Newsweek Acquired By The Onion!?!

In an unexpected merger of Old Media with Never Old Comedy, The Onion has acquired Newsweek.  I think so, at least - check this apparent parody piece mocking all the lefties who promoted the notion that the paranoid schizo gunman in Arizona was in some way a conservative:

The Missed Warning Signs

A 2009 study warned that the rise of right-wing extremism could spur violent attacks.  But the report was attacked by Republicans, including now-Speaker John Boehner.

Hmm - do they mean the DHS study that relied on "open source" intelligence, which is to say, their very own Google searches?  The one where they forgot to actually perform the Google searches and misreported stories?  The one that breathlessly reported some arrests from 1996 (which actually ocurred in 1998) as some sort of imminent threat?  The one that advised us to be wary of returning veterans, who might be armed and dangerous?  I guess they do, which means they are off to a promising comic start:

Two years before the Tucson massacre, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report that right-wing extremism was on the rise and could prompt "lone wolves" to launch attacks. But the agency backed away from the report amid intense criticism from Republicans, including future House Speaker John Boehner.

Well, the report didn't mean "lone wolves" such as the Discovery Channel hostage taker, a wack-job who put the "mental" in "environmentalist".  Nor did it mean the "F*** the rich" arsonist operating in Cape Cod.  But surely the Newsweekers know that?

The report, which warned that the crippled economy and the election of the first black president were “unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment,” described the rise of “lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent right-wing extremist ideology [as] the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States,” according to a copy reviewed by The Center for Public Integrity.

Yes they do understand the report referred to right-wing violence, and we will stop calling them 'Shirley' as soon as they explain how the Arizona gunman was a right-winger.

In the wake of last weekend’s attempted assassination of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, which left six dead and 14 wounded, the report’s warning of a lone wolf attack from someone with extremist tendencies seems prescient.

"Extremist tendencies"?  Wait a minute - the report warned about "right wing" extremist tendencies; don't go all weaselly now.

But when the April 2009 report was issued, it was overwhelmingly criticized by conservative commentators and lawmakers, who derided it as political propaganda from the Obama administration. Some experts worry that its findings were ignored due to political blowback.

Wow - if they are going to argue that Jared Loughner would have been on the DHS radar except that Boehner squawked about a DHS report in 2009, they are mining comic gold.  Of course, they also overlook the fact that the Tucson police visited the Loughner family more than once; talk about "Missed Warning Signs" might better start there.

The report’s primary focus was the fear that if the economy continued its downturn, it could mix with racial and political opposition to the election of Barack Obama and the ongoing debate about immigration. The report was especially concerned that these factors paralleled those that led to several incidents of domestic terrorism during the Clinton era.

“The current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers,” it said.

Yup - that report eerily predicted the rise of the Mind Controller with his new grammar and common currency, all right.  And his orange sky.  One might just as sensbily talk about a less-noticed DHS report assessing the prospects for left-wing violence, which warned about people who “embrace a number of radical philosophical components of anticapitalist, antiglobalization, communist, socialist, and other movements.”  And maybe mind-control. 

Eventually Newsweek admits they are pulling our leg:

While discussion has swirled around possible ties between accused gunman Jared Loughner and right-wing extremists, DHS on Monday said department officials “have not established any such possible link.” Levin doesn’t believe extremism was the sole driving factor. “This guy is a mentally deranged person first,” he said, and noted that the mentally ill often latch on to conspiracy theories to layer over their already “obsessive and aggressive template.”

Discussion has also swirled around the seeming attempt to smear the right by any means possible.

 

Comments

[MayBee]

I don't really blame Obama for attending this particular event. I do think the "healing the nation" bit is overwrought. The wounds "the nation" is suffering right now came as a result of his cohorts blaming his political adversaries, causing a rift rather than a "coming together".
In fact, in prior events like this, it was the trauma of the event that brought the nation together, and the POTUS addressing the feelings. Reagan didn't bring us together after the shuttle disaster, he spoke to the feelings we were all sharing because of it.
I also think this WH has a problem with over involving POTUS in some events, which by comparison has him under involved in others. The coal miners' memorial was an obvious run at a swing state. It made ignoring the Tennessee flood victims that much more obvious. Mentioning the death of Tiller highlighted the fact that he ignored the death of Pvt Long. And on and on.

[Old Lurker]

Will Babysit for Board, Porch?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I don't know Sue but she was the granddaughter of Dallas Green who managed the Phillies during some of their best years and later the Cubs and Yankees. Her dad is working for the Dodgers as a scout.

[Specter]

Just back in from cleaning 14+ inches from my driveway - and it's still coming down!

Yesterday Boatbuilder told you about the crazy editorial from the Hartford Courant - the one that features a silhouette of Palin and was titled An Assault on Democracy. One of the things the editorial board asserted:

Yes, there's enough extremism to go around. Leftist extremists in the 1960s, for example, preached revolution, blew up buildings and killed some police officers. Later, the Democrats' open contempt for President George W. Bush summoned, unsurprisingly, a like response from Republicans toward President Obama.

