A Grim Reminder

Ken AshfordLocal InterestLeave a Comment

I didn't know her, but I have friends who did.  She made national news this weekend, because of the irony.  But behind that, there is the obvious lesson about texting and driving: HIGH POINT, N.C., April 27 (UPI) – A 32-year-old North Carolina woman died in a car accident Thursday just moments after she used her cell phone to post on … Read More

World’s Worst Lawyer™ Defends World’s Worst Racist Cattlerancher™

Ken AshfordConstitution, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Oh, Aaron Walker.  Please don't practice law.  Ever.  Even academically on your blog.  You're just so bad at it.  You embarass yourself and the profession. Yes, folks, the World's Worst Lawyer™ is back at it again.  Taking a break from his Brett Kimberlin obsession, Aaron Walker tackles current events — specifically, the Cliven Bundy issue in a terribly-reasoned and tragic post … Read More

Bundy Tries To Apologize

Ken AshfordRaceLeave a Comment

He got a decent start on CNN Friday morning, saying "Maybe I sinned and maybe I need to ask forgiveness and maybe I don’t know what I actually said." Take out the three "maybe"s, and he would have been home free.  But instead, Bundy continued: If I call — if I say negro or black boy or slave, I’m not — if … Read More

Hashtag #Fail

Ken AshfordCrime, Social Media & NetworkingLeave a Comment

I love spontaneous protests, particularly when they happen in cyberspace: An exercise in social media outreach turned #epicfail Tuesday when users flooded the Twittersphere with some of the NYPD’s most infamous moments of brutality. The NYPD, through its Twitter page, innocuously asked people on to post pictures of themselves interacting with New York’s Finest — complete with the hashtag myNYPD. … Read More

Not Number One

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

The New York Times reports what we all know: The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction. While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the … Read More

Darling of The Right, Cliven Bundy, Expresses His Views About Race….

Ken AshfordRace, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

…. and they are just about what you would expect: Republican politicians began backtracking on their support of Nevada anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy after the New York Times caught Bundy making racially-inflammatory remarks blaming African-Americans for willingly submiting to dependency on federal assistance. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton,” Bundy … Read More

Denial of Service Attacks

Ken AshfordBloggingLeave a Comment

Typepad and therefore this blog has been under attack for the past several days…. for ransom: UPDATE: SAY Media has responded that they, too, received a “ransom” note which didn’t specify an amount. The company ignored the note and focused instead on mitigating the attack. They are also cooperating with the FBI on this investigation. “We’ve made excellent progress this morning, … Read More

Rewriting The Civil War

Ken AshfordHistory, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Heritage Foundation Leader Jim DeMint: DeMint: This progressive, the whole idea of being progressive is to progress away from those ideas that made this country great. What we’re trying to conserve as conservative are those things that work. They work today, they work for young people, they work for minorities and we can change this country and change its course … Read More

Breaking: SCOTUS Makes The Money-In-Politics Problem Worse

Ken AshfordCampaign Finance Reform, Constitution, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

Further loosening the reins on the role of money in politics, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down restrictions on the grand total that any person can contribute to all federal candidates for office. Today's decision left intact the cap of $2,600 per election that a contributor to give to any single candidate for federal office, but it invalidated the … Read More

Go On Offense

Ken AshfordElection 2014, Health CareLeave a Comment

Just a week ago, things looked bleak for Democrats and Obama for 2014. But then thePaul Ryan Vanity Project collided with 7 million new signups under the Affordable Care Act, and now the Democrats have the makings of a winning ticket for this year: Go on offense. One of Karl Rove’s basic tenets of politics was to attack from your area of weakness. In the … Read More

ExxonMobile Can No Longer Deny It

Ken AshfordCorporate Greed, Environment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Yes, human civilization is facing one of the greatest threats it has ever faced and no, we aren’t going to do anything about it. Or so says ExxonMobil in their latest report issued coincidentally on the same day as the latest IPCC report on the dangers of climate change. The report marks a rhetorical turning point of sorts where the fossil fuel industry accepts … Read More