October, 2017 archive
How Stuff Works, the Right-Wing Noise Machine Dept. 0
In the midst of a larger article about Trump’s fumbled fulminations about expressing condolences to the families of the four soldiers who fell in Niger, Paul Waldman describes the wingnut propaganda process. You can follow the link for the complete article, but here’s the crucial bit:
(Open tag fixed. Darned computers expect you to splet stuf rite.)
Return of a Classic 0
In The Roanoke Times, Steve Frey despairs at the revival of a TV classic. A snippet:
In this modern scenario, Chief of Staff Kelly acts as Ward Cleaver, giving Donald fatherly advice, which the president seemingly ignores. Can’t you just see General Kelly standing by the fireplace advising, “Now Donald, you know that tweet was mean-spirited and will just get you into more trouble.” Wally and Beaver would listen and learn; Eddie Haskell Trump just keeps doing it. He can’t help himself. He seems to need A LOT of attention.
Aside:
For all who yearn for that portrayal of 1950s America, remember, Barbara Billingsley was a working mother.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness takes practice.
The shots came from a .45-caliber gun being fired for target practice by two men, Ricardo Galvan and Christian Salcedo, about a third of a mile away, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
But because the two men had been taking turns firing the gun and could not see Ramdass, who was behind a vegetation-covered berm, detectives don’t know which one of them fired the fatal shot.
Once again, “criminal negligence” has been misplet “tragic accident,” as, in NRA Paradise, shooters are not responsible for their shots.
The Destroyer 0
Jay Bookman wonders what Trump wants to accomplish with health care. A snippet:
Trump has taken a hostage with no real idea of what ransom he wants in return. He has no policy goal that he wants to achieve; there is no “Trumpcare” that he is attempting to implement. For seven long years, the Republicans have been promising to repeal and replace Obamacare, while doing none of the hard, thoughtful work that creating a replacement would require. For more than two years now, Trump himself has been promising the American people that he would create a health-care system that would provide better insurance at lower cost to more people, yet he and his administration have offered up nothing in the form of a plan or a bill.
Follow the link for the rest.
School for Scamdal 0
Pap and Frank Schaeffer discuss the home school scam and its origins as a proxy for re-segregating schools.
Scofflaw 0
In The Sacramento Bee, Erwin Chemerinsky makes a case that Donald Trump’s “Executive Order” to destroy the ACA is disordered (sort of like its signer). The short version is that a law cannot be overturned by Presidential fiat.
Here’s how he starts;
The plain truth that no one wishes to confront is that Donald Trump is walking the path to despotism.
“There Be Dragons” 0
The American Dream is endangered by a cataclysm of stupid and hate and bigotry and incompetence as it has not been endangered by before.
In the past, two or three of those characteristics have occupied that house from time to time. But not all four simultaneously.
Listen to the Silence 0
John Romano did, and he heard something.
Sometimes, the truth is in the silence.
You can learn more by what a person does not say than when they are shouting from a mountaintop. Or so it seems when it comes to Florida politicians.
Follow the link for what he learned.
