"If you hate the culture wars, blame liberals"

By artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 11:10am |

By Kevin Drum @ Jabberwocking.com, July 3

On Thursday I posted a series of charts that all documented a similar theme: Since roughly the year 2000, according to survey data, Democrats have moved significantly to the left on most hot button social issues while Republicans have moved only slightly right.

This wasn't meant to be a rigorous scholarly analysis. And you can argue about margins of error, question wording, choice of topics, and so forth. Still, the gaps are too big and the trend too consistent to ignore the obvious conclusion that over the past two decades Democrats have moved left far more than Republicans have moved right: [....]

I've made this point many times before, and I want to make it again more loudly and more plainly today. It is not conservatives who have turned American politics into a culture war battle. It is liberals. And this shouldn't come as a surprise: Almost by definition, liberals are the ones pushing for change while conservatives are merely responding to whatever liberals do. More specifically, progressives have been bragging publicly about pushing the Democratic Party leftward since at least 2004—and they've succeeded.

Now, I'm personally happy about most of this. But that doesn't blind me to the fact that "personally happy" means nothing in politics. What matters is what the median voter feels, and Democrats have been moving further and further away from the median voter for years: [....]

URL:

https://jabberwocking.com/if-you-hate-the-culture-wars-blame-liberals/

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In 2006, white evangelicals were 23% of US. Now, 14.5%. ”White evangelicals once saw themselves ’as owners of mainstream American culture, morality & values.’ Now they are just another subculture” and this explains ”much of our country’s cultural conflict” https://t.co/uPalI8xpRp
— Omar Wasow (@owasow) July 9, 2021

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 11:16am

The look I give other black people when they keep making demands for bigger appeasement gestures from white people while telling them they're evil. It translates to, "And if they object, you DO recall we're only 13% of the US population, right? And most live in segregated areas?" pic.twitter.com/60W3j2QS5m
— Dr. Dina McMillan (@drdina1) July 7, 2021

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 11:24am

I've come to believe two things that seem to be in contradiction but aren't. 1. GOP+actually-existing American conservatism have richly earned the moral stigma they encounter in academia+other environs. 2. Liberal/left group-think+lack of viewpoint diversity are genuine problems.
— Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) July 5, 2021

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 11:30am

A Middle Class Rebellion Against Progressives Is Gaining Steam | Opinion

By JOEL KOTKIN , PRESIDENTIAL FELLOW IN URBAN FUTURES AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
@ Newsweek.com, 6/3/21 AT 5:43 PM EDT

A specter is haunting America, a great revolt that threatens to dwarf the noxious rebellion led by Trump. The echoes of a another potentially larger pushback can already be heard in progressive America. But it's not towards socialism, as many suggest. It's the opposite: a new middle-class rebellion against the excesses of the Left.

This new middle-class rebellion isn't rejecting everything that progressives stand for; the Left's critique of neo-liberal excess is resonating, as is the need for improved access to health care. But the current focus on "systemic racism," coupled with a newfound and heavily enforced cultural conformism and the obsessive focus on a never-ending litany of impending "climate emergences" are less likely to pass muster with most of the middle class, no matter how popular they are with the media, academics, and others in the progressive corner.

And this new middle-class rebellion is being bolstered by a wide-ranging intellectual rebellion by traditional liberals against the Left's dogmatism and intolerance. Indeed, what we're about to see has the potential to reprise the great shift among old liberals that had them embracing Reagan in reaction to the Left's excesses of that generation.

In a way, this should not be surprising. After all, the progressive base is limited: According to a survey conducted by the non-partisan group More in Common, progressives constitute barely eight percent of the electorate. The report also found that fully 80 percent of all Americans believe that "political correctness is a problem," including large majorities of millennials and racial minorities

Party line journalists may see President Biden as the new champion of the middle class, but every time he adopts central tenets of the new Left, he undermines his pitch. And this happens not infrequently: The Biden Administration has adopted elements of the "anti-racist" agenda, for example, by explicitly favoring Black farmers for subsidies, rather than focusing on all farmers in need. Race issues may be popular on college campuses and in the human relations departments of giant corporations like Lockheed and Amazon, but a recent Yale study found that language based on inclusivity around class was far more popular than one focused largely on race, even with progressive voters [....]

by artappraiser on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 11:42am

I would personally say that demographic change has resulted in a scramble for progressives to create narratives for all sorts of new populations. That's how you get things like critical race theory.

The writer hits home when he says that by definition, the left wants to change things and the right doesn't. That means that the left might happen on some truly warped and deranged ideas while also happening upon ideas with a lasting positive impact. Look at how the right wing Eurasianists in Russia embraced many of the old institutions of the Soviet Union and sought to recreate them.

by Orion on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 2:09pm

Euthanasianists claiming their own - what %?

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 2:58pm

Eurasianists, not Euthanasianists. LOL.

by Orion on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 4:09pm

"What do you think about euthanasia?"
"Feed 'em rice."
ba-da-dump
"We've always been at war with Uranusia... I think" - from early drafts of 1984

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 4:38pm

Urine Asia.

by Orion on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 4:41pm

Martin Luther King Jr preached a message of universal love.

Democrats still lost the South after passage of the Civil Rights bills.

Drum's observation is no big surprise.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 9:44pm

I wonder what The Rev.would do with today's changes in black urban sub-culture, though, for example, Kareem here, who shot his acquaintance of 15 years and paralyzed him from the waist down, after they both attended a "Soul Food Sunday anti-violence event"

Man shot driver near Goose Island after dispute at anti-violence event, prosecutors say.https://t.co/eEH93rY5cf
— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) July 11, 2021

Abolish the jail he is being held in and send in the social workers? Shower him with more love and "anti-violence"? Some black people, with a high incidence of them male, are now as bad as bad cops, or worse. Denial is not a river in Egypt. Cops (who are not all white) do use profiling and a lot of blacks are hurting other blacks. Don't the victims get any civil rights, the rights to life and limb?

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 8:50am

Your response has nothing to do with the fact that using peaceful protest did not prevent Democrats from losing the Southern vote after the Civil Rights bills were signed.

Edit to add:

Regarding the police

It was Trump supporters who attacked police on January 6th

It is Republicans who refused to award medals to police after the Capitol attack

It is Republicans who are reluctant to increase funding for police.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 10:48am

She's talking about the recent uptick in murders. Could you kindly STOP FUCKING TALKING ABOUT EVERY TOPIC ON THE PLANET GOING BACK TO THE PHAROAHS BESIDES THE RECENT INCREASE IN MURDERS SHE'S DISCUSSING?

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 10:56am

The title of the post is "If you hate the culture wars, blame Liberals".

The link is to a Kevin Drum article arguing that the Left created the culture wars.

Edit to add;

The MLK comparison is appropriate because moves to the "Left" can result in a loss of general support.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:35am

Drum's essay and the topic of this thread are not the 1960's nor the election of Nixon nor the Civil Rights movement during the presidencies of JFK and LBJ. It's about the present, not 55 years ago. I will admit there is a reference to losing Democrats to Reagan 15 years later. That WAS different! Totally. One piece of evidence was the way that Jesse Jackson could easily win some of those "Reagan Dems" back with the right rhetoric. It wasn't about race, it was about class, working class. You can shout that Nixon and Reagan are exactly the same southern strategy racism till you are blue in the face and no one here is going to do anything but ridicule you. (Even Nixon strategy can't totally be so simply and moronically interpreted as you do, he was trying to counter Geo. Wallace fans, where the real racists were.)

Now is not then. It's 2021. You deserve to be ridiculed if you continually present the simplistic position that nothing has changed in 50 years and things like you know what MLK Jr. would think if he was still alive. To not believe things change is actually one definition of conservative and you are the only one here that thinks that way, conservatively.

Hello Mr. Been in A Coma: since that time we've had a re-elected Democratic president who was a governor in the deep South and who was "our first black president" and then we had a second black Democratic president who was also re-elected.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:52am

Republicans believe:

The 2020 Presidential election was stolen

Say January 6th never happened

Have to work to suppress votes to win elections

Want laws that allow Republican legislatures or judges to overturn elections.

