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<\/p>\nAbout secularism, elections, misogyny and education, publishing ‘errors’, Trump supporters’ plans, and the real America.<\/p>\n
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The New Yorker, Margaret Talbot, 28 Aug 2022<\/strong> (Sept 5 issue): Justice Alito\u2019s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn\u2019t Over<\/a><\/p>\n Subtitle: “He\u2019s had win after win\u2014including overturning Roe v. Wade\u2014yet seems more and more aggrieved. What drives his anger?”<\/p>\n Alito has warned that, as Americans become more secular, the U.S. may become less attuned to the constitutional rights of religious citizens. But when he makes this argument a curious elision sometimes occurs, and he seems to be saying that the growing percentage of secular people is in itself a form of religious persecution. In Rome, Alito said, \u201cThink of the increasing number of young Americans whose response, when asked to name their religion, is to say \u2018None.\u2019 Think of those who proclaim that religion is bad. What can we say to such people to convince them that religious liberty is worth protecting?\u201d Who is the \u201cwe\u201d here? Supreme Court Justices? Conservative Christians? The devout?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The only “liberties” the secular want to take away from the religious is their ability to impose their values on everyone else. Why is this so difficult for conservatives to understand? But of course we don’t expect rational arguments from the religiously inclined, precisely because…. they’re religious.<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Sarah Palin lost her election, therefore the election was rigged, say Republicans.<\/p>\n Salon, Igor Derysh, 1 Sep 2022<\/strong>: \u201cScam to rig elections\u201d: Tom Cotton fumes over Sarah Palin loss as GOP fans cry \u201cstolen election\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Subtitle: “Republicans claim a new ranked-choice system approved by Alaska voters is some kind of nefarious Democratic plot”<\/p>\n And:<\/p>\n AP\/Le Monde, 1 Sep 2022<\/strong>: Subtitle: “After Mary Peltola’s victory was announced, Sarah Palin called the ranked voting system ‘crazy, convoluted, confusing.'”<\/p>\n Yes, yes, math (to the extent that tallying votes is math) is *hard.*<\/p>\n In fact, ranked voting has been around for decades. It’s been used, for decades, by science fiction folks to tally voting in their awards (including the Hugos and the Locus Awards). It does take some explaining, but it’s not conceptually difficult. Except apparently to Tom Cotton and Sarah Palin and their like.<\/p>\n (Quick example of how this works. Suppose there are five candidates for a position, one Democrat and four Republicans (or vice versa). Suppose in a standard election all five get 20% of the vote, more or less. The one who gets maybe 21% of the vote wins — maybe the Democrat. In ranked voting, everyone votes for candidates in preference, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. So given the results of a standard election, with no one having a majority, all the 2nd place votes are counted, and added into the totals for first place votes. And so on, even to 3rd place votes, and farther, until one candidate achieves a majority. Which in this scenario, would be a Republican, since there were more of those candidates to begin with. Get it?)<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n AlterNet, Alex Henderson, 1 Sep 2022<\/strong>: ‘Pure misogyny’: Dennis Prager ripped for accusing women of ‘disproportionately’ destroying America<\/a><\/p>\n Why? Education of course!<\/p>\n In the op-ed, Prager writes, \u201cIt\u2019s true that females are not inclined to violence or predatory sexual behavior as men are, but this hardly means that girls and women don\u2019t have to learn to control their natures\u2026. It should be obvious that at least two generations of parents \u2014 especially among the well-educated \u2014 did not teach many of their daughters to control their emotions and think rationally. The result is that women are disproportionately active in doing damage to our society.\u201d<\/p>\n Prager goes on to list some of the reasons why he believes that women, who comprise the majority of the U.S. population, are \u201cdisproportionately\u201d tearing down American society \u2014 and he cites \u201ceducation\u201d as the \u201cmost obvious example.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \\\\<\/p>\n NY Times, Tiffany Hsu and Alexandra Alter, 31 Aug 2022:<\/strong> \u2018Publishing error\u2019 delays Dinesh D\u2019Souza\u2019s book \u20182000 Mules.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Citing \u201ca publishing error,\u201d the publisher of a book version of \u201c2000 Mules\u201d \u2014 a documentary film by the conservative commentator Dinesh D\u2019Souza that used dubious evidence and logical leaps<\/a> to claim widespread ballot box fraud \u2014 said the book would be delayed until the fall.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Because his thesis is entirely false, presumably. Follow the link: A Big Lie in a New Package<\/a>, subtitled, “A new documentary from Trump allies makes the latest case the election was stolen, but the group behind the claim has been assailed even by some on the hard right.”<\/p>\n Reminds me of David Barton. (NPR<\/a>)<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch, 29 Aug 2022<\/strong>: Trump\u2019s Second Term Would Look Like This<\/a>, subtitled “The former president and his allies have explained their plans quite clearly.”<\/p>\n Viktor Orb\u00e1n is their model. The playbook, outlined in detail in the article: 1) First, install toadies in key positions; 2) intimidate the career bureaucracy; 3) co-opt the armed forces; 4) bring law enforcement to heel; 5) weaponize the pardon; 6) defy the courts.<\/p>\n The MAGA base, conservative media, and plenty of Republicans in Congress defend their leader with whatever untruths, conspiracy theories, and what-abouts are needed. Fox News and other pro-Trump outlets play the role of state media, even if out of fear more than enthusiasm.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, MAGA forces are busy installing loyalists as governors, election officials, district attorneys, and other crucial state and local positions. They do not succeed in every attempt, but over the course of four years, they gather enough corrupt officials to cast doubt on the legitimacy of any election they lose. They invent creative ways to obstruct anyone who challenges them politically. And they are not shy about encouraging thuggish supporters to harass and menace \u201ctraitors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Washington Post, Max Boot, 31 Aug 2022<\/strong>: MAGA Republicans are out of touch with the real America<\/a><\/p>\n The writer (a former Republican) writes from Provincetown, Mass., a place (like all the big cities) the MAGAs have persuaded us is not “real America.”<\/p>\n There is an implicit assumption, shared by many Republicans and<\/i> Democrats, that \u201creal\u201d Americans are White, rural, conservative, Christian and poorly educated. (\u201cI love the poorly educated,\u201d Donald Trump said<\/a> in 2016.) Ultra-MAGA Republicans assume that their policy preferences \u2014 anti-immigration, anti-gun control, anti-abortion, anti-\u201cwoke\u201d \u2014 are the only legitimate views that can be held by \u201creal\u201d Americans, and that anyone who disagrees is a pointy-headed elitist or \u201cglobalist\u201d who is out of touch with reality.<\/p>\n Yet it is White, Christian, rural, conservative voters who are now in the minority. Indeed, much of the reason that MAGA Republicans sound so hysterical so much of the time is that they know that the tides of economic and demographic change are leaving them behind.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n
\nRepublican Palin loses to Democrat Peltola in Alaska House special election<\/a><\/p>\n