When I hear that a bunch of “Proud Boys” stampeded into a gay-friendly kids’ reading event at an Indiana public library, I shudder to think that people call this activism! Yes I’ve read Deutches Requiem and been haunted by it, but I suspect even the independent voter who says “I’m fine with gays as long as I don’t have to see them kissing” would be disgusted by a bunch of bearded assholes ruining a children’s book event. I even suspect that the ones who think such events are “indoctrination” won't be swayed by the “Proud Boys.” (Yeah, I noticed “prance” in the headline, too, and I’m OK with it – I approve of using right-wingers' own hate words against them, and I get why folks would criticize me for that, but I think they're picking the wrong hill to die on. In a related note, I did not pick the word “bearded” by accident, either.)
Los Angeles voters will vote this November on a proposal that would tax the sale of mansions over $5 million, and direct that money toward fighting homeless, and though I’m sure more than a few hard hats will say why do those people get the goodies (psst: because great nations take care of their poor, and also so they won't be in your way, and anyway you could be one of those people one day), but not too many will cry over rich folks having to pay a tax on selling their big houses. I’m sure right-wingers (and Kyrsten Sinema) will claim this tax will somehow affect the little guy, but the little guy ain’t selling his house for $5 million. No, not even in Los Angeles.
Another day, another “liberal” media plaint about TEH RISINGZ OFZ TEH CRIMEZ!!!!! – this one entitled “Justice Department Braces for Summer of Violent Crime.” But the one actual crime statistic in the article (in paragraph seven) suggests that summer holiday crime has actually gone down! We also learn that “the onset of warm weather typically signals an onslaught of violence in many parts of the country,” which leads us to wonder why write 24 paragraphs about it, then? Oh, but by all means, “liberal” media, let’s continue to foment drama and hysteria about crime so that otherwise reasonable vote for more fascists.
From the “Sometimes You Don’t Need to Read Past the Headline!” file: John Teufel at TruthOut writes that “Democratic Leadership Can Protect Abortion Rights” but “They Would Rather Fundraise.” If you do read the article, you’ll hear about the Reproductive Choice Act, which ain’t as good as the Women’s Health Protection Act but which I would certainly advocate passing if we had no other alternative, which, given the Manchinema axis’s refusal to even change the filibuster so that it’d be more useful, sure seems the case right now. (Mr. Teufel thinks we can pass it through reconciliation, but recent precedent defies that optimism, and most of today’s Congressfolk probably don’t even remember Congress passing the 1996 welfare "reform” bill that way. Hell, I didn’t, or I’d have made a stink about it during the minimum wage debate last year.)
Holy moly several unnamed Supreme Court Justices might actually have had heated arguments about how exactly to overturn the 2020 election results and keep Donald Trump in power. That’s according to emails obtained by the January 6 Committee, and sadly those emails post-date our Court’s refusal to hear two appeals concerning the election, meaning that whatever relatively united front our Court presented on December 8 and 11 may have dissipated by Christmas Eve. If this is true (and Mark Sumner does a good job illuminating the questions we’d need answered before declaring it true), our Supreme Court may not be able to recover from the bad PR. Hell, we might even see a few resignations.
Finally, from the “Even When He’s Right, He’s Wrong” file: buried in the next-to-last-paragraph of this Mitt Romney essay about how “(t)oo many Americans are blithely dismissing threats that could prove cataclysmic” is this unfortunate plaint: “(o)ur elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it.” Decent turn of phrase, I’ll grant, but, ah, no – the problem, obviously, is they don’t listen to us enough! Polling tells us that more than 80% of us want Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but almost 50% of our House Reps and at least 53% of our Senators just say no. Medicare-for-All, paid family leave, and higher taxes on the rich all routinely get over 60% in polls, but our politicians can’t get any of that done, either. And when our representatives don’t follow our lead, fascists fill the opening – and I can’t even rule out the possibility that those are the people who “show backbone against” the “wind” in Mitt Romney’s mind.
Comments