During World War I, the Ottoman Empire collectively blamed the millions of Armenians in their territory for attacks by Armenian resistance fighters. Around 1M non-combatants were killed by the Ottoman military — in many cases, by forced marches through the Syrian desert without food and water. Denouncing this genocide doesn’t make you an Armenian resistance … Continue reading Taking sides in a genocide
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How does anyone take the right seriously? Somewhere on Friday a TikTok video went by (if I find it again, I’ll post it) with a woman complaining that football intruding on her Taylor Swift concert ruined the experience for her. Why, why, she was all about Taylor and yet the camera kept cutting away to shots of Travis Kelce the football player. That’s just wrong! FOUND IT (3 P.M. EDT): She was lampooning the “keep Taylor out of my football game” crowd, obviously. Fox News is having a time of it as well, in a different way. The conspiracy theories Fox is spinning about the power couple are truly something to behold (New York Times): Of course, people are entitled to their opinions on celebrity political speech or the possible existence of a secret Pentagon diva lab. But if Fox News’s hosts truly believe that it’s irresponsible and dangerous to invite celebrities to weigh in on politics, they might want to turn their attention to … Fox News. Over the years, Fox has invited Gene Simmons, the bassist of Kiss, to talk about the handling of an Ebola outbreak.
Insist it’s already bent Donald “91 Counts” Trump famously learned to attack, attack, attack from skeevy attorney Roy Cohn, and to worship himself from Norman Vincent Peale, the positive-thinking guru. Trump has navigated 77 years of his life and scammed his way to celebrity by demanding, whatever the truth of the fine mess he’s created, whatever the dirty deals he was involved in (look, here’s another), that reality bend to his will. He’s always the innocent, always the victim, always the victor. It’s not as if the Republican Party with the aid of its right-wing media allies wasn’t already far along the path to up-is-downism. It’s just that Trump’s natural flair for the scam fit so well with the party’s proclivities that he was able to wholly coopt the conservative movement. Now, with the U.S. economy firing on nearly all cylinders under Joe Biden in 2024, Trump will have to find another gear to sell his marks that it’s all going to shit. Have no doubt. He will. Politico: The U.S. economy just keeps getting better.
There was a time when the right wing railed against Michelle Obama for encouraging kids to eat their vegetables and go outside to play and had a complete meltdown over governments trying to stop kids from drinking so much sugary soda that there is now an epidemic of obesity among children. How dare the government deign to advise Americans about healthy eating. Just a couple of months ago there was a story that health experts were considering telling people that they should cut down on beer consumption and it resulted in this lovely retort: Needless to say, nobody is talking about shutting down the beer or soda pop industry or limiting Ted Cruz from drinking as much as he wants to. Get a load of what the freedom loving right is up to now. Yes, Florida is leading the way, once again: Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Friday that he opposes the promulgation of lab-grown meat in Florida. Discussing his opposition to implanting an environmental agenda on farmers, the governor noted that lawmakers are working through legislation to ban lab-grown meat production. “You need meat. OK?” the governor said.
Who needs a dog whistle? Some of you may not be fully aware of who Charlie Kirk is and how influential he has become in the Republican Party. He originally started as a right wing youth organizer but in recent years has evolved into a major organizer of right wing activism across the board. Hit Turning Point USA conferences, which are held throughout the year, are major events that attract all the big names in the MAGA word as well as many “establishment” types. His organization is the heir to CPAC which has been losing steam for some time. Here’s a recent dispatch from Dave Weigel at Kirk’s latest gathering: LAS VEGAS – In a Planet Hollywood hotel ballroom, a few steps away from the Criss Angel Theater, around 200 Republican Party activists worked on their battle plans. The Republican National Committee would not save them. They would save themselves. “No more culture of losing,” Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk told an audience of RNC members, GOP county chairs, and plugged-in activists. “Embrace Donald Trump. Don’t fight Donald Trump. Embrace what he’s brought to the party.
I wrote recently about Kevin McCarthy’s crusade to take down Nancy Mace and the others who engineered his ouster. Mace is a specific target and for good reason. She is a real piece of work. Just this week this was revealed: According to two reports, as pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the presidential election on January 6, freshman GOP Rep. Nancy Mace tried to convince her staff to let her get attacked. The Washington Post reports Mace was so incensed at then-President Donald Trump that she brought up the idea of approaching rioters head-on in the hopes she would get punched in the face and become the “face of anti-Trump Republicans.” She’s since endorsed Trump to become the GOP’s next presidential nominee. Hours after the Post published its piece, The Daily Beast seconded the reporting, noting that three sources who personally witnessed the conversations confirmed they happened. Those sources told the Beast that Mace explicitly said she wanted to “get punched in the face” for “media attention.” This report by Abby Phillips says it all.
Don’t believe anything Republicans say In virtually every way, this economy is better than it was under Trump before the pandemic. You know, the best economy the world has every seen? Yeah, that one. In case you were wondering how they are dealing with this? Of course.
But what if it doesn’t happen? The Daily Beat reports: IN THE MIDDLE of last year, several of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, including some of his 2024 campaign’s senior staff, started noticing an ominous trend in independent polling and in internal Republican survey data: A significant share of swing voters in key states — even some Republicans — say they would not want to vote for a freshly-convicted criminal. The trend spooked them enough that, in recent months, some of these officials and political allies have directly warned Trump of possible looming catastrophe ahead for his 2024 presidential bid, two people with direct knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone.
… is bad news for Biden, of course Cable news was on in the background Thursday night when, responding to a right-leaning critic of some Democratic policy or other, an on-air pundit doubted the critic could name three examples to support the claim. “Oh yeah? Name three,” we said in unison. (“Oh, yeah? Name five,” is a running joke around here.) It’s standard fare for politicians to complain about adversaries’ “failed policies” without naming a single one. It lets the public fill in the blanks with sins real or imagined. The behavior is so rote that reporters never challenge speakers to provide examples. In the Politico article cited in my post below, a Trump spokesperson, on cue, slammed Joe Biden for his “failed policies.” Ya mean, like this one? (CNBC): Job growth posted a surprise increase in January, demonstrating again that the U.S. labor market is solid and poised to support broader economic growth. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 353,000 for the month, much better than the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Joe’s from Scranton, remember? If anything, President Joe Biden has been too polite with Donald “91 Counts” Trump, indicted private citizen. . Gossip from Politico: President JOE BIDEN has a reputation for salty language behind closed doors. But it nearly slipped out in public during his speech at Valley Forge last month to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Animated and angry, he derided DONALD TRUMP and his followers for drawing glee from political violence. “At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull,” Biden said. “And he thinks that’s funny,” the president continued. “He laughed about it. What a sick …” Biden let his voice trail off as the crowd cheered and chuckled. In private, he doesn’t stop short. The president has described Trump to longtime friends and close aides as a “sick fuck” who delights in others’ misfortunes, according to three people who have heard the president use the profane description.