I'm much more worried about what the Arizona and Texas legislators are doing than I am by Sanders or AOC.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 12:14pm

Facts:

Bernie and AOC are not mentioned in the article. Plus., Bernie in particular is actually famous for purposefully avoiding any culture wars issues and focusing on class war.
All Republicans are not Trump Big Lie supporters. I did like 7 long threads of news articles on factions in the GOP after Trump's loss and moat participated on many of them.

Again, you prove PP correct in chastising you, you talk about shit that doesn't even apply as if you haven't a clue what we are talking about, you are locked in this simplistic partisan bubble and can only shout simplistic ancient partisan sloganeering that suggests nothing more than need for instruction and learning on your part.

And that is how you drag us all into the same old same old. No one here is interested in being dragged into your same old same old and your lack of interest in nuance, complexities, change.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 12:35pm

Facts:

The President wants to increase funding of the police

Defund the police is a Republican talking point that doesn't apply to what the party as a whole is doing.

Republicans would not be focused on suppressing votes if they had the winning hand.

Congressional Republicans are the ones dishonoring and defunding the police.

Here is a link to a Chris Wallace interview with a Republican Congressman

Wallace police points out that it is Republicans who do not want to fund the police.

Wallace also notes that only a small fraction of Democrats are calling for defunding or abolition of police.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jun/28/chris-wallace-republicans-defunding-the-police-fox-news-congressman-jim-banks

Repeatedly tying Democrats, and not Republicans, to defunding gives a skewed picture.

Edit to add:

I make the argument binary because funding comes from people in Congress

Democrat support funding

Republicans do not

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 12:59pm

Who made "defund the police" a chant marching through the streets?
so-called Progressives tied themselves to the issue big time.
I don't recall it being a big issue at CPAC or elsewhere.
Nice try, but ultimately #FAIL.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 2:06pm

You are too lenient, this stuff is easy to look up because it's all on my blog. Main BLM activists fought blatantly and publicly for not only "Defund" and official Black Lives Matter policy was always for "Abolish" as well. It was right on their website, unashamedly. BLACK LIVES MATTER ACTIVISTS STRIKE BACK AT DEMS SLAMMING 'DEFUND THE POLICE'

Then there's my whole thread starting Sept. 26: #BLACK LIVES MATTER & BLM GROUPS PLEASE STOP ALL PROTESTS UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION

here's two earlier long threads on how the protests were helping Trump and the GOP by being not just anti-police but anti-law-and-order and even anarchist sometimes threatening alienating all important suburban voters: FEEDS TRUMP'S MEME ABOUT PROTECTING SUBURBANITES and TRUMP CAMPAIGN TV AD WITH "DEFUND THE POLICE" TOPIC

(Also on real politics and politicians, FWIW I had this thread LEFTY DEM INSURRECTIONISM BEFORE & AFTER THE DEM CONVENTION)

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:11pm

p.s. heh funny what popped up on a quick search I did was this 2015 thread by Wattree

BLACK SHERIFF, DAVID CLARKE, SAYS 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' WILL JOIN FORCES WITH TERRORISTS TO BRING DOWN AMERICA

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:14pm

Who in Democratic leadership is running on defund the police?

You are gullible enough to pick up a Republican talking point

You guys are hilarious

While you are focused on nonsense, the Republicans in Texas are instituting voter restrictions.

Gotta watch out for those transgender bathrooms and kindergarten classes on Critical Race Theory.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:22pm

AGAIN, THE TITLE OF THE THREAD:

IF YOU HATE CULTURE WARS, BLAME LIBERALS

Though the charts do show a leftward move of the Dem party over time, the title doesn't even say Democrats, it says "liberals".

It's about culture wars, this thread is about the American populace and how they react to culture wars and the game like is played with mom where the kid says "he started it."

HOW MANY TIMES does it have to be made clear to you that you are changing the topic?

Do you even understand what the word "culture" means?

If you want to discuss voting restrictions, start another thread.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:32pm

all that said, it sure IS interesting to see you SOOOO SUPPORTIVE OF THE POLICE. really rich after trashing them with daily posts for like a year! Or was it more than a year? Started before George Floyd?. It seemed endless:oh another news story by rmrd about how horrible police are in every way every day, until the flood got so tiresome that pp made you relegate it to one thread labeled "Police Abuse" which had like 500 comments....,

never once, out of thousands of stories and comments, any item about the good police do. Not even at the Capitol Jan. 6, on Jan. 6 you were ready to hang all of them saying that if the protesters were black,the Capitol police wouldn't be so nice to them, it was all a set up, they were in on it, letting Trump supporters in, etc.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:41pm

If Republicans are willing to believe the Big Lie, that is not the fault of the Woke.

If Republicans deny that January 6th was a real event, that is not the fault of the Woke.

If Republicans in Congress refuse to honor or shake the hands of police officers who saved the lives of members of Congress, that is not the fault of the Woke.

Your so-called culture war is just a weapon in the GOP toolkit.

You cannot neglect the obvious.

Edit to add:

Opinion: The new shape of the culture war is a revived Lost Cause
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/21/new-shape-culture-war-is-revived-lost-cause/

Conservatives Have No Plan To Win the Culture War. They Intend to Rule Anyway.

Republicans would have to make changes to win the hearts and minds of the young. They have no intention of doing that. They intend to kill democracy, instead.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/07/05/conservatives-have-no-plan-to-win-the-culture-war-but-they-intend-to-rule-anyway/

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:53pm

Your favorite strawman is that somebody said the Big Lie was the fault of The Woke. NOBODY SAID THAT.

Some of us don't like what The Woke are doing to our country and culture, just like we don't like what Trump did to our country and culture.

Some of us actually think Trump practices the same type of thing The Woke practices, which is: DISTRACTING CULTURE WARS. It's the only thing he's capable at, actually. He knows how to play what used to be called "politically correct" and is now called Woke, at their own game.

That don't belong in politics because: politics can't solve those problems.

Trump is not a politician nor was he capable at governing because: he is a culture warrior for narcissist reasons.

These cultural issues are exclusively the province of our culture and any related legal issues are handled by the justice system, and those with a minority view of the culture issues are represented by the third branch of government, for a reason you don't seem to understand. Governments and politicians can't change culture, they can only make it go hidden, underground. They can use it to distract, sure. The only thing that can change culture is culture and peer pressure. Debate doesn't work here more than anywhere else, it distracts to no good result. Probably easier to make people change their religious beliefs.

If you want our country to stop being so divided, you would avoid this CRAP just like Biden and Bernie and many others do. If you want it to get more divided and angry, you will support both The Woke and Trump playing their tunes.

If you like the GOP under the thumb of Trump populist demagoguery, you will support all The Woke crap and the countering crap that Trump and his minions offer. IT'S ALL DEMAGOGUERY, IT'S CULTURE WARS. THAT'S WHAT DEMAGOGUES DO, CULTURE WARS.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 6:16pm

CRT has been around for decades. The Right made it into a culture war issue.

CRT was an issue in law and graduate school

Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram X Kendi, and Robin Di Angelo are not a part of CRT

The actions of Republicans in Texas today point to why the country is divided.

Texas Republicans want the right to overthrow election results.

There is an outright assault on democracy.

The so-called culture wars are are used as a scare tactic to coverup a coup.

Interpreting Drum's curves, Democrats change with the times

Republicans stand athwart history yelling "Stop".

Edit to add:

The debate about CRT was created and funded by the Right

From NPR

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1009839021/uncovering-who-is-driving-the-fight-against-critical-race-theory-in-schools

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 7:07pm

Gotta watch out for those transgender bathrooms

Actually, that is exactly the kind of Woke shit that bothers people a lot and distracts from real issues and is exactly what this thread is about. Woke raised a demand that people should be able to chose the bathroom despite their genitalia, out of the blue, and Republicans picked up on it and played it because they knew it would upset people. Distraction successful. Started by the woke.Republicans used it to distract.

Who in Democratic leadership is running on defund the police?

Republican operatives already compiled a video on that, no need for me to list them.

Distraction successful. Started by "progressives". Republicans used it to distract.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 9:04pm

The president who has supported more funding for police not less since before he was elected, which was a bipartisan, centrist thing to do BECAUSE he was a centrist courting bipartisan and independent votes and telling the progressives in his own party to STFU "Defund" is not what we are going to do.

