Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2784

The Last Word On "Faggot"

A brilliant little scene about gay men, straight men and words - from one of the most brilliant comics around, Louis CK. In all this, there is a lovely American sanity - not too much defensiveness, a whole lot of candor, and a deep well of friendship:

The etymology, however, is completely bullshit.

Gay Lesbian and Bisexual - Louis CK - Arts and Entertainment - Faggot - Gay

100,000 vs 400

That's the total number of the enemy we are asking 100,000 troops to remove from the wildernesses of Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Obama's Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael
Leiter. 400. More to the point, even a military that knows the terrain, speaks the language, and grasps the local politics is largely helpless:

Months after declaring victory on several important fronts, including in South Waziristan and the Swat Valley, the army has been forced to reopen...

The Case For Larger Deficits

Brad DeLong's pitch for another stimulus:

To gain $150 billion of increased production and incomes this year we incur a $70 million a year cost going forward...That is not quite a free lunch—they take away my union card as an economist if I start claiming that free lunches exist. But it is certainly a value meal. We are getting more income and employment now—when we really need it—in return for sacrificing only a tiny bit of production each year in the future, when we believe that we will be r...

"It's 3G. And Has The WiFis"

The Best Buy employee who created this instant YouTube classic is in hot water:

When [Brian:] Maupin refused to take the video down because it didn't mention Best Buy, he was suspended. "I
can understand them wanting to, not wanting people to get the
impression that Best Buy is like this and this is how it is when you
come to our store but ... you have to
be able to laugh at yourself and say I realize this is an extreme
exaggeration.

And NSFW. Gizmodo reaches out:

Hey Best Buy guy. Email us...

Obama vs Netanyahu

Beinart advises Obama to stand his ground:

I was in Israel last week, and my conversations tracked what the pollssuggest: Israelis don't love Barack Obama. Even leftists don't grasphis strategy for the region and feel slighted that has spokenrepeatedly to the Arab world, but not to them. But many of the samepeople who derided Obama said they consider him their best hope. It's asign of how desperate the Israeli peace camp has become. Do Israelidoves really believe Obama can bring about the...

The Settlers vs Bibi

Now, they're trying threats:

The Yesha Council, the principal voice of the settlement movement, took out large ads in Israeli newspapers, showing a wan, bloated Netanyahu, and warning him against bowing to possible U.S. pressure to extend the settlement freeze he promised would end in September. The cost, the ads hinted ("We voted for you because you gave us your word"), could be his job. ...

Quote For The Day III

"If the Medicare cuts in the health care bill are to be believed and CBO's estimates pertaining to the health care bill are to be believed, President Obama has already done more to reduce in magnitude the long-term budget problems for the U.S. than the previous administration, who undoubtedly made the problem worse. That's true despite the amount added to the deficit from the stimulus bill and the costly coverage provisions in the health care bill," - Tax Foundation.



Medicare - ...

Pot's Coattails

Josh Green finds some evidence that marijuana propositions help Democrats:

I found a few Democratic consultants who have become convinced that ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana, like the one Californians will vote on in November, actually help Democrats in the same way that gay marriage bans were supposed to have helped Republicans. They are similarly popular, with medical marijuana having passed in 14 states (and the District of Columbia) where it has appeared on the ballot. In a...

The Settlements Are Subsidized By You And Me

Yes, you and I and anyone who pays taxes in the US are funding far-right Jewish settlers and loony Christianist evangelicals in their bid to make Judea And Samaria and all of Jerusalem a permanent part of Greater Israel. This is not news, of course. The far right crazies, such as John Hagee, are lionized by Netanyahu's government. The Tablet notes:

The Times isn't breaking this story; if anything, the news is that this dynamic has long been an open secret. "It drove us crazy," former U.S...

The Wages Of Christianism

As the American Christianist right ratchets up its anti-gay propaganda in Africa, the victims in Uganda mount. A priest who preached in defense of gay dignity has gone missing and the severed head of a young activist has just been found. His body wasn't far away:

Pasikali and his partner Abbey are youth workers with Integrity Uganda charged with the responsibility of mobilising young LGBT people in activities which build community capacity to face up to the challenge of homophobia, especially...