Tucker Carlson 14 years ago: "In the absence of any universally recognized standard or source of news, what happens?….All sorts of crazy conspiracy theories bloom and take the place of facts." pic.twitter.com/3BWLbs5Clz
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) March 8, 2023
- Hackwhackers goes all cartoon on Tucker, Fox, and Trump.
- Dave Columbo goes to alternate Tucker explaining how he got to the true story of innocent MAGA tourism:
No idea why TikTok goes to autoplay and defaults to zero volume. Try clicking volume, then reload (such a bother). - Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged watches the Steve Bannon side of the Fox takedown.
To the rest of us, the crime at Fox was reporting what none of Fox personalities truly believed.
To Bannon followers, the Fox crime was not truly believing what they all were reporting.
- Dave Dubya goes into the reasons the GOP is no longer what we traditionally regard as a political party.
- CalicoJack in The Psy of Life suggests that, for a society to function, respect for truth is the essential basis. Acceptance of lying as a counter to truth is a threat to society.
Key example – one of several:
George Santos doesn’t even bother to claim he’s not lying. He just shrugs and wonders why everyone is making such a big deal out of it.
- Frances Langum reacts as conservative Mona Charen acknowledges that persistent election denialism is wrong, but insists that both sides are guilty.
One key distinction:
Sure, I remember some bloggers questioning voting machines in 2004. Liberal bloggers who do things like, demand an investigation.
I don’t remember John Kerry telling us to storm the Capitol building, shit in the hallways, and beat up as many cops as we could find.
Well, yeah, there is that.
Frances thoughtfully provides the Mona video separately:
- Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson seems unimpressed with at least one star at CPAC:
I was going to ask if she was going to twirl around like there's a pole there again. Got my answer. Did she yell like Harriett Johnson in Blazing Saddles again? https://t.co/vNTCMjwS7x
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) March 4, 2023
- driftglass goes back a couple years more than a dozen and proves he saw CPAC as grifters when seeing CPAC as grifters wasn’t cool.
@davecolumbo He cant be serious. #democrats #democrat #politics #politicaltiktok #political #politicalsatire #politicalhumor #january6 ♬ Manke, honobo, everyday, funny, loop – arachang
- The Palmer Report has a compelling explanation for what has become a Republican verbal tick.
- Professor PZ Myers finds a use for the term woke.
Key spoiler is in the first couple of sentences:
The most useful thing about the word “woke” is that it allows me to instantly recognize the lying idiots. All these conservatives complaining about “wokeism”…it’s like they’ve tattooed “LOSER” on their foreheads, and they’re proud of it.
- Disaffected and it Feels So Good sees a developing antagonism of the Republican Party toward American workers as the ages of employment are extended. The idea is to end retirement and to end restrictions on child labor.
- In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson provides an overview of the budget war between President Biden and Congressional Republicans. Biden wants to raise taxes on wealthy elites. Republicans are still trying to define what they want, except to oppose Biden.
Key Biden position:
“Show me your budget,” President Joe Biden is fond of saying, “[and] I’ll tell you what you value.”
Key Republican position:
House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promptly tweeted that Biden’s budget is “completely unserious. He proposes trillions in new taxes that you and your family will pay directly or through higher costs. Mr. President: Washington has a spending problem, NOT a revenue problem.”
Key Republican problem:
But McCarthy and the Republicans have not been able to agree on any of the cuts they claim they want to make, and so have not released a budget of their own. Biden has repeatedly asked them for one.
- Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has the numbers. Democrats of all demographics want President Biden as their nominee: By an overwhelming margin.
- Tommy Christopher brings us Donald Trump who seems quite irritated about possible imminent indictments.
- It seems that our once-upon-a-President is going all L’etat c’est moi on us:
News Corpse watches as mr Trump insists that any prosecution against his past actions will make America’s enemies happy.
Key point:
Trump thinks that any adversity for him is actually an attack on America.
- Scotties Playtime has the links as DeSantis literature guidelines helps Florida schools ban a book about a Holocaust survivor.
- M. Bouffant at Web of Evil finds new reasons not to drink the water in Florida.
- Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group present the case that political attacks on trans people are a cover for a more global attempt to eradicate LGBTQ people from society:
Podcast and transcript are also available.
- Here in Missouri, Republicans in the state legislature are pushing an anti-gay bill. tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors has part of the legislative debate as a skeptical Republican poses an unexpected question.
Key unexpected question:
Who is Martha Washington?
Turns out to be pertinent.
- It is worth remembering that Elon is involved with more than exploding Tesla automobiles and the exploding Twitter platform. At The Onion, a SpaceX crew member in orbit, returning to the command capsule from a space walk, realizes he has been fired as he finds himself unable to open the airlock.
