Political Theatre category archive
Ugly Americans 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., points out the uncomfortable truth: “No, we are not ‘better than this.'”
All That Was Old Is New Again (or Is It?) 0
In an interesting counterpoint, the Bangor Daily News includes two syndicated articles from the Washington Post. One looks at parallels between today’s American fascists and those of the 1930s, while the other argues that there’s something different about today’s American fascists.
I think they are both correct, because the authors are coming at the issue from two different perspectives. One is focusing on the genesis of the fascist resurgence, whereas the other focuses on its essence.
Check them out and see what you think.
Limitations of Statues 0
Thom talks with a caller who asks, if Confederate statues come down, is Mt. Rushmore next. Listen to Thom’s response.
Cloudflareup (Updated) 0
Cloudfare pulls its services from the Neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer, even as the Cloudfare CEO expresses qualms about his power to do so. A snippet:
“The Daily Stormer site was bragging on their bulletin boards about how Cloudflare was one of them and that is the opposite of everything we believe,” (Cloudflare CEO Matthew–ed.) Prince said. “That was the tipping point for me.”
Still, Prince said he was not comfortable with the way he exercised his power, describing his choice to withdraw services from the Daily Stormer as arbitrary.
“It was a decision I could make because I’m the CEO of a major internet infrastructure company,” he said. “Having made that decision we now need to talk about why it is so dangerous. No one should have that power.”
Follow the link for more details and for the rest of Prince’s quite thoughtful musings on his own action.
This action makes The Daily Stormer vulnerable to DDoS attacks, which can knock it off the internet. (There is nothing particularly sophisticated about DDoS attacks; they work by overwhelming a site with so many hits that the site eventually becomes unable to respond. In other words, they knock on so many doors so rapidly that the website can’t answer them all and runs away to hide under the bed.)
Addendum, the Next Morning:
In a larger article about the pushback against America’s Neo-Nazis, TPM reports that The Daily Stormer has moved to the Dark Web because it can’t find a hosting provider.
Addendum, Later That Day:
There are other reports that The Daily Stormer now has a dot-ru (for Russia) domain. I have been unable to verify this, and I’m damned sure not exploring the Dark Web.
Silence Speaks 0
In related news, Josh Marshall points out that
The Trumpled Fan Club 0
Dana Milbank finds unwavering support for Donald Trump in an (un?) expected place. A snippet:
Balderdash.
There is absolutely no reason to think Trump’s support has slipped in the slightest among those who like him best: the 144 million men, women and children of the Russian Federation. A poll released by the Pew Research Center end of June found that fully 53 percent of Russians have confidence in Trump, 67 percent there think he’s a strong leader and 62 percent find him charismatic and well qualified.
The Trumpled Agenda (Updated) 0
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
The Charlottesville Daily Progress has more on today in hate. An excerpt:
There’s nothing like imported hate.
Full Disclosure:
I spent a year at U.Va. a long time ago, during which I realized I was not cut out to be an academician. (Dammit, it’s “academician,” not “academic.” “Academic” is an adjective, for Pete’s sake; “academician” is a noun. It’s called “grammar.” Grumble grumble.)
Wall-Eyed 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Constance Scharff points out one of the many fundamental flaws in Donald Trump’s fulminations about a border wall, this one about its ability to deter somehow magickally cure the epidemic of opioid (remember, when Not White persons use it, it’s called heroin) addiction. Here’s a key bit; follow the link for the rest:
A wall – to keep drugs or people out – doesn’t address the fundamental problem that we face. Opioid addiction wasn’t born out of an influx of drugs into the country. It was born out of an internal problem of overprescribing drugs that are unsafe for long-term use. Law enforcement aimed at international drug cartels does nothing to address this.
But, in the Trumpled world, pointing the finger at others, especially if they are brown, is always so much more satisfying than accepting responsibility, is it not?
Setting an Example 0
Warning: Heated language.