Join Reason’s Brian Doherty in a live conversation with
internationally renowned underground artist Chris “Coop” Cooper.
Cooper, who provided the cover illustration to the December 2012
issue of Reason, is one of the most prolific and provocative
designers and artists working today. For more information, visit
www.theartofcoop.com.
Doherty is the author of This is Burning Man and, most recently,
The Ron Paul rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired. Join
them live at Hit and Run as they discuss everything from
intellectual property and censorship to the inspiration to Coop’s
radical art project. … Read More
Reason’s Brian Doherty Interviews Artist Chris “Coop” Cooper LIVE Online Now!
Bush AG tells CPAC: “The vast majority” of Muslims want to impose Sharia law
“You may not be interested in Islamism, but Islamism is interested in you,” warned former Attorney General Michael Mukasey at a Saturday CPAC panel of activists so fringy that they were not technically invited to the conference.“I want to thank CPAC for making this panel necessary,” said the Bush-era attorney general, taking a sarcastic swipe at the organization for frowning on the panelists. “And thank Breitbart.com for making this panel possible.”The “Uninvited” panel, organized by Breitbart media, brought together anti-Muslim activists like Pam Geller and Robert Spencer, and Mukasey fit right in. “The vast majority of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims adhere to a view of their religion that agrees on the need to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on the world,” he said. Mukasey criticized the Obama administration for being too soft on radical Islam, saying there’s been a “systematic purging” in the government of the notion that radical Islam is dangerous. Why? Because of pressure from civil society groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) — “both of them a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.Continue Reading… … Read More
Stonehenge remains a mystery as scientists ask: was it a health spa or a cemetery?
Archaeologists back conflicting theories on Britain’s greatest prehistoric monument It already attracts more than a million visitors a year. Yet these numbers could be dwarfed once Stonehenge, one of the world’s greatest prehistoric monuments, completes its radical facelift. Over the…
Superhero Status Quo
In the summer of 2012, British director Christopher Nolan
released The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final
chapter of the big-screen Batman trilogy he started in 2005 with
Batman Begins. Now that all three films are
available in a single box set, it’s easy to see what ties them
together: While previous cinematic portrayals of Batman focused on
the freak-show aspect of the character and his world, Nolan has
recast Gotham City’s most famous avenger as a defender of order,
civility, manners, and common decency—a small-c British
conservative in a mask and cape. ;
In all three films, Batman plays the role of the anti-radical.
Whether he’s fighting a religiously tinged order of authoritarian
ninjas, the chaotic nihilism of the Joker, or the paramilitary
people’s revolution of Bane, Nolan’s Batman is an establishment
figure whose primary purpose is to fend off radical social change.
Batman has no desire to reshape Gotham; he fights for it to be left
alone. —Peter Suderman … Read More
‘Categorically false’: US dismisses Karzai’s accusations of Taliban terror collusion
Two explosions on Saturday killed 19 people in two differentlocations, including one in front of the Defense Ministry in thecountry’s capital Kabul.”Yesterday’s bombings in the name of the Taliban were aimedat serving the foreigners and supporting the presence of theforeigners in Afghanistan and keeping them in Afghanistan byintimidating us,” Karzai said in a televised speech, who hasbeen in power since 2001.The terrorist acts coincided with Chuck Hagel’s first visit toKabul as the US Defense Secretary, in which he was meant to discussthe gradual reduction of America’s presence and the fates ofAfghans held in custody by US forces.”This attack was a message to him,” Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid said in the aftermath of the detonations.But this is not how Karzai saw the incidents.”Taliban leaders and representatives are talking with the USabroad every day,” he claimed.The Taliban, a radical Islamic movement that controls swathes ofthe country, refuses to recognize Karzai’s legitimacy.The Taliban has “strongly rejected” the accusations in anemail communiqué.The US and NATO forces commander in the country, General JosephDunford, also rebuffed Karzai’s allegations.“We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we haveshed too much blood over the last 12 years, to ever think thatviolence or instability would be to our advantage,” Dunfordsaid.Meanwhile, the US embassy in Kabul reminded Karzai that it hasnot even held talks with radicals following a breakdown innegotiations exactly a year ago, and insisted that it has “longsupported an Afghan-led process for Afghans to talk toAfghans”.Karzai has form of making dramatic anti-American statements –including referring to NATO troops as “pillaging occupiers”– whether out of personal frustration, or a desire to portrayhimself as a sovereign leader and not an American puppet to hisdomestic audience.Gen Dunford stated that he had never heard Karzai expresssimilar views to him in private.The explosions and the fallout appear to have derailed whatalready promised to be tumultuous talks between uneasyallies.Karzai and Hagel cancelled a joint news conference on Sunday,although US officials maintained that this was simply a securityprecaution, insisting the two men would still meetone-to-one.They have a lot to discuss, following a string of apparentdisagreements.The US has just reneged on a promise to hand over Bagram prison,in the east of the country, which harbors those US intelligencebelieves to be some of the most dangerous Talibaninsurgents.Although no official reason has been given, Karzai proclaimedlast week that “we know there are innocent people in these jails,and I will order their release, as much as I am criticized for it”,and the statement appears to have infuriated Washington.Karzai also recently admonished NATO forces for a raft ofalleged wrongdoings.He has demanded that US troops move out of the region of Wardak,which borders Kabul, after alleged incidents of torture andextrajudicial killings by US troops, which have been strenuouslydenied by the Pentagon.He also accused the US of directing CIA-trained localoperatives, to kidnap an Afghan student, before releasing him atthe Afghan President’s insistence. The US says that it has neithercaptured nor released anyone.The points of contention come amid a US withdrawal from themountainous country, after more than a decade at war.There are currently about 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan, butthat number will be halved next year. It is not clear how many willremain beyond that time.“We will tell the NATO where we need them, and under whichconditions. They must respect our laws. They must respect thenational sovereignty of our country and must respect all ourcustoms,” Karzai declared on Sunday.The US has poured billions of dollars into training localpolice, army and security forces, to ensure that order does notcollapse as soon as its ground forces leave. But the initiativeshave met with local resistance (with recruits frequently shootingtheir NATO mentors) and suspicion from Karzai, who says the neworganizations are opaque and are not under full command of hisgovernment. … Read More
Original SPLC Document: 30 New Activists Heading Up the Radical Right
There has been explosive growth in several sectors of the radical right, especially in the last few years. Beware of the so-called “Patriot” groups. … Read More
Fringe “Patriot” movement swells for fourth straight year
The number of antigovernment “Patriot” groups on the American radical right hit an all-time high in 2012, the fourth straight year of explosive growth, according to a report released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). As the new year began, serious talk of gun control, prompted by a Connecticut school massacre in December, fueled even more rage on the right, and the threat of violence loomed .The new report, contained in the latest issue of the quarterly investigative journal Intelligence Report, found that the conspiracy-minded Patriot groups, which numbered only 149 in 2008, soared over the first four years of Barack Obama’s presidency to 1,360 in 2012 — an astounding 813% increase. At the same time, it found that hate groups remained at near-record levels of over 1,000 (see interactive map and state-by-state lists of 2012 hate groups here).Continue Reading… … Read More