Jim Clyburn whoop you side of head for the revisionist history. He had to tell the "progressives" in the party to STFU with the Defund until the GA Senate race was over lest they lose those too as well as the House seats they lost. over the "Defund" slogan being mouthed by the progressive wing, as well as the "socialism" word.

But again that's not what this thread is about! It's about culture wars and who starts them.

I simply brought up the case of a criminal black man practicing violence on another black man after a non-violence meeting to challenge your thought bubble about Mr. Nonviolence, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.! AND YOU DIDN'T GET IT! Went right over your head! And you segue into talking about unrelated.again about policing.

This thread is about culture wars DISTRACTIONS and who causes them., POLITICAL CORRECTNESS if you don't get it, I.E. use Dr. Seuss books if you can't get the idea, arguing over them for a month while people are dying of covid. So that people don't actually vote on policy but brand a party incorrectly.

(edit for typo for clarity)

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:17pm

re: Defund the police is a Republican talking point Gees, thanks for letting us finally know that official BLM is a Republican organization; you kept it all to yourself all this time!

When we say #DefundThePolice, we mean abolition—we’re not just talking about what we get rid of. It’s also what we create and envision in its place. Radical imagination.

Listen to our ED @osopepatrisse breakdown what abolition means to our movement.https://t.co/SQ32FeVb11
— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) February 23, 2021

https://t.co/8tx0WnEiu5 @Mvmnt4BlkLives @Law4BlackLives @C_Resistance @BlackYouthProj @blmcanada_

Support the movement! Join the movement.
— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) March 3, 2021

the DefundPolice.org which they encourage everyone to join includes things like these PDF'S

An Organizer’s Toolkit for Developing Campaigns to Abolish Policing by Critical Resistance

and

What’s Next? Safer and More Just Communities Without Policing

That and so much more is on my Feb. 26 thread on topic, on which you commented a lot back when you were in your anti-police, pro-BLM "Republican" persona. People can check on what you had to say there:

BLM: "WHEN WE SAY #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE, WE MEAN ABOLITION..."

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 7:26pm

If the median voter means a majority or plurality of voters that doesn't seem plausible, or else the Democrats wouldn't have won. If Republicans had the electorate on their side they wouldn't be trying to prevent people from voting.

by Aaron Carine on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 3:40am

fuck these ~~BLM~~ cop-hating white anarchist lefties; black lives don't really matter to them, hating cops does, though. AND they are doing as much harm to the Dem party as Trumpies are doing to the GOP:

A microcosm of progressive politics https://t.co/O3E8OXttbB
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) July 10, 2021

AND they are cruel. They need to be denounced as extremists who want to see our society fall.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 8:26am

NYC. A reminder this was a primary with only registered Democrats allowed to vote:

This understates the rejection of the left in this primary and undersells the politics of "comfortably insulated" NYers. Garcia and Adams are stylistically very different but were essentially in sync on the issues The Economist cares about here. And Garcia won Park Slope, etc. https://t.co/WGVZMFj7u5
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) July 10, 2021

Registration could only be changed a month in advance. So what went on here did not include, like, a lot of "Staten Island Republicans". This was registered Democrats

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 8:34am

"Defund the police" wasn't presented as a solution to rising crime, but as a solution to a particular category of crime: the killing of African-Americans by cops. I doubt the African-Americans who advocated it were really "insulated from violence".

by Aaron Carine on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 7:45pm

ha ha

The left wasn't always so one dimensional, you'll never guess who wrote this: "I’ve had to give the cops credit for maintaining a record-low murder rate, even as the city’s economy shuddered." https://t.co/TrPLlmSzWm
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) July 10, 2021

it's Ta Ne-Hisi Coates praising the police in Feb., 2004.

He really was a good fresh thinker back in the aughts, realistic sensible anti-leftist (not at all afraid to truth tell to political correctness) sort of in the matter of Thos. Chattersworth Williams. I remember Bruce Levine back at TPM Cafe going "who is that, wow, I like what he's saying!" when he first saw one of Coates' columns.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:32am

This article is dumb. It ignores The Tea Party, the overt signalling with picking Sarah Palin, how the Republicans have steadily sidelined anyone not fanatic enough so that Mitt Romney - the 2012 GOP candidate - and Liz Cheney - daughter of a quintessential hardcore divisive Republican - are no longer welcome in the party , while Paul Ryan's already past shelf life, Chris Christie's been trying to hold on for years, Mitch McConnell is on his way out after serving his Trumpian purposes.

The the Republicans gave up pretense of any principle in awe of Trumpland Gangland is somehow a plus in Kevin's world - Republicans no longer believe in balanced budgets not because they decided it wasn't the right thing to do, but because Trump started using budgets to pay off the base, so Republicans flip-flopped on the values thing. Does being amoral buy points? Similarly Republicans decided there were no points in bashing gays, so they dropped it in favor of bashing Culture Wars stuff - gone are the "Heather has 2 mommies" complaints, so yeah, GOP capitulated So it could bash more fruitfully elsewhere.

Now, is assault on voting rights - the "death by 1000 cuts/20 states" a "culture war" or is it just political cheating? I don't think they really care if the voter's black - they care if they denied a vote from a Democrat. Presumably somehow Dems are more culture wars by standing up for existing laws and precedents, rather than endless recounts, attempts to overthrow the vote...

As for shooting deaths, I'm really not sure which party is fighting the most culture wars thing, but branding Hillary as "coming for your guns" was the pro-gun "they're coming to take away our guns" Palin's AR-15 Barbie presented the culture war. Liberals running paedophilia was the GOP Comet Pizza culture war contribution. Working with Assange to push the "Hillary had Seth Rich whacked" was another crooked empire play, followed by "Obama's Deep State was spying on Trump". Stealing Supreme Court picks and ramming through conservatives while obstructing/slowing Dem picks was certainly "our cultural view at any cost", including specific cultural issues at many levels in government - destroying much of the usual apolitical civil servant running of government to have distinctly culture warrior types ram through new policies, often with the purpose of destroying gov effectiveness and response, rather than even trying to initiate a coherent policy shift.. The politicizing of Falwell's billion dollar church/political arm under the banner of "anything else is against what God wants" was certainly an over-the-top culture wars play. And then there's Fox News followed by OANN and Newsmax shifts to escalate culture war news propaganda further than even Murdoch would carry it.

Sorry, not buying a few graphs that seemingly obscure more than a decade of GOP fuckery - oh, did i leave out Bundy's and the new Proud boys/Oath keepers tied to the populist Trump gang that actively preached of the press as treasonous enemies who should be strung up or at least smashed in the face? The ones who were willing to trample any law because GOP goals - meaning now Trump goals - were Godly and right and if the law didn't support his whim, it's because traitorous Dems had refused to do God's - meaning Trump's - bidding.

Never before has an Attorney General been so in the pocket of a crooked President - most of their work being totally focused on daily culture wars, cementing reworking government and laws to put their multiple thumbs on the scales - even to the extent of sending in uniformed soldiers and police officers into the streets not to control the BLM and other street protest crazy, but to stir it up even more for partisan gain - firing tear gas and damaging rubber bullets at protesters & press just 1 of many low points.

Even the compelling analogy of BLM protesters trashing storefronts and splainin' gentrifiers vs Capitol Hill riots falls apart when you realize the latter came deeply organized with criminal support from the oval office down, millions of dollars in backing including for recruiting, a significant number of arms and a penchant for human violence that the left didn't, and the attitude not to be telling Al fresco diners what they shouldn't be having for dinner but to hold Senate and House members hostage and 'splain' to them how they should "interpret" (read: overthrow) the laws, and if not for the cleverness of a greatly (and intentionally) overwhelmed police force, they would have had Speaker Pelosi and Mitt Romney and VP Pence down in a basement reading them their options. Culture war blame on the left? Sure, there's some - but they didn't play their flyover and conservative culture ethic nearly as strongly and illegally as the right. Look at the reluctance Obama had to even announce Russian involvement in 2016 - letting mushy mouth Comey along with Assange, Roger Stone & Rudy's FBI pals steer the narrative. They didn't even shut down Trump doing an end-around sanctions pre-office or keep his team from meeting with Qatar et al, while Barr dishonestly steered the narrative on the Mueller report, and the whole government was co-opted to try to make Hunter & Joe Biden look bad. Was that not a "culture war"? The fine lads & lasses of Trump Tower & Mar-a-Lago vs the "corrupt socialists" of the other party?

