August, 2021 archive
Easy Marks 0
At NYmag, Jonathan Chait explains how decades of conspiratorial thinking and anti-intellectualism have made right-wingers ripe for the plucking. A snippet:
These predictions are not just scare tactics. They reflect the authentic ideology of the American right, which treats liberalism as either indistinguishable from, or an unstoppably slippery slope toward, Bolshevistic central planning. But these beliefs are also very effective as scare tactics. Conservative fears that Democrats will usher in total societal collapse are good ways to scare conservatives into buying gold (an especially lucrative Obama-era conservative grift) or guns.
The right hardly has a monopoly on fearful predictions, of course. But their impact is magnified by the conservative distrust of the intellectual elite. Conservatives have spent decades training their supporters to reject the authority of bureaucrats, professors, the media, or any institution not explicitly committed to the right-wing agenda.
Do please read the rest; it sheds much light on dis coarse discourse.
Via Delaware Liberal.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Multinational Facebook frolics fakery.
Those Who Ignore History . . . 0
. . . condemn themselves to repeat it, as Frances Coleman points out in a powerful piece.
Read it yourself.
Recommended Listening 0
Bob Cesca’s interview with John Amato, accomplished saxophonist and founder of one of the most important websites you can add to your bookmarks, Crooks and Liars.
Aside:
I admit, it takes me a while to catch up with my podcast listening list.
The Snake Oil Sellers 0
Seth calls out the snake oil shills.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
He tried to claim that he was standing his ground. Then it fell out from under him.
Milian declined to dismiss the case, which is scheduled for a jury trial in December. Bartlett is charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, enhanced under Florida’s “hate crime” law, plus carrying a concealed weapon and improper exhibition of a firearm.
The Influx 0
There’s no more room at hospital morgues in central Florida, so the hospitals are renting refrigerated trucks.
Meanwhile, Florida Man thinks that President Biden should do as he does . . . .
The stupid.
It burns.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Expose your children to politeness at an early age.
(snip)
Investigators believe the shooting was accidental and do not suspect foul play, authorities said Wednesday. Sheriff John Ballance said the gun involved in the incident had been left at the end of a bed, within the boy’s reach, according to KSLA.
One more time, “accidental” and “negligent” are not synonyms.
The Republican Alternative Reality 0
Seth reminds us that those who are now complaining about the events in Afghanistan are the same persons who made the war, then lied about its progress for two decades.
Afterthought:
I think blogger Vixen Strangely may be onto something.
The full post is at the link.
Vaccine Nation 0
The Charlotte Observer’s Barry Saunders is not happy that he won’t get to see the movie Aretha in the theatre because of pandemic surge fueled by the unvaccinated. Here’s a bit of his rant (emphasis in the original):
Hate to break it to you, homes, but they already know where you are. I knew that even before my recent $15 Reuben episode. That point was driven home three years ago, when one of my writing class students told of a cellphone conversation she’d had with her boyfriend. He’d invited her to a wedding and she told him she would need to buy a dress. Within minutes and for the next several days, she said, she found her phone deluged with ads for wedding dresses and dresses to wear to weddings.
