Culture Warriors category archive
All the News that Fits 0
Thom looks at how Trump is replacing the “Voice of America” with the “Voices of Oligarchy.” (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)
Look! Over There! This New Gilded Age Dept. 0
Steve M. dissects the Republican Party’s misdirection play. A snippet:
The Bad Bunny Hop 0
John Young explains that he watched the Super Bowl Bowl half time show despite having no interest in the game itself (his favorite team didn’t make it) so as to show support for Bad Bunny and disdain for those who claim that that American citizen somehow isn’t American. Here’s a bit of his article:
“Faith”: Let us venerate the least religious — and most Bible-illiterate, and meanest — president in history, yet one who plays the religious right like a harpsichord.
“Family”: Again, we shall venerate the least family-devoted president in history — bedding multiple beauties with wife No. 3 at home, adjudicated for sexual assault and 34 felonies. Most famous quote: “Grab ‘em by the pussy.” In what chapter of the New Testament is that? Whatever, lead us in song, Kid Rock.
“Freedom”: Three cheers from the MAGA choir for immigration agents as they kill and obliterate God-given rights like habeas corpus and due process. That’s next to godliness if the detainee’s skin is brown.
American Stasi, Reprise 0
Farron comments on the Trump maladministration’s project to build concentration camps and the implications thereof.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Bob Cesca looks at Donald Trump’s post to “social” media of Barack and Michelle Obama apes and states the obvious that too many ignore, or, worse, deny.
The gist:
And the truth is, racism has always been the iron core of the MAGA movement.
Follow the link for the evidence.
American Stasi 0
Thom says they should be called what they are: not “detention centers,” but “concentration camps.”
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
UGa history professor Stephen Mihm hears the Trump maladministration’s ICE shaking down brown people and hears a rhyme. Here’s a bit:
Case in point: the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a deeply unpopular law that effectively radicalized large swaths of the American electorate. It led to widespread civil disobedience, the destruction of a major political party and, thankfully, accelerated the end of slavery itself. Its lessons are ones Republicans should ponder – and fast.
_________________
*Mark Twain.
Immunity Impunity
0
My old Philly DL friend Noz has some thoughts on what must be done if the American Stasi is to redirected from their current path of trampling on rights and violating Constitutional protections.
Republican Thought Police 0
In the midst of a longer article about the Trump maladministration’s attempt to white-wash America’s history, Diane Carman succintly sums up what’s going on:
But apparently only the white ones.
American Stasi 0
MIT professor and Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu is not sanguine. A snippet:
If this violence goes unchecked, it could indeed be a turning point, because it will create a template for other security forces more closely aligned with Trump to use force against any manifestation of opposition. In that case, the slide toward an authoritarian regime could become difficult to reverse, as civil society becomes prostrate in the face of mounting repression and the norms against such crackdowns become steadily eroded.
Already, the two branches of government that are supposed to check the presidency (Congress and the Supreme Court) have proven to be highly solicitous of Trump’s agenda.
Afterthought:
I question his use of the term “Trump’s agenda.” Me-me-me-me may be motivation, but I don’t think it rises to the level of “agenda.”
“Agenda” implies a coherent strategy, not an incoherent one.
“She Was Just Following Orders” 0
David hears Kristi Noem say something that rhymes with the Nuremberg trials.
American Stasi 0
The Brock Press (a student publication at Brock University in Canada) offers a case study in devolution:
No Change Agents 0
At the The American Scholar, Robert Zaretsky writes of the theories of Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, who lived through and studied the rise of fascism in early and mid-twentieth century Europe. In the midst of a lengthy exploration of Popper’s work, Zaretsky makes what I find a trenchant observation, one which I characterizes dis coarse discourse:
I find his piece a timely and relevant read.