathon bombing? Well, that might be useful!

Comments | 3,144 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 16, 2013

The Weird Math of the Immigration Bill

The Senate immigration bill has some weird math. While pundits and politicians of both parties are nearly unanimous in agreeing we need immigration reform, the bill seems crafted more to send a statement than to actually make the economy or human lives better.

Comments | 2,876 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 15, 2013

After a Bombing in Boston, All Quiet In Washington

President Obama did call the bombing of the Boston marathon "terrorism" in a brief statement on the event Monday, saying instead, "We still do not know who did this or why. People shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts."

Comments | 26,447 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 15, 2013

A Guide to Keeping Your Post-Obama Career Classy

After years of long hours and low-ish pay, many of President Obama's old aides are cashing in on their political connections. But as The New Republic's Noam Scheiber explains, there's some squabbling among the Obama alumni network over who looks like a crass sellout and who's a classy sellout.

Comments | 749 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 15, 2013

No One's Paying Attention to Michele Bachmann on Immigration This Time

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio went on seven Sunday talk shows to pitch a bipartisan immigration reform deal, while a handful of Republican lawmakers famous for their wacky cable news interviews can't get any attention.

Comments | 5,734 Views

By Elspeth Reeve and Philip Bump

Apr 12, 2013

Cocktail Crossfire

Is a World Without Fleet Week a World You'd Want to Live in?

Late this week we learned that the sequester may bring an end to the annual tradition of Fleet Week, in which members of the Navy and Marines swarm New York. Is this a good thing? We discuss, with unadulterated weekend joy — and posters.

Comments | 5,266 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 12, 2013

Yo! GOP Raps: The Greatest Hits of Republican Hip Hop

Former Bush adviser Dana Perino made America cringe by rapping a response to Jay-Z's rapped defense of his trip to Cuba,  following in the footsteps of many conservatives who have rapped before. They have never not made us cringe.

Comments | 1,092 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 12, 2013

Paul Ryan Makes a Pretty Good Case for Keeping Abortion Legal

Ryan gave a speech Thursday night insisting that Republicans not cave on their opposition to abortion, but he ended up making the case for why abortion should remain legal.

Comments | 3,823 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 11, 2013

'The Bible' Would Have Fit Right in at Fox News

Rupert Murdoch wanted Fox News to air The Bible, the hit miniseries on History with an Obama-esque Satan. But Murdoch and Survivor bigwig Mark Burnett couldn't come to an agreement on the money or the rights. This is an unsettling revelation.

Comments | 1,110 Views

By Elspeth Reeve and Philip Bump

Apr 11, 2013

Chart of the Day

A Map Showing the Country's Sudden Move Towards Marriage Equality

Gay marriage is suddenly popular. But what our map GIF shows is that this wave of support for gay rights follows two large anti-gay rights wave, first under President Bill Clinton and then under President George W. Bush. 

Comments | 24,777 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 11, 2013

Obama's Agenda Was Only Mostly Dead

Senators have come up with compromises on immigration and gun control even though Washington was supposed to be paralyzed and President Obama's agenda was supposed to be pretty much dead, smothered by the fiscal cliff, the sequester, and the NRA.

Comments | 368 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 10, 2013

The Bipartisan Immigration Plan Is 20 Years of Torture

An analysis on the early details of the "gang of eight" proposal shows a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that is an intentionally arduous bureaucratic labyrinth that will take two decades years to crawl through.

Comments | 736 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 10, 2013

Kansas Politician Is the Latest Accidental Racist After Dropping the N-Word

After country star Brad Paisley kicked off a national conversation about white guys who don't want to be called racist just because they say or wear things with racist connotations, we find a fascinating case study in Salina, Kansas, where a county commissioner suggested the county should avoid "n— rigging" repairs to a local building.

Comments | 3,495 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 10, 2013

Rand Paul's Twisted History Blames GOP Race Problem on Depression-Era Gifts

Rand Paul's explanation for how Republicans lost the support of black voters, at a Howard University speech Wednesday, sounded a lot like Mitt Romney's explanation for why he lost the 2012 election — that Obama won because he offered "gifts." Rand Paul's explanation is wrong.

Comments | 5,937 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 10, 2013

Even Congress Is Too Bored by the Budget Battle to Pay Attention to Details

Many Republicans were unaware that Obama's been offering chained CPI for a while. It seems they were also unaware that Grover Norquist, conservatives' No. 1 anti-tax activist and an important GOP ally for decades, opposes chained CPI as a bad deal and a tax increase.

Comments | 920 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 10, 2013

Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton & Twitter: The Awkward Marriage of Insecurity

In addition to admitting his run for mayor, Weiner admits he got caught up in the thrill of social media, which allows regular citizens to interact with politicians in a way that's never been possible before. It feels very democratic. But sometimes it also feels like you've seen a kind of desperation that you shouldn't have seen.

Comments | 2,881 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 9, 2013

Why is Immigration Reform So Hard If It Looks So Unanimous?

The Senate will release a bipartisan immigration reform bill by the end of the week — maybe. The "gang of eight" can't even agree on whether they'll come to an agreement in time. But you wouldn't know that, watching the kook-free coverage of the immigration debate.

Comments | 4,405 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 9, 2013

Brad Paisley Is Still Happy About His 'Accidental' Racism

Why did country star Brad Paisley write the song "Accidental Racist"? Because he thinks it's time musicians step in to have a national conversation about race.

Comments | 3,260 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 9, 2013

Rand Paul Confronts the GOP's Race Problem

As the 2016 contender, GOP libertarian spokesman, and son of Ron prepares to give a speech at Howard University about the history of black voters and the Republican Party, it's impossible not to be curious about which story he decides to tell: the one in which the GOP just forgot to campaign for black votes, or the one in which the GOP made a bad bet on racism and is trying to fix it.


Comments | 3,427 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 8, 2013

Accidental Racists and More: A Field Guide to the Racists of America

Do you think racists are all the same? You are wrong. While racism is pretty much just racism there are so many different species of racists.

Comments | 56,539 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 8, 2013

Chart of the Day

A Map That Shows the Dramatic Spread of Legal Weed in the U.S.

Looking at the recent spread of liberalized marijuana laws across the United States, it's hard not to think we're entering some kind of Weed Spring. The latest state to act is Maryland, where on Monday the state senate approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana by 42 to 4, sending it to Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is expected to sign it into law.

Comments | 96,211 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 8, 2013

Republicans Want Conservative Fundraisers to Stop Scaring Their Moms

A new battle is raging in the conservative civil war over something that has long felt fundamental to organizing the GOP: the crazy right-wing email forward.

Comments | 9,190 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 5, 2013

Women Haven't Been Having It All Since at Least 1939

Modern women face a stark choice: either give up their careers early to have loving families or die alone and be eaten by their pets. But we feel we must point out that this modern condition is not modern at all.

Comments | 894 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 5, 2013

Obama Apologized to Kamala Harris for Saying She's Hot

President Obama called California Attorney General Kamala Harris to say he was sorry for calling her the hottest attorney general in all the land, White House press secretary Jay Carney explained Friday afternoon, after a ton of criticism that Obama acted like an unenlightened bro.

Comments | 1,967 Views

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App