Growing up in black America and old enough to remember, pridefully watching many blacks do something for the first time embeds possibilities in one’s historical eye. Two of the icons of my youth passed away over the weekend, William Felton Russell and Grace Dell Nichols. They are better known as...
What could be possibly more American than a group of cranky a-holes, fighting for their God-given right to spread deadly diseases at fast food restaurants? That’s peak 2021, folks; MAGA mites always save the best for last. As much as I’d like to dump most Burger King food into Boston Harbor (still a far...
I took a moment, in the interest of “fair and balanced” reporting, to tune into Fox News’ coverage of the opening of the 1/6 Committee hearing, last week. Of course, the scrolling chyron across the bottom of the screen calling it the Pelosi Committee was an obvious attempt to prejudice...
Let’s hope he does another two-hour snore-fest speech. “Trump to speak at CPAC conference in Florida next week: he plans to directly attack President Biden’s new immigration plan and will talk about the future of the Republican Party, a source familiar with his speech said.” The usual lies and perhaps...
How did I miss this? In a recent column on the intractable assholery of conservative Republicans, The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent noted a conversation that the ambulatory Ed Gein lamp known as Steve Bannon recently had with a Boston audience. Seems Bannon has a wild plan that, unfortunately for him, would depend on Donald...
Rachel Campos-Duffy is a former reality star … and some other things. Her husband, Sean, is a former GOP congressman from Hayward, Wisconsin, which is way, way up north. I’ve been to northern Wisconsin. I know northern Wisconsin pretty well. And I can tell you with some confidence that most northern Wisconsin...
“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.” ~ Aristotle It is a fact that the biggest threat to our species is not climate change, though it will likely end much of what we experience today, but rather our war on bio-diversity. Bio-diversity is under attack from...
It seems clear that Trump will continue to be a Russian asset, with the bonus of classified information transferred even beyond his presidency. A new book by Craig Unger features a former KGB spy, Yuri Shvets as a source. …Trump first appeared on the Russians’ radar in 1977 when he...
I recently came across a typical Twitter argument about the CIA promoting modern art as propaganda. The usual distorting tweet-discourse occurred but what remained are somewhat paranoid discussions of whether the CIA supported Modern Art. They really didn’t, as much as they supported US propaganda in general. The argument about CIA and Art evolved...
A former member of U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ (R. ME) staff released a very compelling op-ed piece in the Press Herald where she talks about how she was date raped by her boyfriend and another man. She explains how getting her job working Collins helped her cope and move on...
“Increase in cases is accelerating with no signs of abating. Hospitalizations already increasing. Reasonable conclusion – deaths too will follow.” If Trump wins and continues his dissonant herd immunity ‘policy’, over 100,000 excess deaths will occur in addition to the Trump Death Clock. x View this post on Instagram Don't...
Assuming that there will be some violent provocations, we should encourage all deescalation efforts for election week, regardless of the vote outcomes. We’ve now seen the potential for serious planned electoral violence with the attempts on the governor of Michigan and the mayor of Wichita. We’ve also seen long-term confrontations in...
The Trump campaign goes virtual and now may attempt a national address to get more free media even after spreading the Trump virus at a fundraiser Thursday. Contact tracing may go back to the Amy Coney Barrett SCOTUS nominee announcement as the super-spreader event, even as Hope Hicks specifically has been identified....
From The Bangor Daily News: A Hawaii defense contractor who has donated to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and whose business operates in Maine faces federal charges alleging he defrauded the Paycheck Protection Program, the small business loan program championed by the senator. Martin Kao, the CEO of Martin Defense Group,...
The New York Times has a piece out about the U.S. Senate race about how Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon (D. ME) is running a strong campaign to unseat the incumbent U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R. ME): Her challenger is a smooth campaigner, fluent and assured about issues like Medicaid...
Here’s the latest news today out of Minnesota: x Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll of Minnesota likely voters: (9/20-9/24) – SenateTina Smith (DFL) 45%Jason Lewis (REP) 35%Kevin O’Connor (LMN)2%Oliver Steinberg (GLC) 1%Other 1%Undecided 14%— David Paleologos (@davidpaleologos) September 25, 2020 They also polled the presidential race: Former Vice President Joe Biden...
Some big news today out of Maine: Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine is narrowly trailing her Democratic challenger, Sara Gideon, the incumbent’s re-election bid hindered by diminished popularity among moderate Democrats and independent voters who’ve soured on her since President Trump’s election, according to a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe...
