Political Theatre category archive
No News Is Good News 0
I can dig it.
When cable news — and the partisan political commentary that often accompanies the breaking news coverage — was involved, library patrons couldn’t find the center of the aisle.
Libraries should be places of quiet reflection, not of digital deception.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
Ian Millhiser asks, “What Libertarian movement?”
And Now for Something Completely Different 0
C&L points out that Donald Trump’s nauseating “Freedom Girls” schtick syncs perfectly with a tune my Nine Inch Nails–a tune that is much more appropriate than the original.
Flint-Hearted behind Closed Doors 0
At the Boston Review, Anna Clark considers the public poisoning of the residents of Flint, Michigan, and the climate of secrecy that is endemic to Michigan government. She fears that the guilty may go not only unpunished, but also unidentified. A snippet:
(snip)
(Michigan Governer Rick–ed.) Snyder’s actions to date have done little to peel back the layers of secrecy. As revealing as the release of his emails from 2015 and 2014 has been, it is striking that he did not also release messages from 2013—the year when the emergency manager changed Flint’s water source. While Flint elected officials supported the move to a new independent water system, there is no indication that they were in favor of using untreated river water as a short-term source. That nuance has been muddled in statements from both the governor and the then-emergency manager, seemingly to sidestep culpability. The 2013 emails would clarify who was responsible for the fateful decision.
“Because It Says in the Bible, That’s Why” 0
Paul Prather tries to understand why persons who call themselves “Christian” support Donald Trump. He expresses his wonderment:
And yet a great throng of Christians love the guy.
Follow the link for his theory as to why he attracts them.
Aside:
That whole “2 Corinthians” flap was stupid and silly (sort of like Trump). It wasn’t even a mistake, it was just a less common usage.
“The Most Dangerous Man in America” 0
Der Spiegel takes a long look at Trump. The picture is not an attractive one. Here’s a little bit:
Salon.com wrote: “(Trump) embodies that well-worn if still stinging observation about the country he hails from: that ‘America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without passing through civilization.'”
Do read the whole thing.
Dreams in the Koch Den 0
Thom and Jane Mayer discuss the very strange political heritage of the Koch family.
What Goes Around . . . . 0
Ben Boychuk, right-wing think tank inhabitant, argues that Republicans brought Donald Trump on themselves.
If he’s correct, it’s a rare case of a political party’s getting what it deserves.
How Stuff Works, Playing Trump Dept. (Updated, Kicked to the Top, Again, All Over Again Once More) 0
PoliticalProf tries to explain the rise of Trumpery.
Read it. (Warning: It does not bode well for the polity.)
Part Four, added Tuesday.
Part Five, added Thursday.
Part Six and Last, added Saturday.
Trumped 0
Christian Schneider, a “conservative” columnist for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, wonders what went wrong. Here’s part of his lament:
For instance, a conservative who listens to talk show radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin or Sean Hannity likely has a far different assessment of the Republican Party than those who curl up with copies of National Review or the Weekly Standard, or even my regular column. While ostensibly working for the same goals, these groups might not even recognize each other if they walked by each other on the street.
Missing from his tua culpa is any recognition that his vaunted Republican intelligentsia has been complicit in rationalizing Republican lies, such as trickle-on economoics and the Great and Glorious Patriot Lie for Irag, and Republican bigotry, such as the right-wing culture war, mass incarceration, and the war on black and brown people drugs.
The difference between the “conservative intelligentsia” and Rush Limbaugh is a difference in style only.
Genteel venality is still venality.
Flint-Hearted: Too Much Voting 0
Warning: Language.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 0
Ron Littlepage is not impressed with the oil industry’s Trojan horse of a fracking “regulation” bill.
Never mind that with Florida ground zero for sea-level rise, we should be looking for completely clean alternative energy sources to reduce greenhouse gases.
And never mind that when fracking runs awry, which will surely happen sometime, Florida’s water supply and environment will absorb another damaging blow.
The bill is promoted as a way to set statewide standards for fracking. See above about lipstick and pigs.
What the bill does is take away the rights of local governments to control what goes on in their backyards.
Given the geology of Florida, I see visions of the biggest sinkhole yet.