Political Theatre category archive
Delving into the Data Delvers 0
Thom and Greg Palast discuss how your online data is stolen and abused.
The Party of Personal Reprehensibility 0
Lance Dutson takes a scathing look at what has happened to the Maine Republican Party. A snippet:
It’s one ridiculous story after another. The party of Margaret Chase Smith, Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins has become the punchline of a very dark joke, one layered with incompetence, anger, and bigotry. The Maine GOP was once a national example of effective and reasonable leadership. Now it’s been invaded and infected by an outspoken legion of LePage cultists who won’t stop till they’ve bled every bit of credibility from the party’s nobler past.
And it’s not just in Maine, folks.
Mangled in the Equifax Machine 0
This is an unbelievable cavalcade of stupid.
The Unraveling 0
I fear that Dick Polman is correct.
Dismayed and Disheartened 0
Above the Law’s Elie Mystal is dismayed and disheartened. Here’s a snippet from his post.
Follow the link to learn why he said that.
Dealing from the Top of the Deck 0
The Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich discusses a new twist in the Republican gut-out-the-vote playbook. A snippet:
This may not seem like a huge deal to people who take time to learn who’s running for office before they show up to vote. But the fact is, numerous studies have shown that the party whose candidates come first on the ballot have an advantage.
Senate File 2346 would require county auditors to put partisan candidates on the election ballot according to the results of the last governor’s election. So if Republicans won the governor’s race in that county, as they did in all but Johnson County in 2014, their candidates would top the ballot.
An Accidental Truth 0
I find it notable that the audio regarding the conversation with Trudeau was leaked by a “Republican donor.” Could it be that someone is fed up?
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Zeynep Tufekci noticed that, when she started watching political videos, whether left- or right-leaning, YouTube’s recommendations for additional videos skewed more and more radical. She wonders why. Here’s a bit of her article:
What keeps people glued to YouTube? Its algorithm seems to have concluded that people are drawn to content that is more extreme than what they started with — or to incendiary content in general.
Follow the link for the rest, then stop following YouTube recommendations.
“Whatever You Say, Boss” 0
Paul Krugman notes a disturbing trend (one among many) at Donald Trump’s White House: The devolution of “advisers” into “yes-men.” The article focuses on Trump’s economic adviser, Peter Navarro.
Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Twits on Twitter 0
Sinan Aral reports on investigating why falsities outpace truths on “social” media. A snippet:
(snip)
And despite concerns about the role of web robots in spreading false stories, we found that human behavior contributed more to the differential spread of truth and falsity than bots did.
Follow the link for more of their results and for information about their methodology.
“It’s Imagination, I Know . . . .” 0
Tony Norman plays what-if.
Mourning in America 0
Steven M. suggests that it will never again be “morning in America,” to borrow Ronald Reagan’s slogan, for America’s right wing; he places the blame for that the right-wing’s own messaging. A snippet: