Truss Tossed, VP Harris Distorted, GOP Violence, Fascism Considered

This is worth a few seconds:

  • In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson explains how Prime Minister Liz Truss applied conservative supply-side policies to British economic problems and achieved a new, spectacular record in rapidly forced retirement.
     
  • Green Eagle has a few unexpected words in defense of Liz Truss.
     
  • Reductress says the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Truss leaves her unsure about what new direction to take.
    Note: the headline is the whole point.
     
  • Vice President Kamala Harris gave an interview, talking at length about aid efforts to Florida during and after Hurricane Ian. Late in the interview, she mentioned that natural disasters often hit hardest those struggling with poverty including, disproportionally, Black people.
     
    Conservatives, being who they are, immediately fit those innocuous comments into something sinister. Hurricane aid, they charged, would target people based on skin color. White folks would be denied help.
     
    Unabashedly American is worth a review only to satisfy some interest in right wing caricatures of liberal beliefs.
     
    Darrell Michaels leads with a crude cartoon of Harris and Biden denying aid to Floridians based on a pigment chart.
     
    Just in case you have trouble getting the point, the Harris speech bubble is HA HA HA (CACKLE) (CACKLE) HA HA, while Biden peeps around the chart with SORRY, YOU AIN’T BLACK!
     
    Sadly, my old friend Darrell accurately represents the current state of contemporary conservatism. Among his many gifts, subtlety is notably absent.
     
  • So much for we report you decide. Fox News covers their reporter asking Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre what they see as an embarrassing question. Fox interrupts her response with
    We wanted to show you the rest of her answer but she didn’t make any sense.
     
    Scotties Playtime has a better explanation and links to what Fox would not show. Turns out her didn’t make any sense answer was factual, completely sensible, and pretty much shut the Fox interrogator down – as in to‑the‑ground.
     
  • Max’s Dad explains why he’s not contributing to Democratic campaigns. At least not until they toughen up.
     
    Republicans are all accusation, way past the point of absurdity. Defund police, release violent criminals, kill your family, tax you to oblivion, give it to illegals, take your house, and on and on.
     
    Yet here we continue with the Democratic ads about how they are lying about me and can’t we all get along?
     
  • Ant Farmer’s Almanac has a brief summary of the official campaign strategy for all GOP candidates. It’s mandatory.
     
  • Dave Columbo knows everything that matters about the midterms and GOP positioning.
    @davecolumbo Reposted now with fewer triggering jokes!!! #democrat #democrats #democratsoftiktok #midterms #midterms2022 #politicaltiktok #politicalsatire #politics #news #breaking #fy #fyp ♬ original sound – Dave Columbo

  • Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson does not seem especially intimidated by the turn of the Republican party toward an institutional fascination with political violence.
     
    This is what we end with:
    Such a civil war would more likely resemble Beirut or Baghdad than Gettysburg and Antietam.
     
    If we’re going to avoid such a fate because we’re all a bit too heavy around the middle, and I would obviously include myself in that description, then I have some simple advice for Gableman.
     
    Have another Twinkie. War is not the answer.

     
    Everything that leads in to that is worth the read.
     
    I hate that an occasional conservative writer is that good.
     
  • Cato Institute’s Julian Sanchez has little sympathy for today’s conservative nostalgia for 1930s and 40s fascism.

  • Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged, reacts to a Republican reaction from a minor candidate to German history before and during World War II: All Nazis weren’t bad.
     
    One key passage:
    …Dr. Matt Keefer has a different take: wouldn’t you just do a little genocide, because everyone else was into it? It’s not like it makes you a bad person if basically everyone else was into it.
     
    Sure. Myself, I get that peer pressure makes people smoke, do crack, sleep with everyone they know and vote third party, but I tell you what, I draw the line at genocide.
     
    A lot of conservatives these days seem genocide-curious.

  • Want to know how fascists win? In Italy? Maybe eventually, maybe soon, here in the Land of the Free? The Propaganda Professor sees five distinct tactics within an anti-democracy strategy.
     
  • YellowDog Granny remembers the good old days when the GOP and the conservative Christian community had a less distant relationship with truth and morality.
     
  • driftglass doesn’t care for Republicans, anti-Trumpers who remain Republicans, former Republicans, Independents, or those Democrats who are okay with anti-Trumpers, former Republicans, or Independents. Because he, driftglass, was right all the time and they weren’t.
     
    It’s time they said so.
     
    And he won’t like them even if they do.
     
  • Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has a two sentence handle on Republican economic plans to cure inflation.
     
  • In Hackwhackers, Republicans make public their plans after taking over Congress, and twitter reacts.
     
    I admit to some bias. I don’t much care for the announced GOP intention to slash Social Security benefits, being elderly and all. And I do have some concern about the pro-Putin anti-Ukraine reversal of US policy. I kind of like seeing freedom fighters win against an international bully.
     
  • Tommy Christopher reports as folks arrested by the DeSantis administration get to court and are found not-guilty. Tommy has the legal reasoning.
     
    I have a brief summary of the facts behind the reasoning.

  • The Borowitz Report covers Herschel Walker as the Georgia Republican candidate for the US Senate claims he is an honorary Power Ranger.
     
