Josh Marshall replied: Pretty sure all three are true. But 2 is the biggie. Because it’s application is so wide. People are confused by, upset by, outraged by Trump. And they don’t know what to make of or do with those feelings and the easiest course is vent about Dems. Full stop. 2/3 of contemporary political commetnary. Absolutely correct. The “bad vibe” election, expertly exploited by Trump, was caused by Trump himself. He persuaded his own followers that the country was in the worst shape it’s ever been including the Great Depression and that the previous election had been stolen from them. Democrats were upset and frustrated that he was out there lying about all this. Bad vibes all around. In the end, the election was decided by the small slice of voters who just felt the vibes and had no idea where they were coming from. They just went with the general vibes they heard and felt in passing and believed it was necessary to throw the bastards out. Here’s an excerpt of the National Journal piece: Explaining a Harris win would have been easy: Voters rejected Trump and his ilk, just as they did in 2020.
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Steven Moffat will be tweeting on Doctor Who Day (November 23rd) during the live "Boom" YouTube watchalong. Here's what you need to know...
Beleaguered broadcaster, Alan Jones, has come out strongly against the Albanese Government’s planned crackdown on social media, which will ban users under the age of 16. ”This Government is way off track, how will the kiddies be able to meet... Read More ›
I’m sure the contemptuous, unpitying masters of other continents are dangerous. But right now that sounds more like the contemptuous, unpitying masters of this country…
Welcome to “Phoning It In,” a gameshow I made up because I am tired and...
Sean Duffy, a former representative-turned-airline industry lobbyist and reality TV star, could now oversee the industry he wants to deregulate.
The Dems also lost only their two most red state Senators (which was not unexpected) and won a whole bunch of state legislators and judges. But sure: I feel like I’m losing my mind.
Former US Attorney Joyce Vance wrote in her newsletter last night: There are lots of attempts to explain the 2024 election. Many voters said something along the lines of, they were unhappy with the government and wanted to try something new. These voters were concerned about the economy (although even The Wall Street Journal conceded it was the strongest in the world), the price of gasoline, and other similar issues that amounted to little more than a permission structure for voting for Trump. It was all summed up for me a few days after the election, in a conversation with an acquaintance who said they’d voted for Harris, but at least “my portfolio is doing great this week.” Voters who ignored the facts about the economy and used them as an excuse to vote for Trump weren’t people who wanted a change. They were people who, actually, didn’t want any change at all. They didn’t like new policies advanced by the Biden-Harris administration, a more inclusive vision of America where traditionally marginalized people had equal opportunity. They didn’t want a new generation of leadership.
A winning photograph of octopus eggs reveals early organs of camouflage.
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In this bonus Lever Time episode, David Sirota and Sen. Chris Murphy discuss the soul-searching Democrats need to do to win back the working class.
Damn right, we’re unionizing. Management wants ten shipwrecks a week. It’s ridiculous. Last year it was eight, who knows what it’ll be next year.
Oh, sure, being a siren seems glamorous. Lounge all day, enchant some sailors, punish mankind for mistaking the beautiful for the good. What most folks don’t understand is the amount of work needed to make that possible.
Life at sea is a two-way street. While we’re trying to catch men, men are trying to outsmart us. Just the other day, a ship came by with the captain hanging from the mast. You have to understand, a ship is huge for us. This isn’t some rinky-dink row boat; this is a full captain and crew situation. Management is desperate for these kinds of big-ticket crashes.
So we’re working our magic, and the captain’s going wild, but the ship doesn’t change course. He’s yelling and yelling, but the rowers don’t budge. Right as they’re about to leave our sight, we notice the whole crew has their ears plugged with beeswax. Beeswax! Now, you try and explain that to your boss. We’re still getting criticized for it.
Australia has a reputation for egalitarianism. It is not deserved. Extract: Address to the Royal Society of NSW, October 2024. This is a nation based on mercantilist plunder. Two hundred and fifty years after the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, our leaders insist that the prosperity of citizens rests upon a trickling down Continue reading »
‘Joe Biden allows Ukraine to use long-range US-supplied ATACMS missiles on targets in Russia, prompting threat of world war’ – so runs the ABC headline of 18 November. Serious stuff, not to be lightly discounted, and yet perhaps what we are seeing is primarily performative politics, viewed through the smoke of uncertainty and reflected in Continue reading »
Gaza – what can we do about Australia’s complicity in this abhorrence? It is a question that rots the soul… Indiscriminate destruction of civilian populations on an industrial scale as a legitimate weapon for war started, in the West, with the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War. The outage depicted by Picasso’s painting Continue reading »
A major new report has detailed the “extraordinary economic opportunity” for Australia to replace its coal and gas exports with decarbonised commodities, and reap six to eight times more than the typical revenues it earns from fossil fuels, and help other major economies to meet their own climate goals. But renewed calls for Australia to Continue reading »
Trump’s anti-China 60% import tax barrier will weaken China’s economy and is predicted to have flow on effects impacting negatively on Australia’s economy. Will our political leaders now realise that Australia’s involvement in a military war against China for which they are furiously preparing, would have a devastating impact on our economy and Australian life Continue reading »
To reduce social harm, instead of a ban on teens accessing social media, should we consider a ban on over 60 year olds reading and listening to News Corporation outlets? Announcing the Government’s proposed ban on social media for under 16 year olds, PM Albanese said “Social media is doing social harm to our kids. Continue reading »
The ACT Bar Association has confronted Chief Justice (CJ) Lucy McCallum over her self-admitted controversial statements about juries in sexual-assault trials. The Bar, normally somewhat reserved in such areas, issued a statement on 19 November, expressing concern that there may be a perception, based upon the CJ’s words at the Jury Research and Practice Conference Continue reading »
Activist for East Timor, Acheh and Palestine, Vaclava ‘Vacy’ Julie Vlazna was born 31 August 1946 in Susice in the region of Bohemia after her parents survived the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in WWII. As a baby, she nearly died of an infection but received new antibiotics in a trial and fortunately survived. The family Continue reading »
Trump’s shocking cabinet picks are reminiscent of what Mao Zedong did after launching the tumultuous Cultural Revolution in 1966. Under his slogan “revolution is no crime; to rebel is justified,” Mao encouraged the firebrand Red Guards and grassroots loyalists to take over power at central and local government levels across the country, writes Wang Xiangwei. Continue reading »