Political Theatre category archive
A Picture Is Worth 0
Here’s an excerpt from a short article by Josh Marshall that seems related . . .
. . . while Solomon Jones list the year’s biggest moments in racism.
Image via Job’s Anger.
Social Engineering 0
At The Nation, Edward Burmila looks at the social assumptions underlaying the Republican tax deform bill. A snippet:
I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.
Upon first reading, I knew I had seen this comment somewhere before. It turns out Grassley was channeling the British economist Thomas Malthus in his seminal Essay on the Principle of Population (1798):
The labouring poor, to use a vulgar expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants employ their whole attention, and they seldom think of the future. Even when they have an opportunity of saving they seldom exercise it, but all that is beyond their present necessities goes, generally speaking, to the ale house.
Malthus spoke to a common mindset among the upper classes that the poor were beyond help. Poverty, it was widely believed, was a sign of a weakness, . . .
Via Gin and Tacos.
Voting Is Not a Right. It Is a Duty. (Updated–Kicked to the Top) 0
Your vote matters, and don’t ever think it doesn’t.
It even matters when you don’t use it, for, in not using it, you empower others through your inaction.
You, who did not vote, are responsible for the Republican kleptocracy. Live with it.
H/T Raw Story for alerting me to this item, though I would have seen it in tomorrow’s local rag when it was delivered on my doorstep because I support my local newspaper and you should too because responsible journalism matters.
Addendum:
If you want it to count for you, you have to use it.
Newspeak, Reprise 0
Daniel Ruth comments on the proscription of the Center for Disease Control’s vocabulary. A snippet:
Sort of puts a new spin on swearing like a schoolmarm, doesn’t it?
Just why an agency charged with doing stuff related to health, which unfortunately requires committing science, would be prohibited from using words and phrases that are an intrinsic part of the medical lexicon isn’t entirely clear. But this is an administration that recoils in horror over a term like “climate change” as if it was a line of dialogue from Reservoir Dogs.
Russian Impulses 0
Shaun Mullen’s mind is boggled.
Not with a Bang, with a Whimper 0
I cannot help but fear that Jason330 is correct.
The Descent 0
Lee expresses concern about the quality of nominees for public office. (Warning: Language.)