Tags → politics 
- 29-Mar-2023Quote of the Day / Twitter Edition
We should also consider how the ‘rules based order’ we’ve devised seems unable to stand up to a bully intent on replacing free access to information with paid disinformation — and how our democratic systems seem so incapable and frozen in the face of confident vandals running around spray-painting ‘freedom’ all over the walls as…
- 12-Jan-2023Quote of the Day: From Oliver Willis
Been a while since I quoted Mr. Willis, but Nothing The Right Freaks Out About Is Real None Of It. No, Not Even That. You can show a dyed-in-the-wool conservative news reports and government fact sheets that prove, for instance, that the story surrounding “Obama phones” was made up by the right to cast aspersions…
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Quote of the Day is from Jeet Heer
Fabricating Consensus Why The View’s search for a palatable Republican will fail: In a polarized America, The View is trying to manufacture a reasonable conservatism that is a miniscule and an ever diminishing part of the political spectrum. They are trying to create out of thin air a conservatism that has no bearing on actual…
- 31-Oct-2018Observation on whataboutism
It’s always neat when I meet people who say “President N also did that in response to a criticism.” Sometimes it’s useful historical context. But often it’s a feckless way to divert criticism. The claim that every President is the same or every President is just like Trump is laughable and deserves ridicule. Moreover, the…
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Also, Tumblr: “Update on Russian-linked activity on Tumblr”
Just got this email: Dear artlung, As part of our commitment to transparency, we want you to know that we uncovered and terminated 84 accounts linked to Internet Research Agency or IRA (a group closely tied to the the Russian government) posing as members of the Tumblr community. The IRA engages in electronic disinformation and…
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Squished expression and the President of the United States
Is Trump’s Twitter a Public Forum and the Limits of the Law by Eric Segall has me thinking quite a a bit about this question: WHAT IS TWITTER? I think about the Presidential Records Act and what it says about the things the President does in his official capacity. I think about the fact that…
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I don’t understand the excess rules about ferrets or the deficit of rules about guns.
We (the government) regulate hairdressers and car exhaust and doctors and lawyers and how you add a new room to your house and we license you to drive a car and regulate boats and regulate your speed on the interstate and how you educate your children and test whether your toys are safe and whether…
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tl;dr: it was slavery.
Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America: March 21, 1861: But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other — though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution…
- 08-Dec-2016make judgments about what judgments you make
Calling everyone who shoots something a terrorist is an error. Calling every protester a rioter is an error. Calling all news you don’t understand or don’t agree with or has error or is propaganda “fake news” is an error. Calling every politician crooked is an error. Calling every news outlet “mainstream media” is an error….