At the end of a long, fascinating and well-reported article on Roger Ailes and Fox News, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman drops this nugget:

Last week, Ailes turned 71. He’s spending considerable time thinking about his legacy. It bothers him that he’s still regarded as an outsider. “He doesn’t want to be hated,” a GOPer who knows Ailes well said. “It really bothers him. You can’t gross a billion a year and retain an outlaw sensibility forever.”

What’s the deal with conservative terrorists and their legacies?

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Our guest columnist, on this, the third anniversary of Our Glorious Ascension Above the Timestamp, is “Samantha Jake”.

Dwarf hamsters
learn about these beautiful ‘pocket pets’

I know you love them, now learn more about them

• The different hamster species and the characteristics and typical behaviors of each — so you’ll know right away which type of hamster is right for you!
• A quick and easy way to tell the sex of a hamster — you’ll be amazed at how easy this is to do when you follow this simple tip!
• The right type of diet to start your baby hamster out on — not doing this can cause digestive and nutritional problems later in life!
• A full chapter on how to select the right hamster for your home — including a complete checklist of things to look for when choosing a hamster!

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We don’t spend much time on the Eschatology Beat, so we’re not familiar with the Scriptural underpinnings of Saturday’s Endapalooza. But we’re not surprised to discover that, like many things, the Rapture isn’t mentioned as such in the Bible itself.

Instead, it’s an All-American creation of Increase and Cotton Mather, who got hung up on this passage:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

That would be 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the standard source for Rapturiana. It’s also a standard source for Biblical Zombies, since the “dead in Christ” are presumed to be bodies rising from their graves.

And who’s behind 1 Thessalonians? None other than our favorite Biblical fraud: Paul.

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We’ve been reading WorldNetDaily for three years, ever since we became a blog thief Accredited Bloviator. And not once in those three years — not once — have we been shocked by their extremist buffoonery.

Until now.

And we mean shocked. Not “shocked”. Not hipster ironic airquote meta commentary on tabloid journalism “shocked”. Shocked. Jaw-dropping, put down the iPad and step outside for a smoke shocked.

Did we mention stomach-churning? Maybe that’s overdoing it.

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We’re not familiar with David Link, described as “an attorney and a writer who has been working on gay rights in California since 1985”, who lives in Sacramento, and some of whose work can be found in Reason magazine, if you Google past all the other David Links in this great land of ours. (But is there a Senator David Link of Utah? No. There’s common, and then there’s ridiculously common.)

All we can say for certain about David Link is that he’s capable of writing this:

Responsible, thoughtful and strategic members of the national GOP have a long-term interest in ridding the party of the toxic influence that Ronald Reagan first brought in, the first George Bush tolerated, and the second Bush encouraged in the most cynical and malignant way.

Yes, if only the GOP wasn’t burdened by the very people and policies that brought them successive successes over the past thirty years. Then they could go back to being the party of Nixon.

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Arthur S. Brisbane, the Public Editor of the New York Times, ably demonstrated Sunday why the New York Times requires the Public to be Edited:

The controversy over The Times’s use of the term “torture,” which was discussed two years ago by my predecessor, Clark Hoyt, has its roots in the newsroom’s aspiration to be impartial in a dispute that is both political and legal…

For his part, [Executive Editor Bill] Keller affirms that The Times has not “banished the word ‘torture,’ but we are careful how we use it” and avoid its use in contexts where it might appear The Times is taking sides.

Ummm, taking sides in what? Is the Times afraid that torturers will view its news coverage as unfair?

Actually, yes.

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Our guest columnist is in desperate need of a cold shower.

The Hamptons moved to Las Vegas in 2004. According to Ms. Hampton, it “was their [Doug and Senator Ensign’s] dream to always live by each other.” Further, per Ms. Hampton, Senator Ensign and Mr. Hampton sought to facilitate a relationship between their families to “walk through life together,” a term used by the [C Street] International Foundation spiritual advisors to Senator Ensign…

In November 2007, the Hampton home in Summerlin, Nevada was burglarized during the daytime. Although they were in Nevada at the time, none of the Hampton family members were home at the time of the incident. The burglars entered the home by breaking into the downstairs guest bathroom, and they stole electronics and jewelry. When Mr. Hampton came home, he saw that the front door to the home was left open, and suspected that something had occurred. Ms. Hampton was afraid to stay in the home, and the Ensigns offered to let the Hamptons stay in their home until the door was repaired and Ms. Hampton felt safe to return to the home. Senator Ensign said “well, you guys are going to have to come and stay with me.”

The extramarital affair between Senator Ensign and Ms. Hampton began after the Hamptons moved into the Ensigns’ home following the burglary…

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