“Accountability…is not, in every case, a virtue”

by matttbastard

Mike Allen of The Politico quotes from Ron Suskind’s new book, The Way of the World:

“After the searing experience of being in the Nixon White House, Cheney developed a view that the failure of Watergate was not the break-in, or even the cover-up, but the way the president had, in essence, been over-briefed. There were certain things a president shouldn’t know – things that could be illegal, disruptive to key foreign relationships, or humiliating to the executive.

“They key was a signaling system, where the president made his wishes broadly known to a sufficiently powerful deputy who could take it from there. If an investigation ensued, or a foreign leader cried foul, the president could shrug. This was never something he’d authorized. The whole point of Cheney’s model is to make a president less accountable for his action. Cheney’s view is that accountability – a bedrock feature of representative democracy – is not, in every case, a virtue.”

Just remember, kids: impeachment is off the table.

Update: Suskind on NBC News:

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On Bleeding Language of All Meaning

by matttbastard

If this:

[Alan Ray] Andrade met [Angie] Zapata on a social networking site, Mocospace, and the two arranged to meet July 15. Zapata picked Andrade up in Thornton where he lived and the pair returned to Zapata’s Greeley apartment together. Andrade told police Zapata performed a sexual act on him. The following day, the affidavit explains, Andrade started to look at photos in the apartment and questioned Zapata’s sex. That night, Andrade questioned Zapata directly, according to the affidavit, and Andrade says Zapata responded, ‘I’m all woman.’ Andrade told police he grabbed Zapata in her genital area and felt a penis. He became angry and hit Zapata with his fist before grabbing a fire extinguisher and hitting her in the head twice, according to the affidavit. Andrade explained to police that he thought he ‘killed it,’ referring to Zapata but when she made gurgling noises and started to sit up, he hit her with the extinguisher again. He also admitted to police that he stole Zapata’s car and drove away.”

isn’t a “classic hate crime”, then what the fuck is?

Go (right now, go!) to Lisa’s place for a massive round-up of reactions to this heinous crime perpetuated against a trans woman of colour.

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ZOMG 100,000 Views?!

by matttbastard

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning we passed the threshold of 100,000 views. Who’da thunk when this blog began less than 2 years ago we’d have come this far so quickly. One thing’s for certain: we couldn’t have done it without all you awesome folks who’ve linked to us, made us a regular read, and/or randomly stumbled across us while doing a Google image search for beavers and kids flipping the bird.

So, from everyone at bastard.logic, thank you.

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