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit considers the failure of a massive bank in Silicon Valley and suggests things could become grim.
- Cato’s Julian Sanchez seems skeptical of restraint of trade:
"We don't know how to adapt to changing consumer tastes, so we're going to try and create regulatory headaches for the competition on the ludicrous premise that people who buy oat milk don't understand that oats aren't mammals." https://t.co/acnZQ3FEAx
— @normative@mastodon.social (@normative) March 9, 2023
And don't get me started on so-called "hot dogs".
— @normative@mastodon.social (@normative) March 9, 2023
- Infidel753 reads an atheist blog proposing that there is no inherent contradiction between being an atheist and being spiritual.
Infidel is skeptical.
Key respectful passage:
The post ends, “If spirituality is not relevant in your daily life, that’s fine too. Steer clear of it while remembering that many others do value it. Resist the temptations to rain on their parade.” Out of respect for this admonition, I refrained from commenting on the post.
I dunno. Count me as a religious person. But I’m good with folks raining on my parade. I respect those who, quite properly, refuse to accept my internal experience as their own spiritual proof.
I do not get many angry comments from my fellow Christians. I probably get more from them than I do from atheists. I don’t mind those rare occasions either.
One of many things I admire about Infidel is a relentless intellectual integrity.
I like to imagine our God sharing that respect.
If Infidel were to embrace my faith, or any faith, because of some fear of a horrible afterlife, I would understand, but I would also be disappointed.
- In The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, Bruce gives a YouTube interview about his own atheism, then provides for us a sampling of the abusive responses from my brothers and sisters in Christ. Such is our weakness of faith, I suppose.
Key summary is in the headline:
Bruce, You Are Headed for Hell, You Never Were a Christian, Please Pray This Prayer
What I find most affecting: Bruce remembers his painful journey away from faith, including fervent prayers, unanswered, for correction.
The offending (really?) video is thoughtfully provided:
- YellowDog Granny was gone, but is back Yay-y-y-y-y! with a few meme-expressed thoughts on attitudes, sin, and life.
- North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz sees reasons for the decline of Christian church attendance.
"The exodus from the Church or the avoidance of it altogether, is happening in large part due to good people recognizing and experiencing the damage conditional community in the name of God can do—and they are rightly rejecting it."https://t.co/vAvllMwkcG
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) March 10, 2023
Key introduction to the linked video:
Author and former youth pastor John Pavlovitz explains why he wishes he would have been more open about his doubts and questions as a pastor.
- Clickbait satirist Reductress relates the horrible experience you might encounter if the person you hate shows evidence of change.
- Some of the speculation we read about the future of Artificial Intelligence is a little scary. John Scalzi at Whatever finds one area where AI is making him very happy.
- Beginning in the Eisenhower administration and going for more than 30 years, there were no laptops, but there sure as hell were nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them. Radar signals from multiple sites produced a visual matrix too complex for humans to analyze and react to quickly. The Department of Defense took electronic computing seriously.
At The Moderate Voice retired U.S. Air Force Major and former aerospace/defense executive Dorian de Wind remembers how he helped maintain the largest computer ever built.
- Nan’s Notebook presents the commonly accepted hypothesis that the sheer size of the universe and the number of habitable planets, make it inevitable that extraterrestrial life exists. Nan doesn’t think so.
- In Happiness Between Tails da-AL discovers that arranging a visit to India is legally, medically, and practically complicated.
- SilverAppleQueen says the movie Babylon with Brad Pitt was terrific. The photo shows her cat agrees.
- Max’s Dad didn’t really want to see it when he was a kid (well…younger, at least) but got coerced by his mom and was blown away. He still loves him some Les Misérables.
- @whiskeywhistle98 finds new DIY entendres double, triple, and quad. The hits just keep on coming so to speak:
Gaaaa – Once more: No idea why TikTok goes to autoplay and defaults to zero volume. Try clicking volume, then reload (such a bother)@whiskeywhistle98 #duet with @mechanicallyincleyend #handyman #dirtyminnd😂 #joke #fyp #foryourpage #mechanicsoftiktok #mechanics #sweetjesus #ohgod #tiktokmom #ahhell ♬ Better Off Alone – Alice DJ
– Podcasts –
Thank you for the kind words. I always try to respect each blogger’s wishes on his or her own blog.
I did write about the “fear of a horrible afterlife” issue a few years ago. Basically, there is no logical way it could sway me because it pulls in all directions equally.
thanks for keeping people awake and thinking (and for the link to my place). the idea of Trump coming back keeps me up at night, especially as the clock ticks faster & faster toward voting day…