GOTV and get a Biden landslide. x The Coming Biden Landslide https://t.co/DB0UYBnxoU pic.twitter.com/ePYMFI9YNi — #TheResistance | Vote Early And Use A Ballot Box (@SocialPowerOne1) September 13, 2020 With a few notable exceptions, like my estimable colleague Jonathan V. Last, it seems that nobody wants to predict the November 3 election—not the...
The summary of today's Trump presser: Trump defended Kyle Rittenhouse x Trump actually offers a defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, his right-wing supporter who killed two protesters. “I guess he was in very big trouble, he probably would've been killed.” pic.twitter.com/XFBtDOHP8y— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) August 31, 2020 x To be...
Here’s the latest news today out of Massachusetts: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) leads primary challenger Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) by double digits, according to a UMass/Amherst poll released Wednesday. Markey leads Kennedy among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters 51 percent to 36 percent in the poll, with 12 percent undecided. When Democratic-leaning voters are removed...
I seriously can’t keep up with the crazy sometimes. Just as I’m done reeling from the latest Trump grotesquerie, another comes along. And another. It’s as if my dentist has gone from administering a little bit of nitrous to help me through a difficult teeth cleaning to sawing open my skull...
Kansas demonstrated unintentionally that mask use “flattens the curve” by comparing counties that had mask mandates with those that didn’t. x US records more than 2,000 #coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, the highest number of daily fatalities in 3 months: Johns Hopkins University #COVID19 trackerhttps://t.co/5v8lF3itDm— Julie Laumann (@Otpor17) August 7,...
Some good news today out of Massachusetts: x *7/29-30— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) July 31, 2020 Click here to read the full results. Past polling showed Kennedy pulling ahead of Markey and out raising him in fundraising. Both Markey and Kennedy have been racking up endorsements: Per tradition over here at...
From The Boston Globe: The crux of Kennedy’s campaign against Markey seems to come down to the question of whether a generational torch-passing is needed in the delegation this year. And here, the senator’s own words to the Globe editorial board are his best defense: “It’s not your age. It’s...
Trump's protection squads may deploy drones in Portland, as he aches for another Minneapolis or DC. Feds control airspace over Portland to minimize news coverage and facilitate drones, as street confrontations continue against a background of DHS attempts to make the suburbs scared of manufactured urban conflict. These actions, like the...
Some big news today out of Maine: Presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden endorsed House Speaker Sara Gideon on Friday in her effort to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, saying Gideon can help “restore the soul of America.” “This November, we need to restore the soul of America...
The placing of 90 op-eds in a range of 40+ media outlets signals some real disinformation problems at work. One guess is that one of many (Saudi/UAE/Russia?) intelligence services have been doing this. This Daily Beast article shows how deep the information battle operates. http://www.thedailybeast.com/… Badani is part of a...
The real question is whether Republicans are really the “unnerved who have long enabled him but now fear losing power and forever associating their party with his racial animus.” Leaning on a culture war requires the power of a reactionary populism that can keep intimidating and oppressing people on the basis...
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) can (but not will) save the US economy. What with the White House Council of Economic Advisors now reduced to one economist, it’s worth noting that one of their econometric models (Hassett) influenced the prediction that COVID-19 infections in the US would go to zero by...
Trump has just issued an executive order to protect statues. This faux martial law applies only for objects, and specifically protects by inference, right-wing extremism. Because Trump wants to sanction only one side of those “very fine people” and protect appearance rather than substance in public spaces. The farcical Trump regime...
Fox News recently highlighted that Moscow Mitch is totally against the “defund the police” movement: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday slammed the growing liberal momentum behind the “defund the police” movement as “outlandish.” His comments referenced the growing left-wing movement in cities such as Minneapolis — where George Floyd died last month in police custody...
Fox News, aside from photoshopping images from video and claiming that they are authentic stills, is simply run by idiots. Being devoid of journalistic ethics seems to be a feature in a Fox News propaganda operation unaware of boogaloos. Falling for stuff on Reddit is gravy. Apparently Fox News and the Daily...
So much iconoclasty, so little time to election day. Darn all those racist targets and their problematic cultural frames, constructed from their siting and historical context, all with social and political mediation. Darn all those genocidal reckonings, darn that 400 years. “Chicago has two Columbus statues and a pillar donated...
