Rachel Tabachnick broke an important story this evening showing that the rant by Officer Dan Page that got him suspended from the St.Louis County police force -- was not his first conspiracy rodeo.

The topic for a recent appearance on rightwing conspiracy radio TruNews was:

Retired U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major Dan Page tells Rick why he thinks 2015 is the start date for a series of actions to collapse the USA so that a global regime can emerge.

OK, now we've done it. Those of us who advocate things like separation of church and state, secular government, LGBT rights and self-determination when it comes to issues of sexuality have really torqued off the Religious Right - so much so that some of them are thinking of going into exile.

Don't get too excited. It's not like they are going to flee en masse to some forgotten island or anything. Rather, some folks on the far, far right of the theological spectrum seem to be contemplating a type of "internal exile." They'd hole up in a fundamentalist denomination until this current age of wickedness blows over.

The 2004 Constitution Party candidate for president Michael Peroutka's current race for County Council in Maryland -- as a Republican -- it is still one of the white hot political stories of the summer.  

In recent days, not only did Salon.com publish Paul Rosenberg's groundbreaking story about how Peroutka epitomizes the problem of race in the Republican Party, but The Baltimore Sun and the news site Maryland Reporter have already advanced it. The Sun followed-up on Salon's disclosure of a new PAC -- StopPeroutka.com.  Maryland Reporter further reported the names of the leading Democrats behind the innovative anti-Peroutka site.  The news site also ran a column about how the GOP has "a Peroutka problem."

The Republicans have a race problem, and by this I don't just mean that racial minorities don't much vote for them, particularly in the age of Obama.  Rather that overtly racist figures are rising in prominence in the party. And as this takes place, party leaders are not handling it well.  

Paul Rosenberg, writing at Salon.com has an extensive discussion of this as part of a wide context of how poorly we all deal with extreme political and religious views.

A few weeks ago, I posted about the extraordinary oration of Rev. William Barber at Netroots Nation. (A transcript of the speech is now available.) I said at the time I would have more to say about it, and I do.  Here is a little more. (More to come.)

Barber says that it is important to look to religious progressives to help to counter the Religious Right. And I couldn't agree more.

Salon.com  Columnist Thomas Frank considers how snark can cut more than one way.

What does it mean when being "on the left" is defined as being a fan of extremely partisan entertainment? What does it do to our larger political vision when we confine our political thinking to the crafting of hilarious put-downs of Tea Partiers and right-wing reality-doubters?

The answer is simple: We miss a substantial chunk of political reality ourselves.

Daily Kos  Denise Oliver Velez considers the candidacy of theocratic white nationalist Michael Peroutka for county council in Maryland and finds "There is Something Rotten in Anne Arundel County."

David Brat, the Tea Party Young Turk who recently shocked the GOP establishment with his primary win over Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is reportedly, a convert to Catholicism, but (one source has him affiliated with four different Virginia churches: St. Michael's Catholic, Christ Church Episcopal, Third Presbyterian, and Shady Grove Methodist.). If he has converted to Catholicism, it appears he may be hedging his bets.

But if he has indeed become Catholic, apparently he has not yet encountered the Church's social teachings. Brat is a vociferous proponent of libertarian economics, which is not only radically out of step with Church teaching on economics, but glaringly so in the age Pope Francis.

The entire town of Kountze, Texas is in a frenzy with business banners, suv window paintings and legal action supporting their local cheerleaders. The small East Texas town is just a few miles north of Beaumont. It made national news by the pom pom girl's defilement of their school administration's caution about posting Bible verses at the football stadium.

A number of posts over the past year have addressed the growing Neo-Confederate movement, the advocacy of nullification of federal laws, and even the secession of states from the union.  Below is an anthology of about 30 posts -- a list that we will continue to update from time-to-time. -- FC

I've lived in the Washington, D.C., suburbs since 1986, so when it comes to museums, I am spoiled. Just a short subway ride away is the National Mall, lined with the Smithsonian museums. They are an incredible national treasure.

When I'm traveling, I try to take some time to visit local museums as well. When my children were younger, we never missed a science museum. Several cities have them now. Not only are science museums a great educational resource, they can also be a significant income generator for communities.

The controversy over Michael Peroutka's theocratic, white nationalist candidacy for county council, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland -- has gotten white hot after he inadvertently blew-up a press conference intended to stabilize his foundering campaign.

He declared among other things, that he was not a racist, that he is even an anti-racist. But he was also forced to acknowledge that his advocacy of secession at the 2012 convention of the League of the South and his leading the assemblage in the national anthem -- Dixie -- was not a mistake.  

The Baltimore Sun, the state's largest newspaper editorialized that even though the League of the South insists it is not a hate group, it is "harder to argue that it isn't an oddball extremist group with some hair-raising ideas. That they support Southern secession and rally behind all things Confederate pretty much defines the Alabama-based league."  

And the blistering editorial, like the rest of the press coverage before and since the press conference, only got hotter.

Cross-posted from The Huffington Post.

Michael Peroutka, the Republican candidate for Anne Arundel County Council, stood up for secession and the white nationalist League of the South, at a hastily called, standing-room-only press conference on July 30 in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Peroutka has been under fire for months for his involvement in and leadership of the League of the South, a white nationalist group that advocates conservative, Christian theocracy and secession to form a Southern Republic. Top Democratic and Republican leaders had called for him to resign from the group.

Most prominently, Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan, Jr., recently disavowed Peroutka because of his involvement in the racist and theocratic group. Hogan campaign spokesman Adam Dubitsky said: "Larry absolutely disavows him. Those views have never been a part of the Republican Party and they never will."

But before the state press corps, Peroutka refused to resign from the the League, which he calls "a Christian, free market group."