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 11:47am

middle class, two skin colors and genders, agree, and I suspect they represent an awful lot of people:

I truly believe that the portrait of America painted by MSM is not at all reality. Most of us want the same things and the disagreements that arise on the path to admirable goals are unreasonably distorted and amplified to give the appearance of divide.
— Meredith (@Opportunitweet) July 9, 2021

This is essentially what I believe.
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 9, 2021

also

People aren't rejecting CRT because they're racist, they're rejecting it because they're not.
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 9, 2021

There is no real answer to this question.

The people who cling most tightly to the idea of a uniform "Black Culture" reduce Blacks to stereotypes, chastise anyone who doesn't fit the mould as "acting white", then turn around and complain that everyone else is racist. https://t.co/itm1ZKMPt0
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 9, 2021

and furthermore

People who claim they want to eliminate racism might want to stop referring to other Blacks as "coons" or "house niggers".
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 10, 2021

Right on cue, an Overseer appears to do Massa's bidding.

Two can play at this game.https://t.co/vpL6gqntkD
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 10, 2021

Don't be an Overseer.

Be pro-Black. https://t.co/3JMg1kyi7W
— Clifton Duncan: MFA, BFA, Be Impressed. (@cliftonaduncan) July 10, 2021

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 1:05pm

Joseph John appears to have 21 followers on Twitter.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 1:23pm

He's been on 1 month & has double what I have in a year.
But yes, the stupid mono-syllable stuff he writes is totally trollish.
Meanwhile:

I like how she uses whiteness and white supremacy as synonyms here. Very racist of her.
— MicaBmazing (@MicaBmazing) July 10, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 2:19pm

Drum argues that Democrats have been pushed to the Left more than Republicans have been pushed to the Right. That is garbage. Republicans create controversy out of nothing. They were worried about a War on Christmas. Transgender bathrooms, Shiria law being forced on the United States, etc. Now they are worried about Critical Race Theory. They are able to play the public for fools.

I will again point out that Republicans are working to form an authoritarian government. Keep posting about the guy who has 21 followers on Twitter. Nikole Hannah-Jones does not represent the threat presented by the political party that is trying to argue that Trump lost the election and January 6th was just a bunch of tourists. You sleep on the real danger.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 2:55pm

Whatever he's trolling someone who knows how to answer him, mho. Someone who has seen it before. Whether he's Afro-American or Russian, doesn't matter, because there's plenty out there that do that and that Clifton doesn't like it when that happens is the point.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 4:03pm

a reminder that SNL was not afraid to ridicule the earnest culture warriors: AUNT JEMIMA AND UNCLE BEN LOSE THEIR JOBS

edit to add: Americans also had to deal with "INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY OF RAGE" PROTESTS. I imagine Italian-Americans especially didn't enjoy that much.

And let's not forget things like policing of Halloween costumes.Most Americans just soooo happy that started happening and no one but conservatives complains.

Tearing down statues of Lincoln because he wasn't abolitionist enough. Not a peep on that from any Democratic politician cause: they might get cancelled!

Democratic politicians either say zip or are supportive and participate!

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 4:19pm

Obama, to his credit, did say something. Once, Oct. 2019. Not enough, mho. I think he's under the impression it's just college kids and the grownups don't even see it because he no longer deals with trying to win over voters. But grownups do see it, a lot. And associate it with liberal Democrats.

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 4:27pm

Yglesias' opinion on what even Bernie knows but lot of his fans and acolytes don't

The real story here is that though he’s too proud to formally disavow it, Bernie knows that “socialist” is politically toxic.

You could solve a lot of problems in left politics if Bernie fans would imitate Bernie Sanders. https://t.co/pfrtkhFbfy
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 10, 2021

I think Yglesias is spot on here. (A related reminder that Bernie i.d. as an Independent at one time.)

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:52pm

This is incorrect. It is a win for both sides in the culture war, which can rally against the other side, and a loser for people who think there are better ways forward that are less zero sum, because we can't redefine debate on the terms we would prefer. https://t.co/nv6xayuOgC
— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) July 8, 2021

The Rufos and the KendiAngelos of the world feed off of each other’s excesses for their own benefit but not necessarily for the larger society’s. We desperately need cooler, more supple, more ambivalent, more open-minded heads to prevail.
— Thomas Chatterton Williams (@thomaschattwill) July 9, 2021

Worth noting: Hispanic/Asian group gaps are larger than Black/white gaps as re almost all of the variables used to argue for "systemic racism" in the W-vs-B case - persomal income, test scores, etc.

What is the "critical" explanation for this?
— Wilfred Reilly (@wil_da_beast630) July 9, 2021

White House should bring back The Federalist's Kamala is a Cop swag. pic.twitter.com/sHcA2laiQc
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 8, 2021

Who cares?! I never cared about representation. That’s BS. If you the bestat what you do, you will get the spoils. Are they getting the job done? Are they making people around them better? Those are the things that I care about. Black representation doesn’t matter to https://t.co/4FaQMreWbv
— Barrington Martin II (@_BarringtonII) July 8, 2021

me because my identity isn’t predicated on my skin color, nor do I share in the triumphs or failures of other people that may look like me. It’s insulting to assume that because I look the way I do I have to care about seeing people that look like me in certain places. Sick.
— Barrington Martin II (@_BarringtonII) July 8, 2021

Dr. McMillan hit the nail on the head here. As an average middle-class white person who was raised not to be racist, I can tell you the backlash is real. I was forever changed by the year 2020 and not in a good way. I’m still trying to get back to where I was before.
— Suspended Again (@QuietCacophony6) July 8, 2021

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 8:39pm

3 years after I wrote about it, Matt Lewis is still pushing the same nonsense narrative and collecting a paycheck for it at @thedailybeast https://t.co/YeM3SxzhX4 pic.twitter.com/e9IbTwCm2C
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 12, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 10:34am

Are England’s Culture Wars Really a Thing? – New research from the Labour-affiliated think tank The Fabian Society supports the idea that the debate in England over racial equality and cancel culture is not actually reflective of the attitude among the public. The Society found that divisive arguments about tradition and identity are often stoked by those seeking political, personal, or commercial gain. The report’s authors say that politicians need to be called out for pitting working-class communities against each other. (Evening Standard)

summary from this artnet.com July 12 industry news compilation

And I think it's obviously become a popular thing right now to question the whole culture wars thing!

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 1:20pm

one guy working on countering the narrative

There are not "stacks" of English people racially abusing Rashford, Sancho, and Saka, when you consider the fact that 31 million people in the UK tuned in to watch the final.

It is a hardcore abusive fringe - to suggest otherwise is an insult to mainstream English society. https://t.co/cHAFrI0nZG
— Dr Rakib Ehsan (@rakibehsan) July 12, 2021

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 4:24pm

About 22 percent of Americans use Twitter.

And roughly 10 percent of those users are responsible for 80 percent of tweets — meaning just 2 percent of Americans are contributing to a majority of the site’s dialogue, the researchers noted.

by ocean-kat on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 7:27pm

^ I still think the above paragraph nails it all best, including for the U.S. And 'who started it?" is like Mom with the two little boys, they're both doing it and it doesn't matter that much who "started it" on any one issue. MORE IMPORTANTLY, often as not of the three reasons here stoked by those seeking political, personal, or commercial gain, the last two are often the real reasons if you dig a little (i.e. Trump for 'ratings' to feed the narcissism, most Fox news people for ratings for money, on the other side you similarly got Shaun King or Nikole Hannah-Jones or Bree Newsome).

Here's a perfect example. This is cynical, not passionate belief:

Fascinating long read.

Can the Black Rifle Coffee Company Become the Starbucks of the Right? https://t.co/NkiaMQ0yEs
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) July 14, 2021

Just like Shaun King or Roger Stone.

And why did they think there's a need or a market for a "Starbucks of the Right"? Because Starbucks sells faux lefty environmental branding of coffee. What's ridiculous--OR MAYBE NOT- is anarchists don't fall for this, Starbucks is one of their favorites to attack!