Show of Farce. Peaceful protest in the day, now earlier curfews. x JUST CONFIRMED: Denver Police seized these guns and tactical gear from two men who showed up to the protest on Friday. One of them, Chevy McGee, tells me he didn't break any laws. McGee is part of the...
That’s fighting words: x Donald trump is scum for fueling racist hate and violence in our country.— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) June 1, 2020 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) lashed out at President Trump on Monday, calling him “scum” and accusing him of “fueling” racism and hatred in America amid protests over the death of George Floyd....
We are at an interesting point, the necessity for socially distanced behavior and the imposition of De Facto martial law. Even as there is peaceful protest during the day time, there will be problematic police behavior in the evening. Remember that Trump needs martial law or at least its quasi-military manifestation to...
From The Boston Globe: Former governor Deval Patrick, three months removed from his short-lived presidential bid, is reemerging with a political action committee aimed at boosting presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Senate and House candidates, both this fall and beyond. The TogetherFund PAC intends to work alongside campaigns and...
From Roll Call: With Election Day six months away, senators facing well-funded challengers from their own parties and the late entry of a game-changing candidate have shaken up CQ Roll Call’s list of the 10 most vulnerable Senate incumbents. Both appointed Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler and Massachusetts Democrat Edward J. Markey make...
Watching videos of these rallies is like watching a squirrel play with a downed power line. What do these people think is going to happen? Really, what? How can this possibly end well? x The reopen Arizona rally ends with a singing of “Amazing Grace.†The host encourages everyone listening...
Classic Trumpian economic policy, preying on chaos. Trump pimps a “V-shaped” recovery in time to re-elect him. Nope, probably not happening. DC is barely keeping the US economy together because the GOP intends to rebuild it on the victims of the pandemic. Bill Blain does a rant on this. … The...
Received this campaign newsletter from former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign: Hi, I sincerely hope this message finds you well and you’re holding up in these difficult times. I’m home in Delaware, and like many of you, I’m focusing on finding the joy in little things like being home...
New Trump Covid-19 taskforce briefing It started early today, as it tends to on Saturdays, Sunday will likely start later. x Wow Trump, who says he tested negative for virus twice, says he may start take hydroxychloroquine, anti-malaria drug he thinks may be a “game changer” for treating coronavirus. He...
In early to mid-March, the City of Miami canceled large gatherings such as Calle Ocho, Ultra Music, and Coachella festivals all located in the City of Miami. One event not canceled was the Winter Party Festival, an annual fundraiser that raises millions for various HIV/AIDS causes, and LGBTQ rights. The...
Received this e-mail today from Rep. Joe Kennedy’s (D. MA-04) U.S. Senate campaign: Checking in and making sure you are doing well. We're now under a stay-at-home advisory in Massachusetts, so I've been spending my time at home with Lauren, Ellie, and James. While I make a lot of jokes...
Aside from the forced separation of families, The #TrumpPlague will be more than about fleas and rats. The Trumpian aversion to accurate data elsewhere has brought the nation to the edge of the golden hour. x If the mortality rate is 1%, that means 50,000 of the cases from the...
Breaking news: x BIG: the @BostonGlobe, who once suggested Warren should sit out 2020, has endorsed her for president. “Fearless and brilliant on her feet, Warren has the greatest potential among the candidates to lay bare Trump’s weaknesses on a debate stage.†https://t.co/pgRbx5M9Nm— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) February 26, 2020 Here’s...
A short-sighted framing of Elizabeth Warren as the “first” intersectional presidential candidate speaks to some problematic fervor, particularly for a tenured feminist professor. Intersectional critique is, after all, “the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking.”. Emphasis on the...
Received this e-mail just now form U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D. MA) presidential campaign: Our grassroots movement is led by fighters like you. But with less than two weeks until Super Tuesday, we know that plenty of voters are only just starting to tune in to this race. ...
Some big news: Musician John Legend will campaign for Sen. Elizabeth Warren in South Carolina next week, appearing in at least two events for the Massachusetts Democrat in Orangeburg and Charleston on Wednesday. He is also expected to perform, according to a Warren aide. Legend tweeted last month that he would be voting for Warren in the...
Received this e-mail today from Democracy for America: It's time! Today we’re officially launching our 2020 Presidential Primary Endorsement Poll. As a a member-driven, people-powered PAC with a one-million strong community that has contributed over $63 million dollars and made more than 25 million calls to elect over 1,000 progressive...
