From Pine View Farm

Culture Warriors category archive

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

TYT Sports hears many echoes.

I’m a Southern boy. I grew up under Jim Crow. I know racism when I see it.

Today’s Republican Party is the party of racism.

Racism is all they got.

________________

*Mark Twain.

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Disqualication 0

PoliticalProf.

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Establishmentarians 0

Thom talks with reporter Andy Kroll about the wealthy exponents of establishmentarianism who seek to erode democracy and proselytize the polity.

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The “Wallace Conundrum” 0

At AL.com, Kyle Whitmire tries to figure out the core beliefs of major figures in today’s Republican Party and concludes that there’s no there there. Methinks he may be onto something.

A snippet:

There are people we all know . . . who care less about the right answer and more for the right answer right now. They will change their beliefs, their clothes, their haircuts — whatever it takes — to suit the situation, to please whoever’s approval they crave.

They’re the political Shape Shifters.

Such changes shouldn’t be confused with changing one’s mind. Healthy minds evolve to incorporate new information, evidence or experience. In contrast, Shape Shifters change to fit new attitudes or new audiences — for approval.

Follow the link to find out why he dubs this the “Wallace conundrum.”

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Republican Thought Police 0

Case dismissed.

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Establistmentarian Thought Police 0

When history becomes twistory.

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Unity, GOP Style 0

GOP Elephant and MAGA-hatted man in a pick-up labeled

Click to view the original image.

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The Enemy Below 0

Title:  JAWS, 50th Anniversary.  Image:  Uncle Sam swimming in the sea as a great white shark labeled

Click for the original image.

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The Privatization Scam 0

Arizona’s state budget is in big trouble because of the privatization scam. That’s something you can voucher on.

Here’s a bit of the report from ProPublica:

Advocates for Arizona’s universal voucher initiative had originally said that it wouldn’t cost the public — and might even save taxpayers money. The Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank that helped craft the state’s 2022 voucher bill, claimed in its promotional materials at the time that the vouchers would “save taxpayers thousands per student, millions statewide.” Families that received the new cash, the institute said, would be educating their kids “for less than it would cost taxpayers if they were in the public school system.”

But as it turns out, the parents most likely to apply for these vouchers are the ones who were already sending their kids to private school or homeschooling. They use the dollars to subsidize what they were already paying for.

Much more at the link.

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The Republican Contract on America 0

Rebecca Watson takes a look at the “Heritage” Foundation’s Project 2025 (warning: mild language):

Or you can read the transcript.

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Myth Buster 0

In the course of a longer article how, in evaluating candidates for office, we need to look at the big picture when evaluating candidates for office, the Portland Press-Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal makes a trenchant observation (emphasis added):

It’s a common misconception that Republicans want a smaller government. The party does not. Republicans may want smaller government for themselves and their various rich donors, but they want a bigger government to use as a hammer against Americans who aren’t living the way they want them to.

Follow the link for context.

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American Taliban 0

Sam and the crew discuss Josh Hawley’s attempt to normalize right-wing evangelical they-call-themselves Christians.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Neighborly politeness.

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More Mean for the Sake of Mean 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Charles Hebert looks at the recent decision by the Supreme Supremacist Court allowing jurisdictions to criminalize homelessness; he sees no good coming from it.

He makes four main points. Follow the link for a detailed exploration of each one.

  • The Supreme Court decision on homelessness has downstream detrimental effects on vulnerable individuals.
  • Persons experiencing homelessness often suffer with mental illness.
  • The involuntary displacement of unsheltered individuals with substance use disorders increases overdose risk.
  • The Covid-19 pandemic has magnified the number of those experiencing homelessness.

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“Corruption without Consequence” 0

Sam and the crew discuss AOC’s speech about abuse of power by Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and the rest of today’s Supreme Supremacist Court.

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Stray Thought, Still Rising Again after All These Years Dept. 0

I think I’ve finally figured out just what heritage the “Heritage” Foundation is determined to preserve.

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Patriot Gamers 0

Frame One, captioned

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“When People Show You Who They Are, Believe Them the First Time,”* Reprise 0

A woman and a black man stocks.  Woman says,

Via Job’s Anger.

______________

*Maya Angelou.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Thom Hartman looks at the series of opinions by the Supreme Supremacist Court and concludes that

It’s almost impossible to overstate the significance of this (series of decisions–ed.), or its consequences. We no longer live in America 1.0; this is a new America, one more closely resembling the old Confederacy, where wealthy families and giant companies make the rules, enforce the rules, and punish those who irritate or try to obstruct them.

In America 2.0, there is no right to vote; governors and secretaries of state can take away your vote without even telling you (although they still must go to court to take away your gun). .

Follow the link for the context of his conclusion.

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Republican Thought Police, Reprise 0

At the Charlotte Observer, Kate Murphy, pastor at The Grove Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, pushes back at the current wave of they-call-themselves Christians and their push for establishmentarianism. A snippet:

I am a pastor and a practicing Christian, but all this blasphemous foolishness has me declaring this Festivus in July because, in the words of the fictional Frank Costanza on Seinfeld, “I got a lot of problems with you people.”

If the governor of Florida can, by the power not vested in him, unilaterally declare that the church of Satan isn’t a religion, then he can also wake up one morning and decide that Islam isn’t a religion, or Hinduism, or Catholicism or any faith that allows women to preach or doesn’t handle snakes.

The point of the separation of church and state, as any fourth grader with a reasonably competent history teacher can tell you, isn’t to limit a citizen’s ability to practice their faith, but to protect it.

(Broken link fixed.)

____________________

*Methinks in this context, “Christian” is New Speak for “Secesh.”

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