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First up: an absurd example of how conservatives blame everything they perceive as negative on people they don’t like.<\/p>\n
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Joe.My.God, 28 May 2024<\/strong>: Newsmax: Biden Made Ice Cream Flavor Unpopular<\/a><\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Conservatives complain about indoctrination, but do it themselves. In the terms of yesterday’s book, it’s all about which story is being told. This is what the Founders apparently meant to avoid. But human nature does not change, and idealism eventually gives way to base human nature.<\/p>\n Joe.My.God, 28 May 2024<\/strong>: Florida Educators Train To Teach Christian Nationalism<\/a><\/p>\n And<\/p>\n Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, 27 May 2024<\/strong>: The Texas GOP’s proposed platform would force the Bible in schools<\/a>, subtitled “The Texas Republican Party’s agenda contains everything on conservative Christians’ wishlist”<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Paul Krugman, NY Times, 27 May 2024<\/strong>: The Stench of Climate Change Denial<\/a><\/p>\n How many people out there still deny the effects of climate change? Well, probably a lot, especially the MAGA crowd. Even as the effects rise up around them. Krugman begins:<\/p>\n This may sound a bit weird, but when I think about my adolescent years, I sometimes associate them with the faint smell of sewage.<\/p>\n You see, when I was in high school, my family lived on the South Shore of Long Island, where few homes had sewer connections. Most had septic tanks, and there always seemed to be an overflowing tank somewhere upwind.<\/p>\n Most of Nassau County eventually got sewered<\/a>. But many American homes, especially in the Southeast, aren\u2019t connected to sewer lines, and more and more septic tanks are overflowing, on a scale vastly greater than what I remember from my vaguely smelly hometown \u2014 which is both disgusting and a threat to public health.<\/p>\n The cause? Climate change. Along the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts, The Washington Post reported<\/a> last week, \u201csea levels have risen at least six inches since 2010.\u201d This may not sound like much, but it leads to rising groundwater and elevated risks of overflowing tanks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Yet again. I’m beginning to distrust basic politics, and revolutions, and patriots, since most people believe things that are not true, and this must have been true throughout history. (We’re driven by *stories*, apparently.) If the MAGA crowd somehow “wins,” wouldn’t their story become history to the next generation? No matter how delusional many of the rest of us see them now?<\/p>\n Washington Post, Catherine Rampell, 28 May 2024<\/strong>: Opinion | Nearly everything Americans believe about the economy is wrong<\/a><\/p>\n Nearly everything Americans believe about the economy is wrong, according to a recent Harris-Guardian poll<\/a>. And that\u2019s pretty much everyone\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n The poll, conducted earlier this month, found that perceptions of the U.S. economy are often at odds with reality. For instance, most Americans (55 percent) think the economy is shrinking, with about the same share saying we\u2019re in a recession.<\/p>\n In reality, the U.S. economy has been growing<\/a> consistently for nearly two years, even after accounting for inflation. By virtually every benchmark, in fact, we\u2019re exceeding<\/i> growth expectations. The U.S. economy<\/a> has been outperforming other advanced economies<\/a>. We\u2019re also doing better than pre-pandemic forecasts<\/a> had situated us by now, both in terms of gross domestic product and the number of jobs out there. This generally isn\u2019t true elsewhere in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n The poll also found that roughly half (49 percent) of Americans believe the unemployment rate is at a 50-year high. Reality is, again, nearly the opposite: Unemployment has been below 4 percent for more than two years now, the longest stretch of time it\u2019s stayed that low since the Nixon administration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, why?<\/p>\n But here\u2019s a secret: If the media has a bad-news bias, that\u2019s because our audiences have a bad-news bias<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n People are more likely to click, watch, listen to and share content that induces outrage. This human predisposition toward negativity is not unique to economic news, nor news in general. For decades, social scientists have documented a \u201cnegativity bias<\/a>\u201d in how humans process and gravitate toward information. Journalists respond to those incentives, particularly when we have dwindling resources and are fighting for an audience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n Yet again, it boils down to human cognitive biases, and the effects of social media.<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n And this:<\/p>\n LA Times, Jonah Goldberg (a right-leaning writer), 28 May 2024<\/strong>: Column: What\u2019s convincing voters that the economy is worse than it ever was?<\/a><\/p>\n A recent YouGov survey<\/u><\/a> asked voters to say which decade, starting in the 1930s, had the worst economy. A third (32%) said the 2020s, our current decade, is the worst, worse even than the 1930s or 1970s. Only 23% said the \u201930s and a mere 5% named the \u201970s as the worst. This is, by any objective measure, wrong, spectacularly wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Goldberg is careful not to assign blame to any particular side. Yet he does conclude with this:<\/p>\n Donald Trump \u2014 who has the historical memory of a goldfish \u2014 falsely screeches that things have never been worse. Yet as cartoonish as his rhetoric is, he\u2019s making a right-wing version of a common left-wing argument. Indeed, every four years, partisans insist that this is the \u201cmost important election ever\u201d and that catastrophe or salvation is on the ballot. Relentlessly crying wolf has fueled the mess we\u2019ve found ourselves in, and perhaps the mess to come.<\/p>\n After all, when you constantly tell people we\u2019re in an existential crisis, the vibes can create the reality, whether it\u2019s warranted by the facts or not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \\\\\\<\/p>\n Another piece that offers some blue v red contrasts, which are easy adds to my chart.<\/p>\n Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr., 28 May 2024<\/strong>: Opinion | How geography and religion drive America\u2019s blue vs. red divide<\/a>, subtitled “Race and education aren\u2019t the only things driving how Americans vote. They aren\u2019t even the most important.”<\/p>\n There is a big split between the nearly 70 percent of American voters who identify as Christians<\/a> and lean strongly Republican as a group, and the 30 percent who say they aren\u2019t Christians and are much more Democratic, according to polling this cycle and the results from the 2020<\/a> and 2022<\/a> elections. Another fissure <\/a>is between those who live in rural areas (very Republican) compared with those in urban ones (very Democratic).<\/p>\n Religion and population density often outweigh race and education in terms of how people vote. White evangelical Christians, even those with college degrees, overwhelmingly vote for Republicans<\/a>. Asian Americans who are Christian are much more conservative<\/a> than their non-Christian counterparts<\/a>. White people without degrees who live in urban areas are significantly more liberal than those in rural areas<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/MannyDiaz-660x330.png\")
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