It's mostly distracting nonsense about lifestyle, culture wars, and doesn't affect something like voting much at all, the effect is in distraction from things like real voting! Really sitting down and figuring out which candidates will help the causes you believe in has nothing to do with a lot of this shit. I know of more than a few people who cynically voted for Trump knowing full well he is often a blithering idiot, precisely because they knew his minions would mostly follow DeSantis tyoe governing and that's what they prefer to the usual Democratic party policies.

Only issue that's long been labeled culture wars and maybe shouldn't because it really is about people's deep moral values is "right to life", both abortion and assisted vs. prolonged death, as well as family planning (and throw in capital punishment)

by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 3:59pm

WHY did this happen?

This is like a total inversion of what progressives used to understand to be sound political practice, then it very suddenly flipped in 2015. pic.twitter.com/pPvW0kTRir
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 15, 2021

There is no serious constituency opposed to redistributive taxation that will suddenly be converted to the cause if you tell them it's a way to get whitey, while there are plenty of white people who are indifferent or hostile to racial justice who might favor redistribution.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 15, 2021

I'd say look to Bernie, who tries not to indulge much in culture wars, prefering class war. Then check out how people like Robin Di Angelo and Ibrahim X. Kendi are making money hand over fist...and who they will refuse to debate with...and who they see as monetarily fruitful enemies to recognize...

it's like the flip side of classic Murdoch marketing

by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 4:27pm

it's games people play to afford a Tucker-Carlson-type lifestyle?

What if instead of activating a poor white persons economic identity we activate their racial identity! Why are we literally doing tucker carlsons job for him…
— retire breyer (@turntexasblue20) July 15, 2021

by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 4:40pm

Bree Newsome stoking the divisiveness any which way she can to her 479,000 followers (and note she has not changed the name of her Twitter account DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES)

Like many, the "billionaire space race" brought to mind Gil Scott-Heron's 1970 poem "Whitey On the Moon" which critiqued race-class dynamics in aftermath of Apollo 11's moon landing.

I cut this video as a meditation on Scott-Heron's words in light of current events. Enjoy pic.twitter.com/YfklYmwVCe
— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome) July 12, 2021

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 4:37pm

The majority of Democrats in office or running for office do not support defunding the police or abolishing the police.

Critical race theory is not being taught in schools.

Republicans realize that they can create myths that gullible people will accept at truth.

Allowing women to have control over their bodies is worth the fight.

Immigration rights is worth the fight.

People who argue against these things or excuse those who oppose these things will be on the wrong side of history.

Republicans may indeed win seats in legislatures and Congress, they have lost the culture.

Because they have lost the culture, Republicans cheat at the ballot box.

The majority of people in the United States have no idea about Bree Newsome

Fewer still follow her on social media.

Edit to add:

Politics is a part of the culture

If one group says they are willing to steal elections, part of the opposing group will find ways to GOTV

Another section of the opposition will buy weapons in case the worse happens

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 9:05pm

You just are in such a national partisan politics bubble that if it's not about race ( which in your case is always U.S. simplistic U.S. blacks vs.U.S. whites,) you frame everything everything as national Democrats vs. national Republicans.

Plenty of other people care about other frames! For example

Woke liberals vs. old fashioned liberals
Dr. Seuss and cancel culture
What is leftist now?
What is CRT? (with this proviso who the fuck cares what national politicians think about it? They have very power over school curricula BTW!
divisions INSIDE the Dem party
divisions INSIDE the GOP party
Independent liberals and lefties
The dominant memes in culture and how people are trying to change it AND LEAVE THE FUCKING RETAIL POLITICS OUT OF IT puhleez-it is entirely possible I see it with my own eyes every day.
The difference between local politicians who want to run your city. Where you don't even give a fuck what party they belong to, you want to know what they are going to do about issues.
ETC. ETC.

Please take your simplistic political interpretation about this elsewhere on another thread. I am begging you. The rest of us might want to discuss CULTURE WARS. Not politics uber alles but culture uber alles.

I guarantee you FOR THE MAJORITY IN THIS COUNTRY, EVERYTHING IS NOT ABOUT who wins: REPUBLICAN PARTY vs. DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Many do want to talk about the Trump effect, that's because they care about individual celebrity politicians!

Note again: THE TITLE SAYS "LIBERAL" not Democrat. This is basically about whether the Overton window has moved for liberal and the populace

It's defintely not what you want to talk about. ANYTIME IT COMES TO CULTURE WARS, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT. Same thing happened with my WOKEE thread, you were always hijacking it so as to like minimalize the damage politically and that was a WTF, because the rest of us just want to learn about these people and movements and not have to filter it all as a political partisan and spin it

CUT IT OUT, PLEASE JUST CUT IT OUT, START YOUR OWN THREAD.

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 9:13pm

P.S. just came to mind posting a new bunch of perp stories on my crime thread: I could see you wondering whether they are registered Democrats or Republicans and are trying to destroy the opposing party by doing what they did. And I think to a person they probably don't give a flying fuck about politicis. Believe it or not, some people live life every day thinking about things like crime, guns, who is in bathroom stall next to them, what defines a female, why did they take Uncle Ben off the rice and don't assign any of those things to a political party and who "wins" the next election, wouldn't even ever consider that framing in a million years, BUT they might be interested in WHETHER PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MORE "LIBERAL" or "CONSERVATIVE" or something else...it's about values not politics. Just because national politicians game such things doesn't mean they don't have real import, maybe much more import than politics.

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 9:45pm

You cannot take politics out of the culture war discussion.

Opinion: Why is the GOP waging a culture war? Follow the money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/14/why-is-gop-waging-culture-war-follow-money/

Just because you don't want to discuss it does not mean the battle is not engaged.

Edit to add:

Drum's curves divide the argument into Democrats and Republicans.

Drum says that Democrats need to pull themselves to the "Center"

He makes a political argument.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 07/12/2021 - 10:23pm

Right-cancelled Dixie Chicks, perhaps the most flyover country new generation female group of my lifetime, crossover country pop. Look at a stadium full of mostly female fans singing along, no out of whack testosterone-filled rave, no bitchez and ho's yo, no twerking, no hugely politicized Rage Against the Machine messages - just good music that appealed cross-generation, made people feel good. And gone for expressing 1 tame, short carefully-worded political comment. Back into the kitchen, bitch - you'll vote how your man tells you to vote.

Yeah, the left really started the culture wars my ass.

https://youtu.be/C9NG7cLNzbs

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 3:06am

Tim Miller wrote a piece at The Bulwark addressing Drum's article (and the Noonan piece talking about it, too) I think it clarifies about frames of reference

[....] Drum writes that if this shift is “not done with empathy and tact it risks outrunning the vast middle part of the country, which progressive activists seem completely uninterested in talking to.”

This is valid political analysis. There are political ramifications to swift leftward shifts on various cultural issues that the Democrats should reckon with as David Shor and others have argued. There are also real social and cultural ramifications. It can create social strife for culturally conservative Americans to feel uncomfortable expressing their views at home or in the workplace for fear of being chastised—or worse—over issues they have little familiarity with.

All of this is absolutely correct.

But when it comes to the actions of politicians, the aggressive, top down Culture War is being driven overwhelmingly from the right. And the shift rightward among Republican politicians on culture war issues is as dramatic—if not more so—than the leftward shift among Democratic voters on policy [....]

and you going far back in the past, i.e. Tea Party, Dixie Chicks, that's going way beyond Drum's framing too. Drum is addressing the fact that the Overton window of liberals has gone left in the RECENT PAST. He's talking about "if you hate the current culture wars". Also keep in mind he says he likes that things have been dragged left.

I think you're not realizing how much this is really about Boomer liberalism vs. Millennial "liberalism" in current times. Millennial is WOKE far left, socialist anti-racist anti-colonialist. Boomer is Saturday Night Live and Clinton Third Way after leaving a lot of things from their youth revolution behind. The fight is allover social media. Boomer liberal is more "liberal" in temperment and values (i.e. still drugs sex and rock n roll mentality), millennial liberal is TRUE real culture warring, like warriors, puritans, preachers, zealots trying to make everyone as virtuous as possible down to the children's books. Millennial wokee type really have dragged the window over, have everyone looking over their shoulder, having some liberals questioning if they are really bad evil capitalist colonizing people. Center of the American public have never liked that, libertarianism about social values is deep in American culture. The majority doesn't like it any more from the left than they do from the right, i.e. Christian Coalition in the 80's.

