Paul Krugman has a particularly blunt column up this morning: No, Vaccine Mandates Aren’t an Attack on Freedom But the U.S. right is, in effect, trying to keep the pandemic going. We talk a lot about misinformation on social media, some of which — surprise! — appears to be the...
Attack
“Slammer Time” may be on the horizon. It won’t be about the DoJ looking backward or forward, but looking inward to do something historical to maintain democracy. Because a malign GOP is going to try it again. The blueprint was there for a while before it was committed to paper...
I was recently asked; what do you think about the Dave Chappelle controversy? Without explanation, I knew the questioner was referring to his recent Netflix comedy special “The Closer.” I must first confess that I am a big fan of Mr. Chappelle. His now-defunct late-night sketch comedy show, his stand-up,...
Here’s the latest news out of Pennsylvania: The TV ad is no-holds-barred. It bluntly attacks a decision of the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court. And on Saturday, the state Bar Association said the spot went too far. The ad says the Democratic contender, Superior Court Judge Maria McLaughlin, “chose...
Rolling Stone has a major new story out: EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff Some of the people involved in the January 6th coup attempt on the United States government are starting to talk to...
Rolling Stone has a major new story out: EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff Some of the people involved in the January 6th coup attempt on the United States government are starting to talk to...
Nothing is more sacred to right-wing Christian conservatives than their guns. You could tell most conservatives that Jesus was crucified in gold lamé Hammer pants and sang like a Big Mouth Billy Bass the entire time he hung on the cross, and they wouldn’t be nearly as offended as if you casually...
There is a saying in playground basketball games, no harm, no foul. That may be fine for Sidney Deane and Billy Hoyle, but the United States’ sanctity is a different story. Saying that democracy is at stake seems to elicit two feelings, one, that Democrats are hyperbolic or Republicans are...
I have rolled a question around in my head for months; why are Republicans so mean? I have concluded that it is not meanness, it is fear. The fear of betraying the religion of Trump and fear of being called stupid. Having a point and blind devotion to a point...
“He's crazy. You know he's crazy,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “He's crazy and what he did yesterday [Jan. 6] is further evidence of his craziness,” Her words were reportedly transcribed from a phone call between her and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (JC) of Staff General Mark Milley....
[Governor] “If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” CNN debate moderator Bernard Shaw asked that question of then-presidential candidate Governor Michael Dukakis in 1988. The viewers wanted the visceral response but instead received a thoughtful and principled one, one that...
Layaway, on-time, and paying-something-down-on-it have been very familiar phrases in black, brown, and poor neighborhoods for generations; credit was for the people who did not need it. Financial freedom because of race, religion, and status was prohibitive for countless numbers of Americans and immigrants. The constant pressure of having to...
It is usually a minefield of critical backlash, and what about(s), when you compare the oppression of Jews to the descendants of enslaved Africans in America, but I am going to wade onto the battlefield. What I am not going to do is use the comparison of the holocaust and...
I don’t know if this statement has been diarized, my apologies, but it bears repeating often, so if anyone missed it. The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards The Bolding is mine Introduction We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have...
Critical Race Practice. Organizers have canceled plans for an afternoon of speeches and performances commemorating the centennial on Monday of the Tulsa massacre. This reminds us that the early 1920s was a mass othering of America that includes events like the Wall Street bombing of 1920, whose death toll was exceeded in the Tulsa...
Once Senator Mitch McConnell staked out the politically uncompromising GOP opposition to ‘everything’ Democrats proffered, during the Obama administration, the redline was drawn. Slowly but surely, the so-called moderate Republicans like; Susan Collins, Rob Portman, and John Thune have repeatedly torn their knickers on the fence. Collins, for example, agreed...
The Big Lie continues and the Big Liar remains powerful. GQP spent 3 years on a fruitless investigation of Hillary’s emails but have no desire to investigate an attack on our nation’s Capitol that resulted in multiple deaths and a path of destruction. .@SenateGOP republicans voting against the bipartisan #January6thCommission are...
These are days fraught with political battles over cultural histories abjuring complexity. Today it’s The Wall Street Journal and the reactionary path to critical race theory, the latest bit of Trumpist ignorance now projected into personnel policies and the larger revisionist history project that would deny the historical relevance of slavery...
When former President Obama introduced the Affordable Care Act, he made the recurring mistake Democrats often commit; negotiating with Republicans in good faith. Mr. Obama took it a step further and negotiated against himself. Although there were varying views within his panel of healthcare experts on how far the legislation...
Throughout the one-term presidency of Donald Trump, he has been implicated in numerous criminal activities. They include making hush money payments to porn porn stars, collusion with Russians seeking to interfere with an election, obstruction of justice, financial and tax fraud connected to his real estate business, swindling his charitable...
Bait and switch: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) publicly announced his opposition Wednesday to a 9/11-style commission. Pretty much where we were when previous guy got impeached a second time. Why it matters: The House is set to vote Wednesday on creating the bipartisan commission, also opposed by House Minority Leader...
