DL Open Thread Wednesday September 8th 2021

Coons Scores a 9.5 and a Perfect 10 on the Impotent/Empty Rhetoric Scale

I've been on Twitter a little more lately, but only follow a couple of accounts.  One is written for Senator Chris Coons.  The author of these tweets has mastered relating utterly pointless pronouncements with a tone of breathless outrage.  Just check out these two winners.

DL Open Thread Tuesday September 7th 2021

Tucker Carlson's full endorsement of the use of illegal fake vaccination cards and his exhortation to "punish" the CDC annotated:

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Buying a fake vaccination card is not a, quote, serious crime.[quote "serious crimes" are ones committed by dark skinned people. Duh.] It's not even close to a serious crime.[It is axiomatic that any crime committed by entitled white people cannot be serious. It is a testament to how far the country has fallen under Biden that he has to say this twice.] Buying a fake vaccination card is an act of desperation by decent, law-abiding Americans [white people] who have been forced into a corner by tyrants. [forced into admitting their poor judgment, and lack of critical thinking skills in public.] You know what's a serious crime? Forcing Americans to take drugs they don't need or want.[Did you catch that sly trick? Here the logic of the endorsement breaks down under its own inanity. Carlson knows that nobody is being "forced" to take a drug. They are being required to prove that they've been vaccinated to do some things they want to do like eat at certain restaurants and travel on airplanes.] That's a very serious crime. [Its's not] And let's hope, in the end, someone is punished for it, severely. [Is pandering to fools, and constantly trying to work them into a violent lather criminal? it should be.] Do you want to know that Tucker Carlson considers a "Quote, Serious Crime"?
I’m Christian. I’ve made mistakes. I believe fervently in second chances. Michael Vick killed dogs in a heartless and cruel way. I think, firstly, he should have been executed for that.
Dogfighting.  

The Stupidest Country In The World?

"Stupid" probably doesn't explain us in full. I'd say we are an average IQ country with a higher disposition toward right-wing tribalism as a result of our very racist, anti-black history. Anyway, that's nit-picking. Our story is far too implausibly stupid to be the plot for a decent movie or novel.
The Stupidest Country In The World Would be a good missing reel for the movie Southland Tales (which is both awful and sort of great, hard to describe). An epidemic hits the country run by the game show president, against all odds he secures enough vaccine (money is never a problem) and his successor manages to distribute it, but the game show host's followers refuse to take it and instead start shooting themselves up with horse drugs. We have enough money to throw at every problem we confront, and stupidity and corruption prevent us from solving any of them.

Republicans fight / Democrats don’t

Mitch McConnell blocked Merrick Garland 8 months before election then confirmed Amy Coney Barrett 8 days before election when 65 million had already voted. AND YET - Democrats always lose elections (unless running against Trump) because they run on changing the tax rate by .00068% to encourage companies to do some inscrutable thing. We are blowing it once again.

Speaking of the Media Favoring Conservative Narratives…

Here are two HUGE conservative narratives that the media has fully internalized in-spite of the fact that they are pure bullshit: - The Courts are liberal, - The Media is liberal
One thing Republicans did for years, electeds and certainly the broader conservative moment, was to demonize portions of the judiciary. There was no 9th circuit, just THE LIBERAL 9TH CIRCUIT, and news reports generally reflected this, making all their rulings sound somehow illegitimate (The 9th circuit is no longer liberal).For whatever reasons, Dems don't do that, preferring to maintain happy illusions about an increasingly corrupt and illegitimate system. - via Eschaton
Isn't it strange how Democrats never push back in that nonsense? We are both too clean to take part in that dirty stuff and too busy speaking about the merits of bipartisanship at Notre Dame University.