January, 2021 archive
The Chronicler 0
Daniel Dale looks back on four years of tracking Trump’s lies. A nugget; follow the link for more:
It was, in sum, a lot. In September 2020, I had to abandon my effort to produce a comprehensive count of the false claims: Trump was doing so much lying during the campaign that I physically could not keep up. By then, I’d tallied about 9,000 false claims since September 2016.
Via Atrios.
Warped Speed 0
We need to vaccinate ourselves against lies and lying liars.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Jamelle Bouie looks at the long history of Republican attempts to gut out the vote and at the racism that underlies them. A snippet (emphasis added):
Not that this was a shock. As an accusation, “voter fraud” has been used historically to disparage the participation of Black voters and immigrants — to cast their votes as illegitimate. And Obama came to office on the strength of historic turnout among Black Americans and other nonwhite groups. To the conservative grass roots, Obama’s very presence in the White House was, on its face, evidence that fraud had overtaken American elections.
The Wisdom of the Marketplace 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Utpal Dholakia marvels at the loyalty of Tesla owners, which seems contraindicated by any rational measure. A snippet (emphasis in the original):
In the 2020 Initial Quality Study conducted by the marketing research company J.D. Power, Tesla was the worst-performing company, reporting 250 problems per 100 vehicles during the first 90 days of owning a newly purchased vehicle.
Tesla Customer Satisfaction
The 2020 J.D. Power Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study measured owners’ satisfaction based on their “experiences with design, performance, safety, usability, comfort, perceived quality, and other factors.” In the study, Tesla received the highest score of 896. To give context, Porsche had the next highest score of 881.
Follow the link for his theories as to the reasons for this.
QOTD 0
Jason Hughes, as Detective Sergeant Ben Jones:
The law, Mr. Perkins, is like the Bible. You can always find one quote to contradict another.
Geeking Out 0
Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager. The wallpaper is from my collection.
I do like me my pretty pictures.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Vanessa Williamson, Sam’s guest, historian Vannessa Williamson, discusses the ways in which white persons rhetoric and tactics in rolling back Reconstruction continues to affect our politics today.
It’s a relatively long segment, but well worth a listen. As you listen to Williamson talk about events a century and a half ago, you will find disquieting parallels with what passes for discourse today.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Ira Hyman is an optimist.
Herding Trumples 0
The AP goes on the lies round-up. A snippet:
“Who’s the banana republic now?” asked newspaper headlines an ocean apart in Kenya and Colombia.
Trump leaves Joe Biden with repair work to do on the government’s credibility in a country where millions went along with their president’s fantastical ride — believing his persistent falsehoods about masks, election fraud, socialists in the halls of power, antifa rampant in the streets, his tormenters at every turn.
It’s a legacy of “magical thinking,” said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “They have a full-blown independent reality, totally cut apart from the world of facts.” He said that is the road to fascism.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
The writer of a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun has a question.