Portside

If today’s extremist rhetoric sounds familiar, that’s because it is eerily, poignantly similar to the vitriol aimed squarely at John F. Kennedy during his presidency. And just like today, Texans were leading what some of them saw as a moral crusade. To find the very roots of the tea party of 2013, just go back to downtown Dallas in 1963, back to the months and weeks leading to the Kennedy assassination.

Progressive organizing was indeed crucial to changing the filibuster, with Senators like Merkley and Udall working the inside game while the outside groups got the public riled up. Many Democratic senators—including Reid—didn’t want to do rules reform back in 2009 when the GOP began its unprecedented obstruction, and it took a lot of convincing.

Yes, this is a politically difficult moment for President Obama. But everyone needs to chill out.

If the Tea Party is going for a smaller party that's more pure, they're not necessarily deterred by getting beaten. [With incidents like the shutdown,] they just feel like they got sold out, so they redouble their efforts. At some point, this process will curdle on itself and collapse, but I don't think we've reached that point yet. I think the Tea Party's going to keep fighting. If the Republican caucus in Iowa for president was next week, I think Ted Cruz would win it.

Jon Stewart -- Affordable Horror Story. Liquid Art. Canned Heat -- Woodstock Boogie. Burn: Detroit Firefighter Documentary. Professor Louie -- What Does it Mean to be Working Class?

When rich people and poor people disagree on policy, the rich people win.

Former North Carolina GOP precinct chair Don Yelton stirred controversy with his racially charged interview on The Daily Show about the state's voter ID law, but are his views on the law really out of line with the party's?