From Pine View Farm

Political Theatre category archive

True Believers of True Deceivers 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Joe Pierre looks at why persons believe stuff that isn’t true and identifies three pivotal factors:

  • Mistrust
  • Misinformation
  • Motivated reasoning (a cousin of confirmation bias–ed.)

Follow the link for his article. It is a most timely read.

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Extra-Special Bonus QOTD 0

California State Sen. Scott Wiener, reacting to Donald Trump’s attempt to defund the Presidio Trust, which oversees the Presidio Park in San Francisco:

Trump . . . can’t tolerate success if it doesn’t benefit him personally.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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The Other Plucker 0

Frame One, captioned

Click to view the original image.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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The Rule of Lawless 0

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A Tune for the Times 0

Warning: Mild language.

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The Rule of Lawless 0

Steve M. finds a straw at which to grasp.

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The Privatization Scam 0

Maddy Wheelock details the duplicity. A snippet;

School choice increases the divide between students who have access and those who don’t. State funding for education and other critical spending priorities all comes from the same pot. So more money for private schools and charters means less for rural and low-income schools. School choice doesn’t create more options if it only does so by divesting from neighborhood public schools. The math doesn’t add up.

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Promoting Trumpling the General Welfare 0

Smokey the Bear says,

Via PoliticalProf.

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The Cultural Devolution 0

Mangy announces the upcoming bill of events for the newly Trumpled Kennedy Center.

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The Neglected Neighborhood on the Back Streets of the Disinformation Superhighway 0

Picture of a street with a sign bearing a glowering Donald Trump and reading

Click to view the original image.

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It Can Happen Here 0

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, argues that it is, indeed, already happening here.

He notes that

If one were to design a path to authoritarian rule, it would be what we have seen in the first weeks of the Trump administration. For my book “No Democracy Lasts Forever,” I studied how democracies die and are replaced by authoritarian regimes. Almost always the rulers are elected rather than coming to power through a coup, and then they consolidate authority and silence their critics.

He goes on to list several specific indicators that we are seeing this process right here right now right before our eyes.

Follow the link for his reasoning.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Trudy Rubin hears a rhyme.

It must be free verse, as somehow “Donald Trump” manages to rhyme with “Neville Chamberlain.”

_________________

*Mark Twain.

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DOGE Ball, Reprise 0

Above the Law’s Joe Patrice is less than impressed with Elon Musk’s coup takeover of the government. A snippet:

Musk and his band of merry tweebs live in a video game world and it shows.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Season’s Greetings, Reprise 0

Title:  Trump's Valentine to America.  Image:  Donald Trump writing a Valentine's Day card:  MAGA is red, losers are blue, Democracy's dead and I'm king over you.

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Season’s Greetings 0

Frame One:  Valentine's Day Cards for 2025.  Frame Two:  Picture of Elon Musk captioned,

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The Rule of Lawless 0

The American Bar Association has had enough.

Go read their statement.

Via C&L.

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Trumponomics 0

At the Portland Press Herald, Vitoria Hugo-Vidal argues that it’s time to stock up against the impending economic chaos. A snippet:

You know what financial markets like? Stability. You know what doesn’t scream “stability” to investors? Starting trade fights with our neighbors.

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