But the left is not the location of extremism today. Radical political disaffection, racism, separatism and the rhetoric of violence are now the currency of the extreme right.

As I recall, the first version yesterday didn't have the first paragraph.

I was fairly active in posting comments with links to other sites showing the vitriol from the left. But today, LOL, all my posts have been deleted, and even though I can log-in, I'm apparently not allowed to post! I read all their FAQs and ToS and from them it's obvious that I didn't break any of their rules. Oh well...So much for the Courant being fair and open-minded....I have an email into them asking why they took such action - it'll be interesting to see if they even respond...

[Rob Crawford]

Ignatz beat me to it.

If any of the victims were deeply religious, leading their memoria...

Oh, wait. Now it doesn't bother me so much: this isn't a memorial for the dead, but a platform for the president and his party.

(And WTF is Holder going to talk about? Maybe someone should ask him if his letting people scream hate-filled rants and brandish weapons outside a polling place "contributed to the atmosphere of hate".)

[Melinda Romanoff]

Specter-

If you even breathed the name Weill, it would get you banned.

Or crime.

I can't remember which...

[bgates]

Well, something's changed over at Newsweek. They've finally gone back to Obama's books, and written a pretty skeptical review:

"Dreams From My Father" is really a campaign document from start to finish, written by an author who clearly thinks that his life is his platform. Obama's story is a political homily about how racial tolerance...family unity and the craft of leadership can save any American--and America itself.

"Dreams" is no tell-all confessional, either personal or political. Obama cleverly uses the book to hide in plain sight, which is what a man pursuing an Ike-like, I'm-above-it-all strategy must do. No hot buttons are pressed....And this insider--the best briefer in the business-shrewdly appeals to suspicions about the very government in which he prospered. To be an outsider, as he now claims to be, it helps to be black. But it helps even more if you declare distaste for politics as we know it.
The book thus confirms what many Chicagoans already know, which is that Obama is a consummate political animal. He glosses over controversies in his neatly pressed career....
As described in the book, Obama was literally born to multiculturalism. His ancestry is a Rainbow Coalition unto itself....Until he went to Boston for college, he hadn't felt the sting of racism. And his African heritage is not quite the same story of oppression that African-Americans know....Obama's Kenyan father came voluntarily to America as a student....
In Barack Obama's world...you love competition. You seek out any contest. With an almost childlike specificity--the litany becomes annoying over 613 pages--he lists every contest he's ever won....

That's a lot of criticism - the book is just a campaign document, he's not really black, he pretends to be an outsider but he's thoroughly political, he's obsessed with winning, the above-it-all tone is just a pose....I'll bet if the coverage had been that skeptical during the campaign, he would have ended up not even running.

[Janet]

Perhaps one or more liked to gamble.

Hahahaha!!

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Apparently, you're just supposed to lay back and let yourself be accused on accessory to murder.

That's exactly what Mark Halperin said yesterday.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Was the little girl Native American? Or part Native American? She looked like it or Hispanic.

If she was local, almost certainly.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

WTF is Holder going to talk about?

He's planning on trying Loughner at GITMO.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Spector,

We are edging up toward 2 feet. It's pretty amazing.

[Sue]

I'm wondering why the prosecutor or the DoJ hasn't shut up that stupid sheriff.

Rush is talking about the Sarah inserting herself into the story. The Note at ABC has it. I haven't looked at it and from hearing them on the Radio, I already know what they said.

[Boatbuilder]

Specter--No Courant Today--or it's out there somewhere under the two feet of fresh global warming. I did check the letters online and it looks like others have conveyed the message, however. Maybe you can't post because they're buried with similar comments.

[Specter]

Boatbuilder - they've actually deleted all of my original posts.

[PD]

Meanwhile no journalist can manage to ask Sheriff Dupnik a basic question like "so, knowing this guy was a serious threat, and having had contact with him before, what did your department do about the situation? Why wasn't better security provided to potential targets?"

Or, "Sheriff, given that you knew about this guy ahead of time and did nothing, it looks like you're engaging in an attempt at distraction by your inflammatory comments blaming supposed heated rhetoric on talk radio. Would you care to address this concern?"

[Hank]

Did the Newsweak article end with Emiliy Litella saying "Never mind"?

[Jack is Back!]

Why Naplitano? The FBI is not part of DHS. Is this now official acknowledgement that this was domesti right-wing terrorism here Th system worked?

[clarice]

Lucianne:

Tuscon Sheriff Dept. Has Released
Records on Jared Lee Loughner
Shows most arrests pertain to drugs & alcohol
as well as domestic incidents involving parents.

Just in time for the why we are all responsible speech tonight..HEH

[cathyf]

If any of the victims were deeply religious,

The judge went to the grocery store on that Saturday morning after attending mass. He reportedly went to mass every day. In Catholic terms, that's pretty much the definition of "deeply religious Catholic."

[Minimalist Poster]

How long will it take Obama to mess up a Moment of Silence?

[Conservatives, this week]

"We have never said or done any of these horrible things you're accusing us of... and besides, you do them too!"

[Ignatz]

"We have never said or done any of these horrible things you're accusing us of... and besides, you do them too! but you do!"

FIFY