Marcy Wheeler is showing how lawfare is not helping Rudy Giuliani as the Daily Beast now indicates that Trump may be cutting Rudy loose, perhaps explaining why there may be no “pocket pardon”. Trump has blown off Rudy Giuliani's pleas for help as the feds circle: According to three people familiar...
If there are epitaphs for the US involvement in Afghanistan, it will resemble the problem of a modern military against a historically unconquerable country built on tribal differences. The winner will be Pakistan and the loser the people of Afghanistan. In a remarkable and previously unreported incident in early December, top...
It does seem clear that in the name of “bipartisanship, there may be pro-Trumpists chosen who will attempt to sabotage such a commission, because some will accept the same false premises manufactured in both Trump impeachments. Perhaps the most important thing is that it focuses the scope of the commission on “the...
Bernie Sanders opinion piece in the NYT is an important read. It is also important to recognize who sparked this latest round of murder. Palestinian families in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have been living under the threat of eviction for many years, navigating a legal system designed to...
Bernie Sanders opinion piece in the NYT is an important read. It is also important to recognize who sparked this latest round of murder. Palestinian families in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have been living under the threat of eviction for many years, navigating a legal system designed to...
Politico reports that David Cicilline (D-R.I.) has found a new way to put pressure on Republicans who are pushing the lie that what happened on Jan. 6 was no insurrection: Cicilline seeks to censure Republicans who dismiss Jan. 6 insurrection Progressive Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) is asking his colleagues to...
RWNJs spent more time today demonizing COVID data whistleblower Rebekah Jones rather than focusing on the various data violations and network attacks happening regionally, causing panics over fuel supplies. The real news is the ransom amount of 5 million dollars paid to the Russian hacking group. Colonial Pipeline paid $5m ransom to...
Normal tourists to the Capitol don’t cheer ‘hang the VP’ as they enter, but disinformation and delusion are the coin of the Trumpist realm. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), a gun dealer, is Doug Collins’s successor in the House of Representatives. Turns out it was four months, and "pro-Trump media" was Congress....
Short-term price gouging and shortages prompt panic gas buying and hoarding as a result of the Russian gang ransomware attack on one pipeline. Gas stations in several states are out of fuel and AAA reports the nationwide average price breached $3-per-gallon for the first time in six years as the...
Look, this is popcorn time. Orange man thinks he is so big and bad with a mouth that runs 90 miles a minute and filled with conspiracy and lies. Personally, I was always a bit leary of a quiet, soft spoken person. You never know what they are thinking and...
No voter fraud! Tomorrow (Wednesday), while the Cult of the Former Guy (a/k/a the Republican party) House members meet to excommunicate Liz Cheney from the leadership for the sin of heresy — as in, telling the truth that Former Guy lost fair and square, the Former Guy’s acting Attorney General,...
Previous guy added a page to his website, one which mimics Twitter and Facebook in its appearance, because the grift needs to be fed. In a related story, Bloomberg reports that demand for butt implants rose during the pandemic. “Knowingly repeating a lie — an act of immorality — is...
The Facebook Oversight Board sustained the ban on Trump — for now. Previous guy added a page to his website, one which mimics Twitter and Facebook in its appearance, because the grift needs to be fed. In a related story, Bloomberg reports that demand for butt implants rose during the pandemic....
The New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating after two Asian women were attacked in Manhattan on Sunday, with one being hit in the head with a hammer. NYPD Releases Surveillance Footage of Suspect They are Looking For in Hell’s Kitchen Hammer Attack on Asian Woman...
Likely Trump will continue to be banned from Facebook, but just in case, it is worth speculating what would happen if he returns. His general laying-low these days is probably in hopes of getting a reprieve. Facebook’s oversight board will announce its ruling on whether former President Donald Trump’s account should...
Likely Trump will continue to be banned from Facebook, but just in case, it is worth speculating what would happen if he returns. His general laying-low these days is probably in hopes of getting a reprieve. Facebook’s oversight board will announce its ruling on whether former President Donald Trump’s account should...
Like any good con artist Trump now tries to call his losing a “big lie”, because he’s all about the disinformation as he does his lounge act in Florida and now New Jersey. Trump or his media image is the kind of synthetic construction that combines the GQP lie affirmed by...
Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D. GA) in support of his colleague, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock’s (D. GA) re-election campaign: I'm asking you to split $10 between me and Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock so we can ramp up Voter Protection efforts in Georgia, where voting rights...
A little over a year ago, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham postured that helping out hungry Americans would make them lazy. “Very few people would choose work over unemployment benefits that provided moderately more money,” said Graham. Not only was this an attack on those in need but their work ethic...
No one has ever tried to have me killed before (that I know of), but if someone did, I doubt I’d sing hosannas and paeans to him mere months after he’d sent a mob to my workplace to murder me—or after he’d ignored my plaintive cries for help when said mob...