Speech!»

First of all, I want to thank my connect: Faiz Shakir at ThinkProgress. We did it, baby!

Welcome to Attackerman, a throat-slitting blog about national security, Iraq, punk rock, the war on terrorism, counterinsurgency, Top Chef, baseball, basement hardcore, Afghanistan, the perfidies of conservatism, public embarrassment and other such pursuits. I’m Spencer Ackerman, national security correspondent for The Washington Independent — the only online investigative-journalism outlet that matters — and former proprietor of a foul-tempered blog called Too Hot For TNR. Attackerman is THFTNR2, just (mostly) SFW. Join us, won’t you?

One housekeeping note. See that headline? That’s a Jay-Z lyric. I’ve done that for the lifespan of THFTNR — use lyrics for headlines, that is. If you don’t recognize a headline, Google it! It’s fun, indicative of another layer of meaning to the post, and might introduce you to something you’ll enjoy from my excellent taste in music. Most importantly: don’t be offended! Faiz is encouraging me to branch out from lyric-headlines. I’m on the fence.

OK, two other housekeeping notes. Don’t be a jerk in comments, but you knew that already, right? And if you want to email me, email sackerman-at-washingtonindependent-dot-com. I read that email, like, compulsively. Punk rock taught me not to respect any artificial distinctions between performer and audience, so don’t think I’m not paying attention if you contact me.

Now let’s set the trashcans on fire and start smashing some plate-glass windows.