Sometimes seismic shifts are so subtle they cannot be felt, and those often presage major earthquakes. Don’t get too excited here—but something intensely interesting happened yesterday in the world of media bias, and the Czar hopes you did not miss it.

All right, you heard about the Senate confirmation hearings for Debo Adegbile, nominated to head up the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Mr. Adegbile is an attorney who won fame for defending utterly guilty cop murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal is a Black Panther who murdered Philly cop Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Abu-Jamal was found incredibly guilty and was sentenced to death.

A decade or more ago, celebrities suddenly discovered Mumia Abu-Jamal’s name pretty much out of the blue and thought it was cute. Whoopi Goldberg, who has an equally entertaining name, became the most visible spokesperson for Abu-Jamal. His face appeared on shirts, posters, hats, and somehow the idiot Hollywood Left decided that, lots of evidence be damned, he was actually innocent and—ready for this leap?—sentenced to death solely because he was black. Anyway, they couldn’t get anyone to take their claim seriously, so they went onto something else. AIDS in Africa, we think.

Mr. Adegbile was Abu-Jamal’s unsuccessful defender. And while the fact he defended a man who was innocent until proven guilty should not deny him this position—for all any of us know, Mr. Adegbile could easily be a tremendously gifted attorney—the choice to pick him for this particular DoJ job (a) was painfully tone deaf (like picking ultra-rich jet setter Al Gore to head up a carbon trading firm) and (b) simply a cheap substitute to the Hollywood Left—because goodness knows the President won’t pardon Abu-Jamal because he is, indeed, ridiculously guilty. So Adegbile is a simple throw-away nomination to shut up the Hollywood Left…who ironically has forgotten all about Mumia Abu-Jamal.

As you heard, the Senate refused to confirm Mr. Adegbile because of (a) the tone deafness and (b) no one gives a crap about what Whoopi Goldberg did after Ghost.

ThinkProgress is a weaponized political interest group that represents some of the worst cases of Progressive politics. These people, many believe, are the ones who literally write the news that our Mainstream Media parrots on their teleprompters and cut-and-paste news stories. Maybe, maybe not.

But this group certainly can serve as a barometer for far-left liberal thought, and their response to the 47-52 defeat of Adegbile’s confirmation was titled “Meet The 7 Democrats Who Just Voted Down A Civil Rights Nominee For Supporting Civil Rights.” Of course, you roll your eyes at the preposterous idea that Adegbile is a civil rights hero, but read it again.

The title of the piece blames Democrats, not Republicans for the loss. This is a seismic shift, and it is barely noticeable; it is nevertheless important to note. Few have: Charles Cooke is one who who did.

If this vote had been taken last year, all we would have heard today is that “extreme” or “obstructionist” Republicans had filibustered Obama’s nominee. Likewise, all of the vitriol that is being thrown at Adegbile’s critics would have been aimed at Republicans, while the seven Democrats who helped to kill the nomination would have been largely spared. The likely headline: ”Republicans Reject Controversial Obama Nominee.”

Exactly. For ThinkProgress to limit the blame to Democrats…well, that is important.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.