    “I can control the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord,” the Senate candidate insisted. “Raphael Warnock can’t say that.”
     
    Sometimes satire comes very close to non-fiction.
     
  • At The Moderate Voice, retired U.S. Air Force Officer Dorian de Wind has a high opinion of Steve Schmidt’s low opinion of Kevin McCarthy.
     
  • Frances Langum transcripts Tulsi, who is no longer a Democrat because Biden is Hitler.
     
    Frances wonders how much of Tulsi Gabbard’s income is paid in rubles.
     
    Strikes me as a reasonable question.
     
  • News Corpse relays conservative outrage at the sentencing of Steve Bannon for defying a lawful subpoena from Congress.
     
    I happen to have a thought:

  • Dave Dubya does see a lot of gloom.
     
    Yes, there is bad news to be dealt with in our country. We’re witnessing a deeply concerning course of events these days. We are watching the toxicity of the radical white nationalist right reach a lethal level. Our democratic republic still faces it worst domestic threat. It can be difficult to believe the outcome won’t be a grim darkness across the land.
     
    But he looks to recent judicial developments and finds reason for optimism.
     
  • There is the occasional biased judge. Then there is a judicial personality so partisan, her bias becomes comically warped. Since cases at a federal level are assigned randomly to judges, Trump really lucked out, at least at first, in drawing Judge Aileen Cannon.
     
    In the Palmer Report, Shirley Kennedy suggests we hold our wild-eyed stampeding horses! Maybe it wasn’t just luck.
     
    Trump lawyers lied on official filings to avoid an impartial judge.
     
  • It was one of several Pacman investigations launched by the Trump administration to investigate investigators in order to prove that the original investigations were bogus no matter what they found. John Durham was assigned to ferret out and prosecute investigators and the witnesses they had found while looking into Donald Trump’s collusion with Putin folk while he campaigned for president.
     
    M. Bouffant at Web of Evil has an opinion on the spectacular unsuccess of the Durham investigation, conducted on behalf of Trump, and on conservative efforts to salvage what they can from the debacle.
     
  • At The Onion, Donald Trump outsmarts another lawsuit by cleverly changing his name.
     
  • Abortion rights, the right for any woman to make her own decisions, got a severe setback with the Supreme Court’s extreme decision: Constitutional amendments don’t really mean what they say.
     
    Now some states are preparing new laws allowing their residents to sue citizens of other states for helping women get abortions.
     
    Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group videocast how an obscure lawsuit about the treatment of pigs might turn back this newest extremism to the previous lesser level of extremism. If you prefer reading, they thoughtfully provide a transcript.
     

     
  • Nan’s Notebook contains the reaction we all ought to share with each new stunning instance of mass murder with weapons of …well… mass murder.
     
  • Professor PZ Myers provides a story about a woman
    denied essential surgery because the hospital wanted to pander to the transeses.
    He does a quick search and discovers there is a whole lot more to the story.
     
    Wait! So not everything from everyone on the internet is completely true?
     
    You want us occasionally to …like… check?
     
  • Ukraine stands up to bullyboy Vlad Putin. Yay for them.
     
    Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit explains how tough-guy Republicans want to shrink fearfully back from helping Ukraine, and why timidity with Putin is a really bad idea.
     
  • Infidel753 covers Russian public reaction to the aggression toward Ukraine. Ordinary citizens have been mildly supportive of Putin, but now ineptitude in the drafting of men to replace those lost on the front lines is exacting a deadly toll. The war is coming home.
     
    A key passage about support for the invasion:
    That is now changing, thanks to Putin’s ill-advised and stunningly incompetent mass mobilization.
     
  • So it goes with midterm elections. Participation is typically low. But tens of millions of us do vote.
     
    North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz has a few words of less-angry-than-disappointed wisdom for the 100 million plus who did not vote in 2018.
     
    One key sentence:
    More than 100 million people thought so little of the freedoms Americans who came before them protested and were jailed for, were beaten and imprisoned for, fought and died for—that they would simply abstain.
     
  • Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara defends the Electoral College. It exists because the founders intended to defend against the tyranny of the majority.
     
    That was what many of us were taught in school many decades ago, before scholars went to original sources on early debates and discovered it was false.
     
    That myth only began to spread before the late 1800s, and then as a result of a single professor who had an unfortunate influence on future textbooks.
     
    I don’t know why conservatives pick on poor James Madison to misrepresent so flagrantly, but we might charitably assume those on the right have been misled.
     
  • tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors finds a poignant reminder that human slavery in the United States was not so long ago.
     
    I have to agree. Former slaves were still alive, telling stories of servitude, when I was young.
     
    And I am reminded of this: a witness to the Lincoln assassination appeared as a surprise guest on a then-famous television game show I’ve Got a Secret when I was a child.
     

     
  • After so many sleepless nights! Finally, I am at restful peace.
     
    The Strategic Studies Book Club tells us what Napoleon Bonaparte thought about the wars of Julius Caesar. In his own words.
     
    Okay, okay. It is kind of interesting.
    Truly, I am such a dweeb!
    Yet I am happy. I glory in my dweebery!
     
