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DL Open Thread Monday September 6th 2021 – Labor Day
There is actual news today, no doubt.
Capitalism has always been a failure for the lower classes. It is now beginning to fail for the middle classes.
-Howard Zinn
Song of the Day 9/5: Ani DiFranco, “Amendment”
Ani DiFranco has the solution to the Supreme Court’s attack on abortion rights. I don’t think it will happen anytime soon, but that doesn’t make her wrong.
DL Open Thread Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021
The media, having accomplished its task of pulling down Joe Biden’s approval ratings, have mostly moved on from Afghanistan in favor of trumpeting the Texas Abortion Freakout, which means the End of Abortion Rights in This Country. Look, I’m not trying to minimize how despicable this is, but this is a country awash up to […]
DL Open Thread: Saturday, September 4, 2021
Here Are The Companies Who Funded Texas’ Anti-Abortion Supporters. ‘We have a history of giving to both sides’, blahblahblah. Where are all those tech companies who moved to Texas for lower taxes and less regulation? Will we hear from them or will they remain silent? Betcha we’ll hear from the workers. We’ve already heard from […]
DL Open Thread: Friday, September 3, 2021
Delaware Rethugs Have An AG Candidate. Chuck Welch, a retired Common Pleas Court judge in Kent County and, before that, for six years, a state representative. He’s focusing his campaign on the poor underappreciated police who have not been sufficiently loosed upon the citizenry: Law enforcement officers in the state are also need to feel […]
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.
Song of the Day 9/2: Friends of Distinction, “Grazing in the Grass”
This song just missed topping the charts twice — the first time as South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela’s instrumental version, which reached No. 1 in 1968, and again in 1970, when the Friends of Distinction added lyrics and took it to No. 3. Lead singer Harry Enten wrote them, and while Masekela’s reference to grass […]
DL Open Thread Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
Today’s media freak-out is over the Committee of GileadU.S. Supreme Court upholding a Texas abortion ban by a 5-4 vote. The real test will be when it’s put into practice, because the state won’t enforce it — it’s relying on private citizens to file lawsuits against providers and patients, and SCOTUS acknowledged it’s constitutionally questionable. […]
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.
Song of the Day 9/1: Tom T. Hall, “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine”
Songwriter and country singer Tom T. Hall died last month, and the world lost a wise old soul when he did. Hall wrote more than 20 No. 1 hits on the country charts, and sang several himself, but he’s mainly known through his only No. 1 on the Hot 100, the 1968 crossover smash “Harper […]
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.
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: August 2021
There’s so much to enjoy (and possibly to be offended by) this month. In other words, my kind of list: CATBITE!! “I’m good, I’m veryvery good.” BONUS: Videos Only. Watch ’em back to back. What punk and politics should be. And how every one of their vids should end: That’s all I got. I ain’t […]
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.
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