(Is why I instinctively posted the thing upthread about conservative evangelical population growing ever smaller. It is related. At the same time, more of the harridans on values are on the left. It is unfortunate all of this gets ascribed to the big tent parties, when it is their radical activists who are a minority. And yes, another big thing: Trumpism screwed this up royally too! He mixed it all up!)

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:57am

p.s. can't emphasize Miller's clarification enough. Once again Drum's piece is titled If you hate culture wars, blame the liberals. It doesn't say If you hate politicians using culture wars, blame the liberals. And in that context he's talking about recent shifts, not history. A reminder too, that he says the effect of the shift is fine by him, he's just pointing it out.

Actually, as I pointed out, lots of classically liberal politicians, like say, Bernie, and moderate politicians of all kinds, try to AVOID getting into culture wars! Whatever they may be at the time. Culture wars are properly personal, not political. (Hence also the argument by lefty radical preachers of old that the personal is political.)

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 11:08am

1) i included Dixie Chicks, Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Bundy's,Jerry Falwell Jr, OathKeepers/Proud Boys, Jan 6 rebellion. It's a continuum of new culture wars - Hillary'll take our guns, Obama's introducing socialism with healthcare (plus Fast and Furious), Joe's a traitor, but it all seeps down to the grassroots level - Appalachian women wearing "he can grab my pussy" and "lock her up" t-shirts, all the caravan/immigration stuff to scare joe six-pack, the whole pandemic "destroying your freedom, like living under communism" thing. Even if BLM didn't venture out the door for 4 years, they'd be running the same ads. Look at CPAC - still blaming Hillary in 2021 and she hasn't been seen in 2 years? Fox news, still running Hillary stories, or Fast and Furious as if it happened yesterday? Wicked propaganda, and that doesn't even touch what's been happening on Facebook where the real action is.

2) i forgot 2.

Oh yeah, the effect of whatever left culture wars stuff is greatly over hyped. Wassername couldn't even get tenure. The new mayor of New York is a cop. There's enough pushback. Sure, there may be some effective censorship, but much of it is just the normal people having not very good solutions to common ongoing problems, or one of those psychological factors like the availability effect - we overvaue/over worry about what we see, not the actual oercentage. Black folks in shoot-em-up neighborhoods aren't buying into defund the police movements. People standing in long lines to vote aren't joining in on Voter ID pushes (even tho it's hard to imaging many people not having ID, they all know how Republicans use all these opportunities to fuck with people over and over given any possibility, so their asshole GOP posses showing up on election day to "question" voters in line is just what you'd assume it to be, an opening for asshole intimidation, often with approval by local government. Look at the Maricopa "recount" - completely dishonest effort used for proganda purposes, like the 60 obvious court cases they lost - it's a sin to assume many of them are really being sincere at this point - even though the 1619 stuff is largely poorly done and dowles spark *some* worries for parents trying to ensure an education for their kids or people in institute's who don't want to be shut down or fired for saying something normal and obvious).

So far the PC Critical Race Theory etc has more success in left-leaning environments where they actually pay some attention to left opinion. Crime of course is real - don't have to exaggerate.

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 11:50am

I see you as agreeing with him! that the culture warriors do not only not represent most people, but they don't like them

This is how you end up with people not wanting to be loyal to either party, and register as Independents instead, because they see both as growingly extremist on culture wars issues that most do not think belong in politics. Regulating what you can do, think and buy according to extremist morals.

Making you feel fucking guilty for your race or religion or whatever is one of my very special favorites, though--what a way to get votes. It's like asking for pushback, begets more extremist counter reaction

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 12:42pm

and playing the left political correctness with the many that have grievance about that is the only thing Trump had true skills for. There is no ideology to him except THAT. And it resounded with an awful lot of people that aren't fond of either party as they were as far as culture wars are concerned. Now in the GOP most of them are following him on that, when they weren't before he was elected. So basically hatred of lefty culture warrior memes is what enabled Trump to take over the GOP and hijack their traditional political policy goals of like low taxation...WHY do I even have to go there, just read The Bulwark and similar, they want their party back from Trump Warrior against Left Culture Wars...Mr. save our statues and way of life...

why don't you see how the playing field has changed? they have taken over the roll of victim and counterreaction while the left is the aggressive warrior? Trump helped do that, turn the tables on victimhood

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 12:56pm

I don't have to "agree" with anyone - i can evaluate what's too woke PC, what's unjust societally, what's stupid, what has a point, etc. I often disagree with you on how much better i think cops should act towards people, esp. Blacks, even if I don't want to defund them and am equally horrified by the shooting rampages. I don't buy the 1619, nor do I agree with Critical Race Theory, but I'm torn on how much effect it actually has - newsrooms yes, corporations no, schools somewhat... And yes, i think the "Moral Majority" fucktards have been playing their culture wars for decades, and when you think they'd be humiliated like 2008/2009 crash, the rise zombie phoenix-like in some other stupid guise and start their crap again. That do ant mean i don't think liberals latch on to some stupid crap, and my opinion of Bernie has been none too subtle, but as for who's leading th culture wars insanity, i still think the right's support the troops as an answer to all/God wanted Trump to be president/immigrant caravans are coming to steal all our good jobs/liberals waging war on Christmas/Hillary's taking our guns away... On and in and fucking on,

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 2:58pm

Thank you bringing up the supposed "moral majority" which raises this important point for me: whether they were ever a majority doesn't matter any more because they're mostly gone now! That was a feature of the "greatest generation" and they are mostly dead! Boomers have taken their place. In the western world at least, Boomers are retirees with much more complicated morals. Though there is certainly very much still a "generation gap" it's over significantly different things.

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 4:40pm

Zombies, reviving in various forms
No, they never had any actual principles it seems.

The agency will also end all COVID-19 vaccine events at schools, even though they've mostly served adults. And, if teens get a two-dose vaccine, it won't remind them to go back for their second dose. Teens are intentionally stripped from the mailing list for reminder postcards.
— Brett Kelman (@BrettKelman) July 13, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 3:59pm

Yglesias involved in a highly related discussion:

Don't let dry academic citations override Will Stancil's lived experience as an Extremely Online Guy. pic.twitter.com/OEBnL6AdMf
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 13, 2021

Contemporary mobilization against "critical race theory" is not a counterpoint to thermostatic public opinion theory, it's an example of it in action just as Trump being in office helped spur a ton of interest in antiracism.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 13, 2021

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 6:39pm

A different take on the culture war from Thomas B. Ed's all in the NYT

Should responsibility for the rampant levels of polarization that characterize American politics today be laid at the feet of liberals or conservatives? I posed that question to my friend Bill Galston, a senior fellow at Brookings and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal.

He emailed me his reply:

It is fair to say that the proponents of cultural change have been mostly on offense since Brown v. the Board of Education, while the defenders of the status quo have been on defense.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/opinion/culture-war-democrats-republicans.html

An interesting critique of columns by Kevin Drum and Damon Linker who suggest Liberals push culture wars.

by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 8:50am

Largely tracks my response. It is a fair point re: not just knowing gays, but much about living in a city - those havens that are mostly Democratic - pushes the envelope more than suburban or rural life, so that social services may be more visiable, street crime is more visible, the variety of characters you meet each day is much more diverse, the types of cultural events is much more diverse, etc., etc. It is not surprising that cities are more liberal, but that doesn't make it a "war" - it means rivers carry more water than streams.

Re: Andrew Sullivan, some of his observations seem valid, some not so much. I don't know that many liberals are actually giving carte blanche to "punch a fascist" - who actually did this, vs. people at Trump speeches who *did* punch interlopers? When you talk about science and trendy lenses like "white supremacy" - how many people actually think of science from these race or manifest destiny viewpoints, vs. the impression from articles in magazines that most people read and shake their heads? After your first encounter (in the news, not real life), have you run into anyone going by something other than him or her? Even on Twitter I see the standard "he/his" or however they do it. There's been plenty of pushback on transgender females competing with biological females - a bit too much slam dunk rules for declaring transgender females identical in sex and rights, ignororing women - the biological ones who shouldn't need an adjective - but this is new enough we should expect some tweaking of the rules - it's been an actual issue all of 2-3 years? "Religious freedom" has been contentious at the intersection between black churches, protestant evangelicals and old-school Catholics - with the evangelicals trying to play Johnny-come-lately victims of the supposed liberal "war on Christianity" (when the black churches' use of the pulpit to defend themselves from racial attacks made tremendous sense, whereas the "war on Christianity" has been a mixed message - it's a war on Christianity for Christians to not pray in public school or at the ball park? Santa was in lots of 40s & 50s movies without him being an attack on the Saviour, when the Macy's Parade ran big. Why the big ruckus now? (yes, it's also dumb for liberals to claim the Salvation Army as an "antigay group" - seriously, grow up, everyone.)