  • CalicoJack remembers:

  • Atheist Bruce Gerencser tells us of his time as an avid religious participant. He relates how a young girl who became pregnant was reduced to an object of the sort of official cruelty for which we Christians should be ashamed.
     
  • There are times you really don’t want to encounter @whiskeywhistle98
    @whiskeywhistle98 Dark times my friend…#FlexEveryAngle #period #dontmesswithme #foff #snacks #wine #leavemealone #fyp #tiktokmom #foryourpage ♬ original sound – Alia DeSantis

  • SilverAppleQueen has been knitting. She shows us a very cool blanket for her soon-to-arrive granddaughter.
     

A few tweets I thought worthy:
























And I’m allowed a few of my own:




















































– Podcasts –
 

5 thoughts on “Truss Tossed, VP Harris Distorted, GOP Violence, Fascism Considered”

  1. Thought I’d waste five minutes and offer a rebuttal, Mr. Deming.

    “It is our lowest-income communities and communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues not of their own making—” Kamala Harris said before being interrupted by Priyanka Chopra Jonas at a Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum.

    “Women,” Jonas added.

    “Absolutely,” Harris replied. “And so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality but we also need to fight for equity, understanding not everyone starts out in the same place and if we want people to be in an equal place sometimes we have to take into account disparities and do that work.”

    Christina Pushaw, rapid response director for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ reelection campaign, disputed Harris’s comments.

    “This is false. @VP’s rhetoric is causing undue panic and must be clarified. FEMA Individual Assistance is already available to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of race or background,” Pushaw tweeted. Pushaw reiterated that aid was being distributed regardless of race or background in multiple tweets Friday night.

    Let me reiterate, “And so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity…”

    Yeah, no idea how those evil conservatives and so many of those Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian would misinterpret Harris there and think aid would go to anyone in need, and not based on equity/color!

    1. Good old Darrell. Pushing white identity grievance politics for all he’s worth.

      No wonder most Trumpists actually believe THEY are the “real victims” of racism.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/29/more-than-half-republicans-think-minorities-are-favored-over-whites-united-states/?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F340ba64%2F60dc57f79d2fda8060ef79e9%2F596d1b4fae7e8a44e7ffe1ed%2F26%2F54%2F60dc57f79d2fda8060ef79e9

      “More than half of Republicans think minorities are favored over Whites in the United States”

      Better ban CRT.

      It’s NOT about individual racism, and NOT taught in primary schools. But hey, the white Right has exclusive privilege and authority to make ALL judgments on racism, amirite? “Driving while Black” is FAKE NEWS! (And there’s no such thing as white privilege or right-wing authoritarians.)

      Let’s just stop teaching the history and effects of slavery and racism altogether, and declare there’s no such thing as residual systemic racism. For the white children’s sake. Their FEELINGS might get hurt to know the truth. It teaches white kids to “hate America” like all those progressive, anti-Trump pro-democracy types do.

      But America is NOT a democracy, the radical Right howls. Never mind the definition of the word. The Right has the authority to define any term, any way they like. And they’re NOT authoritarians.

      Merriam-Webster
      Democracy:
      1a: government by the people especially : rule of the majority
      b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

      FAKE DICTIONARY!!

      America is pure as the driven snow. Well, radical white conservatives are. With Trump they have true moral authority. The rest should take the hint from Dear Leader and “go back where they came from”.

    2. I certainly appreciate you taking the time to comment, Darrell.

      Here is one independent fact-check.
      https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/no-kamala-harris-didnt-say-hurricane-ian-relief-would-be-based-on-skin-color/

      It seems well documented. Here is the conclusion:

      Scott claimed Harris said, “if you have a different skin color, you’re going to get relief faster” after Hurricane Ian.

      Harris said no such thing in a response to a question that touched on several topics, including Hurricane Ian, climate change policy and disparities in who is most harmed by climate change and extreme weather.

      We rate this claim False.

      The Vice President was responding to a long, involved question touching on a multitude of national aid programs relating to poverty and race. The lengthy question included accusations that minority areas were being underrepresented during climate related tragedies. She began with “I’m gonna unpack that question,” which prompted some laughter.

      At no time did she indicate what conservatives charged. Instead, she was referring to climate policies and disparities among those harmed by climate change.

      No pigment chart.
      No HA HA HA (CACKLE) (CACKLE) HA HA
      No SORRY, YOU AIN’T BLACK!

      Here is a more complete clip, this time in context.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o95OaVB79Hk&t=204s

      Your conclusion was:

      Yeah, no idea how those evil conservatives and so many of those Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian would misinterpret Harris there and think aid would go to anyone in need, and not based on equity/color!

      I hope this helps give you an idea of just how evil that distortion was.

  2. I was going to respond to Burr’s latest comment and how I respectfully think he is wrong, but somehow right now in light of the worry over their Marine, I will simply offer my prayers on the family’s behalf.
    Politics is not anywhere as important as the life and well-being of a loved one, especially when that loved one has volunteered to serve our nation in harm’s way. God bless your Marine, Burr, my friend!

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