I would guess that most of you haven’t ever heard of Sneako, a right wing Youtube “influencer.” Here’s a short bio: Nicolas “Nico” Kenn De Balinthazy (born: September 8, 1998 [age 25]), better known online as Sneako, is a right-wing Muslim-American internet personality. Sneako is closely associated with figures such as Andrew and Tristan Tate, rapper Kanye “Ye” West, white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, LeafyIsHere and the hosts of the Fresh&Fit Podcast. Through his main channel “SNEAKO” and second channel “SHNEAKO” on YouTube, Sneako amassed over 2,000,000 subscribers, up until his termination from the platform after repeated community guideline violations. He now posts content on the “alt-tech” platform Rumble.com You can get more details here but let’s just say this guy is a real piece of work.
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To those who thought that Trump calling the 6-week abortion bans “terrible” in his interview this weekend would cause the “pro-life” movement to abandon him, think again. Aaron Blake of the WaPo asked Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America about it and this is what they said: If you ever thought the anti-abortion movement was about anything other than rank politics, you know better now. They are just another political interest group trying to maintain its power in the party. It’s what they’ve always been. These are people who’ve spent the last five decades screaming that abortion is murder. Now they’re talking about “ambition and common sense” and trying to sell a 15 week abortion ban in order to get votes for their side. Apparently, fetuses may be endowed with all the rights of fully formed human beings but maybe a little genocide under 15 weeks is a small price to pay to maintain political power? Looks like it.
Don’t listen to the Sirens. Don’t look at Medusa. It’s the GOP’s trusty “Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi” tactic. They’re gonna “But her emails” Joe Biden from here to next November. With help from a compliant, both-sides press again. The GOP’s goal of course is to repeat unsubstantiated allegations often enough that they are the first impression that comes to mind when people think about the opposing candidate. Take for instance this word cloud Gallup assembled this time seven years ago: It’s a variant of poisoning the well. Newt Ginrich taught them well. In the Trump era, the GOP has abandoned “Optimistic Positive Governing Words.” (Governing is no longer their aspiration.) But Republicans are still hell at “Contrasting Words.” Republicans desperate to distract attention from their front-runner’s two impeachments, four indictments and an insurrection will flood the zone with “old,” “senile,” “corrupt,” “Hunter,” and “impeachment.” A little baseless impeachment here, a ton of innuendo there, and voila! Biden is damaged goods.
From the “I Can’t Even” files If not for Tucker Carlson and ball tanning, I’d think this was a joke (Washington Post): It’s been almost 2,000 years since the Roman Empire reached the historic peak of its power. But many men still contemplate it — quite a lot. A new social media trend prompting women to ask the men in their lives how often they think about ancient Rome reveals that it crosses the minds of many men on a weekly basis. Even daily. Or more — to the surprise and confusion of their loved ones. “Three times a day,” answered one woman’s fiancé in a TikTok video. “There’s so much to think about,” he explained, eliciting a stunned look into the camera from his soon-to-be wife. “They built an entire world-dominating society,” another man exclaimed when asked by a bewildered-looking woman to justify why he contemplates ancient Rome. Domination. Got it. @listenwithbritt #stitch with @HapaGirl learning new things after 13 years.
