DL Open Thread Wednesday September 1, 2021

All of yesterday's Open Thread stuff still holds so you can re-read that for today's news.  Just a couple of updates.  For example,  Joe Biden still won our 20 year war by leaving Afghanistan but now he is pushing back on dishonest wingnut critics who set the media narrative. Also..an arrest warrant for a MAGA-asshole and a little Social Security news.

How Democrats lose seats during mid-terms:

Media narratives typically favor conservatives. (eg. "Biden Debacle!" Instead of "Biden Successfully Ends 20 Year War!" Eg. "Biden Fails to Reach Vax Goal!" Not "Conservatives Literally Killing Themselves to Frustrate Biden's Vax Goals!") Many Democrats allow the media narrative to influence their level of engagement. Republicans play Democratic "moderates" against the base to drive down engagement. Dem "Moderates" and campaign "consultants" propose timid and mostly useless tinkering with the tax code polices that appeal to conservatives but are impossible for Dems to run on. As Dem losses begin to appear likely, Democratic "moderates" take part in vilifying the Democratic base for not supporting the timid and mostly useless agenda. Republicans with no rational or popular policies, but a highly engaged base, win mid-term elections.

Protest & Organize & Vote

Watching fanged zealots yell at school boards (and clap gleefully for their fellow yellers) I keep returning to something REV said in a podcast.  I'm going to make a hash of it but it was something like - Getting protest energy and capitalizing on it by organizing and recruiting candidates and keeping everyone together to vote is the program.    I think of that political activism flywheel when I see those Karens lacerating their school boards because that program seems to be baked into the GOP DNA right now.   Meanwhile party Democrats always seem to be wary of gathering any political energy.

DL Open Thread Tuesday August 24th 2021

I was in a store yesterday and some asshole was yammering on about the "Nuremberg Code"  and how it meant that he didn't  need to get vaccinated because the vaccine is experimental.  The Nuremberg Code seems to be everywhere these days as MAGA shitheads have embraced it as the ultimate legal defense for their assholery. Like this guy, for example:   
An Alabama man who called himself the 'vaccine police' told pharmacists at a Missouri Walmart that they will be 'executed' if they continued giving COVID-19 shots...

DL Open Thread Monday August 23, 2021

I'm still not watching any opinion/talking head panel "news" but I have pieced together the fact that according to Politico, Fox News, CNN and the New York Times, Joe Biden is the worst Hitler since the original Hitler. You know the depth of the media's malefaction if you've read this: 'The American Media (Hearts) Forever War' Alby posted it yesterday.  

Could Covid gets any better at killing  wingnut radio personalities, homophobic preachers, and Red State screwball legislators? One can hope.
Calling the GOP a "Death Cult" would be accurate but impolite  - So the Media Doesn't Do it.
Probably the most important rule of conventional media discourse in this country is that an accurate description of the contemporary GOP is not possible, because such a description would be so extreme that it would basically blow the standard structure of that discourse to smithereens. For example, when front pagers and commentators here at LGM refer to the Republican party as a death cult, this must be interpreted by Very Serious People in the legacy media to be some sort of partisan hyperbole. In fact it’s about as hyperbolic as pointing out that the Pacific Ocean has a lot of water in it. In other words, it’s a very simple and straightforward description of an undeniable state of affairs:
 
If you want to take concrete action to oppose the Republicans trying to infect this country with disease and idiocy you can do these things today: 1) Research who your elected officials are from US Senator down to County Council and how they vote. 2) If they are Democrats, urge them to be more confrontational - or plan to primary them. 3) If they are republicans run against them - or support a candidate who will fight. 4) Read 'Beyond the Super Voter' at the Delaware Call