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,...
Uncomfortable
Democrats, since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, have fought the accusation of wanting a Nanny State; equal access to housing, healthcare, fair wages, and education have been guiding tenets of the Democrats since the New Deal, the War on Poverty through the Covid Recovery Act—not always successful—but good principles, nonetheless....
The Republican Party is outraged, outraged—I say—that Rep. Ilhan Omar issued a thoughtful albeit controversial statement. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” said Omar, “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity”...
Apparently the spree killer in Indianapolis was also a “Brony”, a follower of My Little Pony as reported by the Wall Street Journal. We are in our pandemic (l)anguish, even more confused by a sad shape for online culture. Not unlike the infantile imagery used by Boogaloo Boys, racism and sexism filter into...
Is US progressive politics, especially in cultural issues, incapable of attracting majority support. Not so much in terms of the usual self-fulfilling marginalization, but there are absolute limits to the mutability of moderate ideologies in order to build working majorities. In these conditions, it seems almost certain that tit-for-tat will...
Tennessee is at it again. State Rep. Jerry Sexton is trying for the third time to get the legislature to say that: BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, that we hereby designate the...
Get out. From “cancel culture” to “can sell culture”, many skirmishes and pitched battles are yet ahead in conflict that seem to have less to do with territorial control and are more about subjugating people or at least keeping the streets safe. Even so, the bigger thing will likely be...
If you’re a Republican and you don’t at least try to pretend the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, you’re likely to be castigated—and maybe even censured—by a phalanx of zombie dead-enders in your own party. It’s a problem for Republicans who know better—and I can only assume Donald...
I often worried about Dr. Anthony Fauci back in the fore-fore times. If people weren’t accusing him of advocating monstrous and/or feckless policy proposals, the so-called president of the United States was only too happy to do so. Donald Trump is so anti-science, he managed to turn a 5-foot, 7-inch,...
Even in the last days there will be lawfare aside from the threat to 50 statehouses. Rudy is likely bargaining for his pardon as the final list should be a doozy. Spotted by @abdallahcnn https://t.co/gOkIqohlV5 pic.twitter.com/xyhPjhuP1R — Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) January 16, 2021 “Jared, you call the Murdochs! Jason, you call...
Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave, While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save; But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave, His soul is marching on. Abolitionist John Brown was executed by the state of Virginia on December 2, 1859. pic.twitter.com/AOAIpDQKPG — Haymarket Books (@haymarketbooks) December 2,...
Too bad, so sad, Donald. The occupant's alleged accusations of corruption in the presidential Wisconsin vote totals have made Trump face an uncomfortable dilemma. The law checkmates Trump because he has to give up the big bucks if he wants his recount for fraud and voting irregularities. He has produced no evidence...
Over the past several months the Trump family has consistently behaved as if COVID-19 has them all on retainer. They’ve exercised and popularized worst practices for mitigating the virus — attending superspreader rallies in COVID hot spots and unmasking at the debates, etc. — and have seemingly done so without a...
The lawfare against the ACA now being heard in SCOTUS now resembles the attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Scorched earth and total lawfare, total landscaping. Schrödinger's ballots. Sources close to Trump described his unsupported accusations as a desperate way to save face x Memo to my...
Do you really believe the little turtle and pig Barr and loonie Graham and others will go so far as to try and disenfranchise the first Black /Asian woman VP in American history? Do you think after countries including France, and Israel and even Saudia Arabia have offered congratulations will be...
“Trump's odds of victory will decrease rather quickly, absent a sharp increase in his poll numbers.” Trends will out, and then there’s this bit of unhingery, as Trump bails on a 60 Minutes interview, because reasons… Likely Lesley Stahl asked more than a few uncomfortable questions. This recalls his historic comments to...
The White House is now blaming Michigan governor Whitmer for the kidnap/assassination plot against her by domestic terrorists. Similarly Trumpists think Biden is weak for not wanting to catch COVID from Trump. We do not still know when Trump last tested negative before going to Walter Reed. Besides, who wants...
I’d like to crowd source reaction to the following proposed list of questions — because we don't have much time to prepare for confirmation hearings. The questions are not said with hope of derailing the nominee, but recognizing (very much so) that the confirmation hearings are part of a larger political...
Michael Gerson is a lifelong Republican who was George W. Bush’s speechwriter for several years. He also holds strong anti-abortion (he would say, pro-life) views and he is a longtime WaPo columnist, largely conservative (in the old-fashioned sense) and occasionally moderate, enough that I read his work sometimes. I’m glad...
Wow: North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis — viewed as one of the most vulnerable GOP senators in 2020 — has found himself in an uncomfortable situation after a staffer's excessively honest comments to a constituent were caught on tape. As first reported by WRAL, Bev Veals of Carolina Beach,...
The Military Times recently ran a poll that showed Trump running behind Joe Biden among U.S. service members. It was particularly eye-opening considering that military personnel typically favor Republican commanders-in-chief. (Who the eff knows why, but they do.) Well, that ex-advantage may erode even further in the wake of these little revelatory nuggets....