“We don’t have the evidence now, but we may find it later” — McCaul is what passes for a “serious Republican” these days pic.twitter.com/bPMX1YPOec — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2023 Nancy Mace on ABC insists that there’s evidence Biden was bribed — but notably, she can’t seem to cite any! pic.twitter.com/steI1pOWML — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2023 the call where Trump threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless the government there helped him dig up dirt on Joe Biden? is DeSantis’s position that extorting a foreign government is fine if it happens on the phone? https://t.co/uIqghdNLAi — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2023 the call where Trump threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless the government there helped him dig up dirt on Joe Biden? is DeSantis’s position that extorting a foreign government is fine if it happens on the phone? https://t.co/uIqghdNLAi — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2023
The press decided to pivot to Old Brandon Dan Pfeiffer in his newsletter today takes it to the media for their coverage of Biden’s age. After watching Meet the Press today, I’m fed up: Here’s how the self-proclaimed paper of record decided to report on President Biden’s grueling 5-day trip to Asia. Nearly every line of the story is rage-inducing, but this might be the most annoying part: I promise you that the apparatchiks at the Trump campaign are high-fiving over the fact that they got the New York Times to push their chosen narrative about Biden even though the entire trip undermined that narrative. It’s not just the New York Times, the Associated Press recently headlined a story on their new poll with this atrocity: “Trump has problems of his own.” Hmm, I wonder what those could possibly be. Do people not like his policy platform? Are they concerned about his position on Social Security? Or maybe Trump’s problems have something to do with the fact that HE HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH 91 FELONIES IN FOUR CASES IN FOUR JURISDICTIONS!
Timothy Snyder on the dangers of the fantasy that the oligarchs will save us: The Silicon Valley oligarch, perhaps the richest man in the world, extends a hand to his fellow oligarch, the man who has his finger on Russia’s nuclear button. They share a secret about the foolishness of the masses, and take action to save us all from ourselves. Thanks to the two of them, the world is saved from Armageddon. Not the precis of a favourably reviewed work of dystopian fiction but a scenario presented as though it happened, in a biography of Elon Musk and its press campaign. Although neither Musk nor his biographer can get the story straight, it is true that the multibillionaire CEO of X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) refused to extend the coverage of his Starlink satellite communications for the Ukrainian armed forces last autumn. Musk did so because Russians (sometimes he says Putin) told him that a Ukrainian attack on part of Ukraine’s own territory (the Crimean peninsula, occupied by Russia) would lead to a Russian nuclear response.
I keep hearing the right wingers bellow that “they’re coming for your children” and “keep your hands off my kids!” Uh huh: While right-wing groups are mobilizing angry mobs to yell at school board members that parents have the right to control what their children are taught, evangelical pollster George Barna told religious-right activists at the Family Research Council’s “Pray Vote Stand” summit Thursday that it is their duty to try to indoctrinate other people’s children into a “biblical worldview.” Barna, one of the first senior fellows at FRC’s recently established Center for Biblical Worldview, specializes in studying what he calls “SAGE Cons”—Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservative Christians. What is most striking about FRC and Barna’s “worldview” project is how few people—and how few conservative evangelicals—measure up to their right-wing “biblical worldview” standard.
DeSantis should be held liable for this malfeasance Will Bunch takes on the latest far-right GOP plot to kill Americans. That’s not really hyperbole. The way they behave about public health is a crime. It’s one thing to tell people to be practical and do what they can to protect themselves and others without requiring lockdowns or mandates. That seems to be the consensus as we go into this new surge. But to say the vaccines are dangerous is just plain evil. They just don’t give a damn about the vulnerable people in our country. I guess that’s nothing new. But it’s never been more obvious. The initial, overrepeated mantra of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign was that “Florida is the state where ‘woke’ goes to die.” Now, a growing number of scientists and public-health experts are worried that the governor of America’s third-largest state may be adding a second risk of death to that list. His own citizens.
Technological change is a bumpy road The United Auto Workers are on strike against the Big Three (Washington Post): UAW Ford workers say they are striking because they are not making enough money to support their families or their futures. “We have our limits too,” said Kevin Ewald, a Ford employee who has worked at the company for nearly three decades. He wants his newer colleagues to be paid more for doing “bone-breaking” work. UAW workers began striking just after midnight Friday morning after failing to reach a deal with the Big Three autoworkers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. The union demanded 36 percent wage increases for workers over four years, saying that wages have not kept up with inflation. Full-time workers make about $18 to $32 an hour while CEOs at the Big Three companies each made more than $20 million in overallcompensation last year, figures the union used to justify its demands for higher worker wages. The UAW also wants an end to tiered employment system, which means that newer workers get lower pay and have worse benefits.