They’ve shown us who they are No, I’m not going to quote Maya Angelou yet again. You can read the quote on the back of your eyelids by now. Anchorage Daily News: Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman sparked outrage online after asking whether there could be economic benefits from the death of abused children. Eastman asked a series of questions during a MondayHouse Judiciary Committee hearing on adverse childhood experiences — such as physical and sexual abuse on children or growing up in a household marred by domestic violence — and how they can negatively affect a person throughout their lives. As part of the presentation, documents given to legislators estimated that when child abuse is fatal, it could cost the family and broader society $1.5 million in terms of trauma and what the child could potentially have earned over their lifetime. Eastman said that he had heard an argument, on occasion, that when child abuse is fatal, it could economically benefit a society.
Uncategorized
“Unlucky President, Lucky Man” Some guy from Georgia, a former governor, spoke at my university in 1975. Jimmy Carter. He seemed nice enough, but a long shot for the presidency. It wouldn’t be the last time I misjudged a candidate’s chances. James Fallows worked for him as a speech writer and reflects on the legacy of a lucky man and unlucky president. Jimmy Carter has always been the same person: Whatever his role, whatever the outside assessment of him, whether luck was running with him or against, Carter was the same. He was self-controlled and disciplined. He liked mordant, edgy humor. He was enormously intelligent—and aware of it—politically crafty, and deeply spiritual. And he was intelligent, crafty, and spiritual enough to recognize inevitable trade-offs between his ambitions and his ideals. People who knew him at one stage of his life would recognize him at another. Jimmy Carter didn’t change. Luck and circumstances did. Carter was easy to admire but harder to work for. He was driven to succeed and always engaging.
He even went beyond Marge’s demands and delivered for proven liar Tucker Carlson Last week, America received proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Fox News is a dishonest institution that spread Donald Trump’s Big Lie knowing full well that he did not win the election. In a court filing from the defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Machines against the company, it was revealed that all of the top brass and their stars were fully aware that the election had not been stolen yet remained terrified of losing their deluded audience (which they had been instrumental in brainwashing) so they parrotted Trump’s bogus claims. In this specific case, they spread the falsehood that the Dominion machines were rigged for the Republicans. As Dominion argued in the filing: “Not a single Fox witness testified that they believe any of the allegations about Dominion are true. Indeed, Fox witness after Fox witness declined to assert the allegations’ truth or actually stated they do not believe them, and Fox witnesses repeatedly testified that they have not seen credible evidence to support them.” And they had the receipts.
Trump is bringing his spectacle to Palestine Ohio today. Can you believe this? A Fox Business report indicated that former President Donald Trump would treat residents of East Palestine, Ohio to something “like a campaign rally” while they are suffering from a noxious train derailment. Before Trump’s Wednesday visit, Fox Business host Stuart Varney and Fox News reporter Mike Tobin reflected on the former president’s plans. “He’s going to put on a big show,” Varney revealed. “It’s going to be like a campaign rally.” “It probably will be something like that,” Tobin agreed. “And you don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that he will make the statement that he would have handled it better.” Tobin revealed schools were closed in the town due to security for Trump’s visit. “The mayor of this town says he doesn’t want this to become a political circus, and frankly, Stuart, it’s a little late for that,” the reporter concluded.
(You don’t need to see what she’s talking about,. It’s bullshit, of course.) For the record, I’m not entirely against it. But the Blue States will not be paying alimony or child support to the Red States. No trade and interstate travel either. Not for you. You’re on your own. I’m not going to pick this apart. I’m sure she thinks she’s being clever and satirical but she’s just a housewife who was reading QAnon posts on facebook three years ago and decided to run for congress. That she turns out to be the perfect avatar of the GOP base says everything about them, not her.
Highlights: What’s wrong with that? The speech was very strong and very dramatic. Good work, Joe. He gave a speech a year ago when everyone assumed that Russia would roll over Ukraine in a matter of weeks if not days, NATO could fall apart and everyone was far less optimistic. Today, he was able to say that NATO is actually stronger and the Ukrainians are fighting like hell to save themselves.
The AP and the NY Times interviewed the Special Grand Jury forewoman in the Fulton County election interference case. She was surprisingly open, although she did say that she was following the guidelines laid out by the judge overseeing the case. Here are just a few tidbits from the AP article: During a lengthy recent interview, Kohrs complied with the judge’s instructions not to discuss details related to the jury’s deliberations. She also declined to talk about unpublished portions of the panel’s final report. But her general characterizations provided unusual insight into a process that is typically cloaked in secrecy. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the receiving end of Trump’s pressure campaign, was “a really geeky kind of funny,” she said. State House Speaker David Ralston, who died in November, was hilarious and had the room in stitches. And Gov. Brian Kemp, who succeeded in delaying his appearance until after his reelection in November, seemed unhappy to be there. Kohrs was fascinated by an explainer on Georgia’s voting machines offered by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive.
Finally, someone asks this question, and it should be asked of every throwback GOPer who uses it. This WaPo article describes the right’s use of the word and how its being deployed as a pejorative, noting that it come directly from Black culture which is not a coincidence. But what is it they are so upset about? Many Republicans, however, define wokeism in starkly different terms and with varying levels of fluency — including when they are asked about the term. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) described wokeism as “cultural Marxism” in a brief hallway interview last week, naming-checking both “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling — who has been criticized for her anti-transgender comments — and a former Levi’s executive, Jennifer Sey, who decried “woke capitalism” as recent victims of the phenomenon. Wokeism, Cruz said, “is the left seizing institutions of transmission of ideas and that includes education — K-12 and universities. It includes journalism. It includes entertainment — Hollywood, movies, TV, sports, music, video games.
Killing them would be a choice Paul Krugman sets the record straight: It’s exhausting having to set the record straight on this stuff over and over again. But they won’t stop trying to kill them so we have to defend them with the facts.
Amanda Carpenter on DeSantis’ craven Fox and Friends pandering on Ukraine. I guess he knows he doesn’t have to show any leadership or sophistication when it comes to foreign policy in order to win the GOP nomination. It’s going to be a long campaign: Gross things can happen when you convince yourself that, no matter what, you must position yourself in complete opposition to your political opponents. Just look at what Ron DeSantis is doing. Before pursuing elected office, DeSantis was a Yale undergrad-turned-Harvard legal scholar, a history teacher, and a military officer. So, one would think his first reaction to President Biden’s surprise visit to war-torn Kyiv to show solidarity with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would be, at a bare minimum, to show some respect for the Ukrainian resistance and maybe hold off on the self-serving commentary for a few hours. That is not the choice DeSantis made. Instead, the Florida governor, who aspires to be president himself, decided to position himself in front of the cameras of Fox & Friends to . . . wait for it . . . blame Biden for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.