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Created
Thu, 21/11/2024 - 11:30
This is what people are saying on Fox News in the wake of Mike Johnson passing a law that bans transgender Rep. Sarah McBride from using the women’s bathroom: I can’t properly convey how horrified I am by this grotesque bigotry. It is reminiscent of what I heard people say about Black people living in the south in the 1960s. And frankly, I don’t think anyone would have said this out loud on Fox News even a few months ago. Their evil is unleashed. I fear for the safety of Sarah McBride, right there in the US Capitol. They’ve lost all sense of humanity.
Created
Thu, 21/11/2024 - 10:30
JV Last at the Bulwark discusses the fact that lefty influencer/podcaster Cenk Uyger (with whom I once had a passing acquaintance back in the early blogger days) seems to be cozying up to right, specifically Elon Musk. I won’t attempt to question what his motives might be — it could be any number of things. But Last makes an observation with which I totally agree out of hard won experience: You know about horseshoe theory, right? It’s the idea that the political spectrum is not a straight line but a U-shape, where the far left and far right end up nearly touching. Usually when people talk about horseshoe theory, it’s in terms of policy preferences—how the policies of the far left and far right can start to overlap. But I think it’s driven much more by temperament. If you are the kind of person who tends toward conspiracy theories, you will gravitate toward the far end of the horseshoe. The same is true for people who are driven by grievance. And also for populists.
Created
Thu, 21/11/2024 - 10:30
You know all those new regulations requiring that airlines pay you for cancellations and advertise the full price of fares upfront, including mandatory fees and taxes? They’re very popular and seem to have made the airlines more responsive. Well, the airlines are very happy that Trump is promising to roll all that back: The chief executive of Delta Air Lines says the incoming Trump administration will be a “breath of fresh air” for airlines after what he called government “overreach” under President Joe Biden. The airline industry has chafed under consumer-protection regulations imposed by the Biden administration. And Delta is facing a federal investigation into its slow recovery from a global technology outage this summer. […] On Monday, the airline industry trade group praised Trump’s pick for transportation secretary, former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy. Duffy, a former reality TV star who is co-host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business, lobbied for U.S. airlines and their unions during a dispute with Persian Gulf carriers.
Created
Thu, 21/11/2024 - 09:00
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.