From Pine View Farm

Political Theatre category archive

A Tune for the Times 0

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Republican Thought Police 0

Now they are coming after the Smithsonian.

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A Divider, Not a Uniter, Reprise 0

Steve M. points out that both sides don’t. A snippet; follow the link for the rest.

Mainstream journalists and pundits decry “toxic partisanship” in America without ever recognizing the fact that the Republican Party and its agents treat the generation of toxic partisanship as a primary goal. They wake up every morning, sip their coffee, open their laptops, and think, How can I make my audience hate Democrats and liberals today? Every news story must be recast so that their political enemies are the villains, while they are either victims or heroes.

And I think we can thank Newt Gingrich for embracing this strategy and making it the Republican modus operandi over three decades ago.

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The Historical Scholar 0

PoliticalProf marvels at Donald Trump’s grasp of the past.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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An Accidental Truth-Teller 0

See mouth. Insert foot.

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The Me Veneration 0

The Rude One looks at Donald Trump’s conduct and concludes

There is no United States for Trump. There is only him, and his every action as president demonstrates that.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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The Voter Fraud Fraudsters 0

Steve M. decodes de code.

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Jingo Jangles 0

At the Psychology Today website, Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bavel wonder at what point national pride morphs into a form of what they refer to a national narcissism. Methinks it a timely and worthwhile read in these Trumpled times. Here’s a tiny bit:

In one study, researchers asked people whether they would be willing to conspire against fellow citizens if they held power, for example, by wiretapping them or spreading false information. At first, strong national identification seemed linked to greater willingness to conspire against in-group members?—?which is a bit of a shocking behavior for people who say they truly care about the group.

But here’s the twist: Once the researchers disentangled the healthy form of national identification from the narcissistic one (by putting them both in the same analyses), they found that people who felt a genuine bond with their nation were actually less willing to conspire against fellow citizens. National narcissists, on the other hand, were the ones willing to wiretap and lie. In short, these types of social identity predicted the exact opposite pattern of results.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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The Crypto Con 0

PoliticalProf.

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Tool Time 0

David discusses J. D. Vance’s (somewhat poorly received) attempt to use America’s military as props for his propaganda. (Warning: Very short promo about halfway through.)

Afterthought:

That the pforces did not seem to pfall for his pfiffel gives me a straw at which to grasp

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A Divider, Not a Uniter 0

In the Las Vegas Sun, Tom Harper points out that that has been the long-standing strategy of today’s Republican Party.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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A Tune for the Time 0

Warning: Short promo at about the one minute mark.

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The Me Veneration 0

Trump stands before an

Click for the original image.

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All the News that Fits 0

Josh Gay delights in a rare event: A Fox News apology. And he notes a number of times when Fox has–er–broadcast “news” reports of questionable veracity without facing a requirement to accept responsibility for facilitating fabrications.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Paul Krugman:  It's basically day after day of scandals as big or bigger than Teapot Dome.  Our corrupt grandfathers, great-grandfathers were pikes compared with this, just as the Gilded Age robber barons were pikers compared with the modern-day tech bros.  This is obviously not good.  It's actually quite horrifyingg.  How did we so quicely descent into becoming a truly massively corrupt country on a level tha we used to think of as being associated only with tinpot dictators in the third world?

Via Job’s Anger.

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A Tune for the Times 0

Warning: Mild language.

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Checks and Balances 0

I think that the Supreme Supremacist Court’s reasoning in this case is quite clear.

“Well,” said the injustices, “we already have an executive that’s unbalanced. Let’s go all the way and have one that’s unchecked.”

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