Crisis and Cure: Writing Both Political and Personal

  Like it says, have fun. But be careful. We need all the liberal votes we can get.

  Dude, really...? So this is an old story that I’ve been meaning to write about for some time, but somehow I just didn’t get around to it. Maybe because I just couldn’t quite believe it… Anyway, according to several news reports dating from this summer, the former president of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre and his wife, Susan LaPierre, went hunting in Africa in 2013. In particular, they shot an elephant or two, and apparently made a mess of it. No clean kill, in other words, but rather the animal dying in some pain. But the other problem is what happened afterwards. Apparently, the couple sent the dead animal’s feet home and had them made into stools, an umbrella stand, and a trash can. A trash can? Dude…Mr. LaPierre…hunt, don’t hunt, whatever. That’s your choice. But this is the best you do with the trophies? You made a piece of the one of the most magnificent creatures on the planet into a trash can ? You need to do one of two things. Either acquire the rudiments o

  Not going to work... Interesting article over on the Christian Science Monitor’s website recently, “‘Why did we fight?’ Challenge of governing is wearing down Taliban” by Scott Peterson.* In it, Peterson looks at how the Taliban won the war in Afghanistan, but are rapidly losing the peace. Their “victory” broke the country’s economy, and they haven’t slightest idea how to fix it. Also, when they “won,” and the Americans left, they also lost the support which the US Military was unintentionally giving against the ISIS-K, a jihadist group even more bloodthirsty and unreasonable then they are themselves. There is also the little issue of the fact that winter is coming, and that’s a real problem in a country that has a whole lot of mountains. And the Taliban’s own soldiers, finally, are growing restless as to continue to be unpaid and sometimes go hungry. What does it all mean? Well, frankly, the Taliban seem to have fought their war in the curious belief that once they’d won it, everyth

  Vote...and donate. Interesting article over on Politico recently about how black candidates for the U.S. Senate are raising amazing sums of money. In the piece, Maya King notes that for the first time, candidates of color are showing “blowout performances…leading to an unprecedented cash windfall that stands to reshape the Senate in 2022 and beyond.”* Whether or not this success in fund-raising will actually have short-term electoral results remains to be seen. The GOP has been able to gerrymander its way out of such troubles in the past, and, indeed, seems well on its way to dispensing with elections entirely. But, eventually, one way or another, it is going to have an effect. One waits with the proverbial bated breath to see how many white heads will explode at changes in the government in future. ~mjt Source: “‘This is the future’: Black Senate candidates crush fundraising expectations,” Maya King, Politico, Oct 17, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/17/senate-black-candi

  Not Going To Be At The Oscars Be sure to check out Luke Haines' review of the movie "Disturbing The Peace" on his webpage, The Haines Report . It's hysterical! Here's a quick preview: “Disturbing The Peace” is a 2020 “thriller” which appears to have had a budget of whatever it costs to get Guy Pearce, plus some change that was between the cushions of the producer’s couch. It opens with two police officers chasing a guy on foot. Except that whoever plays the fleeing suspect isn’t much of a runner, so you can see the actor playing the cop having to awkwardly slow down in order to avoid catching him.  https://thehainesreport.substack.com/p/movie-review-disturbing-the-peace 

Terrifying... Just in case you had any doubt as to just how screwed up we’ve gotten as a culture, consider two recent depressing articles in Business Insider and Nature, respectively titled “Dozens of scientists who speak publicly about COVID-19 say they've been abused, with some receiving death threats and getting physically attacked, survey says,” by Marianne Guenot(1) and “‘I hope you die’: how the COVID pandemic unleashed attacks on scientists,” by Bianca Nogrady (2) As the titles suggest, Nature magazine recently surveyed 300 biological scientists. Many, many of those 300 reported everything from daily harassment to overt death threats. Why were they attacked? Because they spoke out about Covid, advocated for masks or vaccines, and in some cases revealed the failures of non-traditional treatments (like horse de-wormers).   Researchers reported online attacks, such as being “besieged with images of hanged people and coffins, with attackers saying he [the scientist] would be s

Not there yet, but on the road to it. There is a fascinating article over on the Guardian’s site by Cas Mudde, “Surprised to see US Republicans cozying up to the European far right? Don’t be.”* Mudde is a Dutch political scientist who writes for the Guardian on Far Right and American issues. He is also a professor at the University of Georgia.   In this piece, Mudde writes about the confusing, but surprisingly close connections between American Republicans and European “national conservatives,” some of whom look very much like proto-Fascists. He notes, for example, that Ted Cruz recently addressed via video link some kindred souls in Spain’s Vox Party, a frankly Integralist new political party that seeks to unite Rightists everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world. However, Mudde says that we needn’t worry too much about a tight partnership between American reactionaries and European quasi-fascists. For one thing, the American right, he says, is still far too insular. It thinks it has

