Hadas Thier at In These Times provides “A Left Answer to Inflation,” which contains at least two important reminders for Americans: one, that economists have attributed more than half of our current inflation to nothing more and nothing less than corporate greed, and two, that “price controls” may be a right-wing shock word, but they’ve done America a lot of good in the past, and today’s Americans won’t be as offended by the words “price controls” as professional right-wingers pretend to be. I rather think Americans would like price controls, in fact.
Here’s another important reminder: ”People of color are as interested in buying electric cars as white consumers – the biggest obstacle is access to charging.” And you just know the same crowd who chortled at the notion that “highways are racist” (which they are whenever we build them to divide or destroy Black and Brown neighborhoods) will joke that you can’t put electric charging stations in “bad neighborhoods” because “they’ll get destroyed.” That would, of course, be a pretty un-American way of looking at the matter, but that's never stopped self-styled "patriots" before.
When I hear that Republican campaign ad themes are more AMURIKA IZ TEH FALLINGZ APARTZ!!!! while Democratic campaign ads are more I-started-with-nothing-and-here’s-what-I-made-of-myself, I’m reminded that independent voters might respond well to the difference! I remember watching the Eagles-Giants game the Sunday before Election Day in 2016, and I found the sheer negativity of the political ads quite oppressive. Now, it's also possible that some independent voters will respond to Republican negativity as if it’s everyone’s negativity, but I wonder how many of those are even really "independent." And if they are, can you even reach them? They may just be so stupid or rage-addled that we must leave them to God.
Remember when I imagined Newt Gingrich responding to future criticism with his usual hifalutin BS? Apparently I gave him too much credit! When a reporter pressed him about the January 6 Committee, Mr. Gingrich responded “I think you have a learning disability.” Everyone thinks they’re a damn comedian, and so few of them make me laugh. Could be because I know plenty of people who overcame their learning disabilities – and all the abuse inflicted upon them by the Gingriches of the world – and contributed mightily to their communities. When Mr. Gingrich finally shuffles off his mortal coil, no one will remember any contributions he has made to America, because he hasn't made any. No, I don't think "spending your entire life demonstrating how not to be" is very much of a contribution.
When I hear that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton actually fled his own home to avoid being served with a subpoena, all I can say is waaaaaaaaaaah. Well, OK, since the issue behind the subpoena concerns abortion funds trying to avoid getting sued out of existence by anti-abortion vigilantes in Texas, I can say one other thing: our Supreme Court needs to strike down Texas’s anti-abortion law, since it gives people standing to sue someone even when that someone hasn’t injured them. Standing is a pretty basic legal principle – one our Court has spelled out pretty precisely in previous rulings – and I hope they're conservative enough to, you know, conserve it. I fear they won’t, because they’re fascists, not conservatives.
Finally, Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz says that when his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, wears a hoodie as a “costume,” he’s actually “kicking authority in the balls.” Listen to the whole clip and you’ll realize he’s aiming for Pennsylvania’s fascist vote, appealing to their sense of “authority.” Of course fascists only value authority when they’re the authority, and the rest of the time they wear the costume of rebellion, so maybe Mr. Oz has pandered effectively to the fascist vote, and maybe he’s also helped Mr. Fetterman swing more of those folks to his side. Mr. Fetterman did put those comments up on social media almost as fast as Mr. Oz made them, after all.
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