Sullivan hyperventilating: Look how far the left’s war on liberalism has gone. Due process? If you’re a male on campus, gone. Privacy? Stripped away — by anonymous rape accusations, exposure of private emails, violence against people’s private homes, screaming at folks in restaurants, sordid exposés of sexual encounters, eagerly published by woke mags. Nonviolence? Exceptions are available if you want to “punch a fascist.” Free speech? Only if you don’t mind being fired and ostracized as a righteous consequence. Free association? You’ve got to be kidding. Religious freedom? Illegitimate bigotry. Equality? Only group equity counts now, and individuals of the wrong identity can and must be discriminated against. Colorblindness? Another word for racism. Mercy? Not for oppressors. Intent? Irrelevant. Objectivity? A racist lie. Science? A manifestation of white supremacy. Biological sex? Replaced by socially constructed gender so that women have penises and men have periods. The rule of law? Not for migrants or looters. Borders? Racist. Viewpoint diversity? A form of violence against the oppressed.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 2:12pm

Like a lot of people, Sullivan makes accusations against the "left" without providing evidence or naming the people who are supposedly doing these terrible things. I remember Mona Charen's book Useful Idiots, in which she rants that the news media supported the Soviet Union and loved Communists everywhere, but only actually names one pro-Soviet journalist, Walter Duranty.

by Aaron Carine on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 3:09pm

Yet this exists:

The agent—one of the best focusing on literary fiction—put out feelers w/ his go-to editors, even subjected the novel to the depredations of a “sensitivity reader.” The verdict was that NY will only let a person of x ethnicity write main characters of x ethnicity. 2/
— Justin Lee (@justindeanlee) July 13, 2021

It’s as close to a guaranteed success as it gets for debut literary fiction.

But the Big-5 won’t touch it. They’ve woked themselves into aesthetic cowardice. 4/
— Justin Lee (@justindeanlee) July 13, 2021

Continues...

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 2:31pm

he's clearly thinking on the similarities and differences of what happened to him at Apple and how it is in Cuba

When societies go in for authoritarianism, often in the name of some great struggle or utopic vision, it degenerates according to the same nasty human tendencies. Cuba is an extreme, but the US isn't immune either. pic.twitter.com/7en0l4hx6q
— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) July 15, 2021

it's sort of "the many different degrees of Orwell"?

by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 8:50pm

What happened to Maud Maron is a perfect example of The Elect's reign of terror. They get what they want because everybody is afraid of being called a racist on Twitter. Read this piece and shudder at where this has gotten us.https://t.co/wPjVk5Aays
— John McWhorter (@JohnHMcWhorter) July 13, 2021

by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 1:03am

Pretty horrifying. Worse than your usual "Network" segment.

Is there an equivalent silencing effect on the right? Is that why they're all afraid of Trump? (or are they?)

by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 3:30am

Legislation geared at changing the status quo

WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Schumer of New York plans to propose legislation on Wednesday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, putting his weight as majority leader behind a growing movement to unwind the decades-old war on drugs.

The draft bill, called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and begin regulating and taxing it, placing federal rules on a burgeoning industry that has faced years of uncertainty. Though states would still be allowed to set their own marijuana laws, businesses and individuals in states that have legalized its use would be free for the first time to sell and consume it without the risk of federal punishment.

The proposal would also try to make recompense to communities of color and the poor for damage from years of restrictive federal drug policy. It calls for immediately expunging nonviolent marijuana-related arrests and convictions from federal records and would earmark new tax revenue for restorative justice programs intended to lift up communities affected by “the failed federal prohibition of cannabis.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/us/politics/marijuana-legalization-schumer.html

by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 9:04am

Jonah Goldberg interacting with Nikole Hannah-Jones

Sorry been on the road most of the day. I didn't see @nhannahjones response to my tweet until just now. So, thread. https://t.co/bfszwtiwXt
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) July 15, 2021

by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 11:18pm

All that glitters ain't divulged

MAJOR REPORT in collaboration with @MsftSecIntel
exposing spyware company Candiru.

Websites serving their spyware include fake #BlackLivesMatter & fake human rights groups.

Targets: journalists, human rights defenders, around world.

THREAD

Report: https://t.co/al7BDknhiM pic.twitter.com/OGCdPIRPJ3
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) July 15, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/16/2021 - 7:40am

The victims still have to click on the fake content to get infected, amirite?

by artappraiser on Fri, 07/16/2021 - 10:52am

I wouldn't count on it.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/16/2021 - 11:33am

Friedman as Econ Culture War

(great read)

Zach Carter has a characteristically fascinating article on Milton Friedman and his fading legacy. Somehow I never appreciated how Friedman started from right-wing politics, and built a reputation as a technical economist to serve that cause 1/ https://t.co/PGMLSk6rOW
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 19, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/17/2021 - 12:32am

Russian culture bombing

(how does disinfo and shit-disturbing affect assignment of blame, especially when media seems none-too-savvy about handling)

New @techpolicypress: UT researchers including @martinriedl, @bradlee_mov, @UTsharon et al reverse engineered the 2016 Houston protest instigated by the Russian IRA, with lessons on manipulation & role of political elites, media, social media & the crowd:https://t.co/9RBkhACUhi
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) May 31, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/17/2021 - 3:49am

Fox culture wars

Impossible to sufficiently underscore how on brand it is for Fox News to be concerned about people reading other people's public FB posts but not the nearly 1 million who've died of COVID-19—many of whom died because of the disinformation in those Facebook posts (and on Fox News) https://t.co/0NmvZNPQSH
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 16, 2021

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/17/2021 - 12:17pm

Ken Starr, sexy time culture warrior

(I'm pretty amazed by the scathing comments though - kind of supports the idea of snakes and raptors on both sides, though i guess i do have to contemplate her own agency and why this was a slow leaking "surprise" through the decades.)

https://medium.com/@judihershman/ken-starr-brett-kavanaugh-jeffrey-epste...

Interesting 1 comment addressing Bob Hastert as Speaker/high ranking known-to-be compromised pedophile, and wondering how much of government over the last 3 decades has been bent by extortion over hidden crimes, Epstein being both an extorter and probably a prime example of "business-as-usual" pragmatickém, despite the evangelical covering

soychicka

4 days ago

I have to ask this, Judi - if you're truly interested in righting wrongs you have learned about, I hope you respond:

As the coup de gras*, at the same time that the impeachment was ongoing, I was off at college when I learned that my neighbor for ~20 years was about to become Speaker of the House - and I remember hearing was selected to become speaker because he had 'no skeletons in his closet' - something I knew then to be wholly untrue, and that I now know many in the party knew it was untrue at the time ( some since the early 80s, others at least since 1994 - including that there have been multiple victim deaths ).

Compromise makes you far more useful as a tool to your donors. Hastert was incredibly useful.

In a total non-coincidence, the Russian hack of SMARTech - the de facto GOP data center from the late '90s was ongoing during the period Hastert was being prosecuted for crimes related to concealing decades of serial child rape, so it's undoubtably the case that part of the reason the rest of the party has fallen in line with Trump's demands is the threat of evidence of their prior knowledge of Hastert's crimes being released - at minimum.

So, what can you tell us about the SMARTech family of entities, and who was involved in working with New Media Solutions/Connell-Donnatelli/Airnet Group/3EDC/etc? Rove, obviously - but what about Kavanaugh? I know I've read his pre-9/11 emails to his buddies about the secrets he shared on the boat - I can only imagine that any of his content hosted at SMARTech would be FAR more directly incriminating.

Happy to provide additional context in the event it will jiggle anything loose in your mind.

* yes, I intended to use "gras" instead of "grâce".

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/18/2021 - 12:41am

Biden's culture war response

https://www.salon.com/2021/07/17/bidens-secret-weapon-in-fight-against-c...