Like the fantasy airline flights filled with numerous thugs, the delusional election stunts continue. The riff here is on “autonomous zones”. x This is the latest attempt to distract from the fact that COVID-19 has infected over 6 million Americans, killed 185,000 people, and destroyed the American economy. The only anarchy...
It boggles the mind. Anyone with half a brain would be terrified to come to Florida during a pandemic but especially with the Idiot in charge of Florida and hurricane season bearing down. Now the RNC is talking about moving it outdoors. Really? What are these people on? Seriously? Do...
It’s a maxim in politics that the most difficult voters to persuade are the ones who “strongly approve” or “strongly disapprove” of a politician. It’s another maxim that an incumbent should have at least 50% of the voters going into an election. The Mangled Mango Misfit just ran up against...
Americans are losing and have lost their jobs by the millions. All those lucky to have had employer-sponsored health insurance will lose it. Health care should not be a function of who employs you. It must be a right. MSNBC Host Katy Tur: No to health insurance sponsored by employer...
Back when the WWII soldiers left their families and stormed the beaches of Normandy under fire and away from loved ones, they made sacrafices and huge sacrifices. It was not a comfortable time. x x YouTube Video When Korean soldiers weathered the freezing cold in the Forgotten War, they made...
The Economist has a great piece out about former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential candidate. The part that I think always deserves emphasis about how Biden has quickly reached out to Bernie Sanders and his team to help draft a progressive agenda that he can implement as president: When Mr...
I blogged two Daily Kos articles recently and titled them respectively “NFL player & friends asked to leave Chipotle ’cause white customer uncomfortable.’” and “A Black pregnant woman dragged out of her car by a cop and tased on her stomach.” There were similarities in that the racial component was there....
Contradictions heightened this past week, as Trump/Pence continued to disinform the American public. 126,000 people have died. Troubling is a Pew poll that indicates that 40% of Americans think the “worst is behind us” for the pandemic. x President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have repeatedly attributed the...
The Right gets upset when we call out systemic racism. This week black football player Darius Leonard was thrown out of a Chipotle restaurant. Last week Marcia Grant and her family were denied entrance into Ouzo Bay restaurant under the pretext of her son's attire even as another white family similarly attired...
Dr. Vin Gupta was pulling no punches. He lit into President Trump calling his actions criminal and tantamount to public health malpractice. Dr. Vin Gupta castigates the president. x x YouTube Video Watch full episodes here. Gupta reminded the audience that the sensible medical community was urging the President that at...
Today’s blog post is brought to you by Brawndo — The Thirst Mutilator. It’s got what plants crave! So, yeah, as you probably guessed, the MAGAs are maskless in Moronsylvania. NBC News: In conversations with dozens of Trump supporters lined up outside a convention center in downtown Tulsa to attend...
Here’s the latest news out of North Carolina courtesy of Public Policy Polling’s latest poll: PPP’s newest North Carolina poll finds that Joe Biden leads Donald Trump 49-45, the largest lead PPP has found for Biden in the state so far in 2020. Only 45% of voters approve of the...
Ed Scarce over at Crooks and Liars has a disturbing piece up about anti-lockdown protesters in Long Island, New York threatening a reporter who was wearing a mask and covering their protest. The reporter is Ken Vesey of News 12. Vesey has video of the incident, and the cops were...
Political Wire has a link to this Bulwark tweet that shows a montage of some of the times Trump and/or Pence lied about tests being available and about the number of tests; each clip is followed by an expert correcting them. Unfortunately, I can’t get the video to embed here...
I wish I had the answer to my feelings on this. Thanks to Bush and Co., we saw the Guard fighting in Iraq. This was not the National Guard’s job in my opinion but we saw them there. I remember seeing the Guard at Kent State. I was not...
It is clear that the Democratic Party proper, the mainstream media, and the plutocracy has a preferred presidential candidate. Historian Jon Meacham made a very uncomfortable point on Morning Joe this morning that will be problematic if said chosen one, Joe Biden becomes the nominee. Joe Biden does come across as...
This is a Public Service Announcement courtesy of one of the few officials in this administration that knows what he’s talking about: The surgeon general wants Americans to stop buying face masks Most face masks do NOT protect you from getting sick. They protect others from getting sick from you. ...
How insecure do you have to be to get jealous of a dog’s news clippings? Well, exactly this insecure (second tweet): x Trump whines about Conan the dog getting more positive press than him following the al-Baghdadi raid pic.twitter.com/QTk56O3kF1— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 20, 2020 < p class=”is-empty-p”> “Remember the...
As many have convincingly argued, tampons shouldn’t be taxed anyway because, like food, they’re a basic necessity. Of course, in the “good old days” women who were on their period were considered “unclean” for seven days, and then they had to fetch two turtledoves for the local priest to sacrifice before they could be...
Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D. OR) on behalf of Democracy for America: The recent impeachment trial was a farce: when we were tasked with trying Donald Trump’s impeachment, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans denied us access to witnesses and documents. Instead of a full and...