What certain people on the Right have in mind... This is another entry which originally appeared on my personal blog . However, once more, I think it is still relevant. So I’ve been following the curious world of the GOP of late. It seems, as well as I can understand what’s being reported, that the Republican Party has begun the process by which we will shed elections entirely. It seems, again, judging from what I see in the news, that the good folks of the RNC etc. are first, doing their best to restrict and suppress the actual process of voting as much as possible. Second, though, and even more diabolic, the Party seems to be setting up a system by which they will be able to avoid elections entirely. In the states they control, Republicans are passing laws by which they will be able to declare the election results tainted or fraudulent, and then impose their own carefully directed recounts. And, obviously, the man who set the precedent for that was Trump himself, who announced in spi

  By Luke Haines It's never really fair to make sweeping statements about entire groups of people, but god dammit, Americans are bad at geography.    I sympathise - I'm pretty inept with the subject myself - but I'm inept for a British person. Or a European. I used to be European, but more on that later.    What this means in practical terms is that I can't, for example, find Wyoming on a map even though it's enormous. I would be guessing at the locations of most major American cities. I don't know where Beijing is, within the broad area of "China." I have only a vague notion of where various African nations are. Crucially, however, I have at least HEARD of all of these places and can circle a vague section of the map. I know Wyoming doesn't have much of a seafaring tradition, for example, and I'm confident that South Africa isn't in the North of that hulking megacontinent in the middle of the globe.  Americans, meanwhile, oft

  I’m glad to see that the Lincoln Project is still busy and producing videos. I was kind of afraid that it might sort of slip away after co-founder John Weaver was found to have engaged in some illicit behaviors. (He has resigned.) But, it seems the lads and lasses at Lincoln are still out there fighting. Check out this recent video in which they appeal to the voters of Pennsylvania. It asks them to contact the state’s AG and demand an investigation into the activities of Jeff Yass, a wealthy libertarian who has apparently done a great deal to Deplorable-ize the polls. So give it a look. And then, if you’re a resident of PA, say “Hell, Yass,” and phone away. Video is here: https://lincolnproject.us/not-for-sale/

Not as awful as I thought? Okay, I don’t like Tom Cotton, the junior senator from Arkansas and the senior representative of the 19th century. The things he says and the way he votes constantly piss the hell out of me. But…maybe I misjudged him on some level. According to several news reports, he may have opposed Trump’s attempted coup in January.* Or, that’s what is said in David Drucker’s new book In Trump’s Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP . According to Drucker, Cotton and Mitch McConnell co-operated behind the scenes in stopping the Putsch before the Orange Putz could win it. Well, maybe. If it this story is true (and keep in mind, we don’t know it is), then I owe the man an apology. And I’m gracious enough to give it freely.   It may not be particularly sincere, but it will be given. That’s just the sweetheart kind of a guy I am. ~mjt   Source: “How Tom Cotton Went From ‘Send in the Troops’ to Stopping Trump,” Matt Lewis Senior Columnist, Daily Beast, Updated

The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You... So there’s a scary-ass article over on the Texas Tribune’s webpage this month. Entitled, “‘God’s will is being thwarted,’ Even in solid Republican counties, hard-liners seek more partisan control of elections,” the piece is a co-production between the Tribune and ProPublica, and it looks at how Trumpian nutcases are attacking even their fellow Republicans. In particular, the story looks at Hood County, where Trump won overwhelmingly in 2020, with a good 81% of the vote. But, the elections administrator in Hood, Michele Carew, is supposed to be nonpartisan. That isn’t enough for the local GOP. For the Republican Militants of Hood, election officials aren’t supposed to be nonpartisan. They’re supposed to be rabid Trumpists, and to certify the election for Trump without bothering with little things like “counting the votes.” So it is that hardline Republicans have demanded that she be fired. Or…and here is where things get really interesting…that her func

  You're Sure He's On Our Side? So here’s a piece of troubling information, just in case you wanted to spoil your whole day. You know all those very, very Christian sites on Facebook that somehow combine a great deal of supposed piety along with right wing politics? And which are supposed to be oh-so-concerned about the future and salvation of America? Guess what. Most of them are run by Anti-American trolls. According to a new article in MIT’s Technology Review magazine(1), and re-reported by Relevant Magazine(2), as of the year before last, 19 out of the top 20 Christian Facebook pages were actually run by troll farms out of Eastern Europe. Specifically, they are being run from Kosovo and Macedonia. Both nations, by the way, hosted troll farms that were uniquely active during the 2016 election — particularly in support of a certain Orange Candidate who became America’s first fascist.   In short, if you’re wondering why separation of church and state remains a really good idea