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/18/2021 - 1:22am

Claremont's cultural Journey to hell

https://thebulwark.com/what-the-hell-happened-to-the-claremont-institute/

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/18/2021 - 3:33pm

America’s Collapsing Meritocracy Is a Recipe for Revolt. Chinese history shows what happens when an old system loses its force. Op-ed by Paul Musgrave, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

"overproduction of PhDs has left a highly educated class with spare time and cultural capital to express their grievances...risks of keeping too many aspiring professionals frustrated..buying off some literati can be cheaper than quelling their rebellions" https://t.co/RNufkCt0WV
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) July 17, 2021

by artappraiser on Sun, 07/18/2021 - 9:03pm

"i carefully reviewed the qualifications of all the candidates and hired the one with the biggest tits". We're back to the Silicon Valley thing, the "level playing field", what age, what looks, what niche segment of bro programmers, allegiance to certain sitcoms and video games...

One school i went to we knew we were the worker bees of the military-industrial workforce. Another we were the near beer wannabes for the Ivy League class. Another was pseudo-community college, half a mix with the University imprimeteur. The last was remote learning at a prestigious name. Each came with it's vested stamp of authenticity, a learning experience and cachet within certain limits. This before the $60k/year rule took over.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/18/2021 - 10:18pm

Ben Shapiro slams NPR following story accusing him and The Daily Wire of purposefully stoking outrage and political division as a means of building a brand https://t.co/uErPwVi4zJ pic.twitter.com/aCdH9ULyAE
— The Hill (@thehill) July 19, 2021

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/19/2021 - 5:46pm

Hint that the supposed racist obstructionism of the Senate GOP might not be all that it's cracked up to be:

With the confirmation of Tiffany Cunningham, @POTUS has put more African American women on the US Court of Appeals in a single Presidential term than any President in history .... on day 179. https://t.co/BS2Wblsl38
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) July 19, 2021

by artappraiser on Mon, 07/19/2021 - 11:00pm

Perfect example of how stupid people are to take troll bait and participate in culture warring! It's usually to distract from what's really going on but it also in the end is often simply for monetary profit. Here the Biden administration quietly interceded (so as not to fuel the game and also not to require a player to reveal how faux it was and how many were fooled), and voila

The quiet diplomacy here seems to be having an impact in getting Fox to move. It's saving lives. https://t.co/xrMYun5Ozm
— Ben LaBolt (@BenLaBolt) July 20, 2021

If you play in the game, you are just helping those with an ulterior motive that is not revealed to "the masses." either profit from "infotainment" or distraction from what's really going on with those who control society. It is classic "bread and circuses"

... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

or as is in more modern usage "red meat for the base".

Yes it is usually preferable to try to stop the game by publicly revealing the nasty thing the wizard is doing behind the curtain, playing on people's emotions. But in this particular case, we were talking life and death, better to just get them to stop quietly rather than continue public warring.

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 1:09pm

Fake kayfabe shit meant to get liberals outraged and they fall for it nearly every time:

Rep. Swalwell Reveals on the MeidasTouch Podcast How Fake MAGA Politicians Like Matt Gaetz and Ted Cruz Are, ‘It’s Like Pro Wrestling!’https://t.co/aRBJgtlv2O
— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch) July 20, 2021

by artappraiser on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 8:17pm

Don't necessarily agree but thought-provoking:

Conservatives chose to invest in taking back the courts; progressives in winning the educational apparatus and culture. We will find out who invested more wisely.
— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) July 20, 2021

by artappraiser on Wed, 07/21/2021 - 1:46am

Conservatives have been drawing lines since forever

1) no abortion, whatsoever, no exceptions

2) prayer in schools

3) no deficits (until they grew to love them)

4) no absentee ballots/easing of voting (except for military)

5) no trials for Gitmo prisoners / no Gizmo prisoners on US soil

6) tax cuts as solution to all problems

7) no federal health programs (except beloved pharma expansion)

Gonzales notably packed the attorneys offices, Trump packed the courts and he & McConnell finished of the Supreme Court

Various requirements on military, religion, immigration...

Texas has traditionally driven the education thing

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/21/2021 - 3:28am

In the News

Russia plays weak hand in Palestine
Russia plays weak hand in Palestine

submitted by PeraclesPlease 8 months ago

The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent

Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019

Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
— Hanna Notte (@HannaNotte) February 29, 2024

Read the article at https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1763116222256701787

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Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters

submitted by HSG 9 months ago

Here's what I told them: https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

Read the article at https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

2 comments

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Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes...
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force

submitted by artappraiser 10 months ago

Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force https://t.co/pCoDg05irX
— Gareth Harris (@garethharr) December 28, 2023

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/brazil-law-indigenous-land-rights-claim-time-marker?CMP=share_btn_tw

1 comment

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Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (...
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (December 25, 2023)

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

Location: U.S. Embassy and residential compounds

Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.

Actions to take:

Avoid the area;

Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;

Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and

If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.

Read the article at https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-december-25-2023/

3 comments

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Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

By The Editorial Board @ Bloomberg.com, December 8, 2023

A mass expulsion of Afghan migrants could destabilize the region and fuel radicalization. The West should pressure Islamabad to change course.

Read the article at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-08/pakistan-s-expulsion-of-afghan-refugees-risks-another-crisis

6 comments

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Internet shut down in Chad
Internet shut down in Chad

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO

Read the article at https://x.com/_hudsonc/status/1732891968709992511?s=20

2 comments

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[Economy] where Joe's success falls short
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short

submitted by PeraclesPlease 11 months ago

Read the article at

3 comments

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[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across...
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

BREAKING: Three loss prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed, one of them has died from stab wounds, @PhillyPolice sources tell me. Police converged on the store as the three workers were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. pic.twitter.com/4U1eKycL4W

Read the article at https://x.com/KeeleyFox29/status/1731713272942940365?s=20

38 comments

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Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As...
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

Former US Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba https://t.co/LDwo4ZJI1K
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) December 4, 2023

Read the article at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/manuel-rocha-ambassador-arrested-cuba_n_656d1e2ae4b028b0f3d07478

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[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

[Chapter I news is HERE, Oct. 7 til today]

You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) December 2, 2023

Note 'Community Notes' attached to UNWRA's statement.

Read the article at https://x.com/GeorgeDeek/status/1731020551328579863?s=20

58 comments

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Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From...
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From a Neighbor

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

Imperialism for me but not for thee?

It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.

Could we have a war in South America?!?

"The people who live in Essequibo are largely… pic.twitter.com/QvMEjkkgwy

Read the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/world/americas/maduro-vote-essequibo-guyana.html

6 comments

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[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House...
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House Republicans powerless

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

The lack of a cohesive delegation has allowed attention-seeking lawmakers to act on their own.

McCarthy: “You have [Rep. Matt] Gaetz, who belongs in jail…”

Gaetz: “Tough words from a guy who sucker punches people in the back. The only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile ego.”https://t.co/LctPuz6Pcf

Read the article at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/29/divisions-leave-floridas-house-republicans-powerless-00129200

10 comments

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‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-...
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-Pelosi clashes

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

By Martinn Pengelly in Washington DC for TheGuardian.com, Nov. 30

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress ‘completely transformed’ after Democratic leader stepped down

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/30/squad-book-aoc-nancy-pelosi?CMP=share_btn_tw

15 comments

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US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

@ Reuters, Nov. 29

Read the article at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-health-insurers-humana-cigna-talks-merge-wsj-2023-11-29/

3 comments

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Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-...
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-proofing

submitted by artappraiser 11 months ago

"Both the AU and the intl community place more weight on whether elections are held than whether they are free and fair. Sanctions/expulsions occur when there is a coup but not necessarily when elections are rigged or if an “institutional coup” occurs." https://t.co/m9dNimJP0D
— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) November 28, 2023

Read the article at https://africanarguments.org/2023/11/central-africas-dinosaur-regimes-and-the-art-of-coup-proofing/

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From the Readers

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"If you hate the culture wars, blame liberals"

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Conservatives Have No Plan To Win the Culture War. They Intend to Rule Anyway.

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From the Readers

Creative corner

From the Dagbloggers

Hits of the Day

"If you hate the culture wars, blame liberals"

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Conservatives Have No Plan To Win the Culture War. They Intend to Rule Anyway.

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