There is a certain elephant in the room, going unmentioned in Charlie's discussion, but everyone knows it's there: Fascism.
Rich Lowry: Fascist
Ron Desantis: Fascist
Ben Shapiro: Fascist
The Federalist: Fascists
These are all people who know better. They know their history. They know what Fascism is, and where it leads. But they've embraced Fascism, because as bad as Fascism was for everyone else, it was a pretty good deal if you were a Nazi. They're riding the Fascism train because they know if they win, they will be gods, and if they lose, there will be no consequences.
Sad to say, especially as a life-long democrat now in my senior years, that the Democratic Party is not up to the task of saving Democracy. Biden let the progressives push him too far to the left, and when we lose seats in both the House and Senate, they will insulate themselves from responsibility by claiming we didn't go far enough.
Sadder to say is that if inflation doesn't come roaring back down in the next 4-5 months, a majority of our fellow Americans are going to hand the GOP the reins of power, and we will have a most difficult time wresting it back from them for years to come.
It's both a blessing and a curse to be a Senior citizen in America these days....
Why not call it what it really is? National Socialism. We should call them out and force them to admit what they really are. It's time to stop being nice because the more decent, law abiding, reasonable Americans shrug their shoulders and say "what can we do?" The more Democracy they will destroy little by little. This is how it happens.
DeSantis has become the Orban of Florida - autocratic, revengeful, ham fisted. Peel back the layers and you find a group of people terrified of anyone who isn't heterosexual. They constantly throw out words to stoke the Right like "woke mob". Or, like Ted Cruz, sinisterly say Disney is going to produce cartoons showing Mickey and Pluto "getting it on". They deal in cruelty, hate and exclusion. The basis is fear and the response is punishment. Little men like Shapiro may get a rush of testosterone but ultimately this will cost DeSantis.
I am a lifelong Democrat. I am extremely concerned about our democracy. I think it is toast. It is at these times that I am glad I am old and won't see the Fascist dictatorship in action. At least half the country is living in an alternate universe where they can deny Covid even exists or that Trump is the most corrupt politician in a long, long time. Nothing penetrates to these deluded people. I know because I live with one of them.
Can someone tell me what exactly "woke" is. It seems to me that if you are "woke", you are not racist, xenophobic or homophobic. That you care about democracies like Ukraine and that you want all Americans to earn a living wage and have health care.
I seriously think everyone is over-reading this Florida situation.
The probability of Disney losing its special status here is infinitesimal. It has a post-'23 vote, and Disney has to also vote to accept the loss of status. The odds of all that coming together in the face of the crippling issues all parties involved would face is highly unlikely.
What this is doing is getting DeSantis a metric ton of airtime for being the Republican who takes on the woke business and 'wins', inasmuch as he got a bill passed that doesn't do what most people thinks it does. Since most people aren't diving down into the weeds of the actual details of the bill, everyone thinks that DeSantis has done a really thing rather than what will almost certainly be a symbolic action.
He wins this round because now he gets a bunch of memes showing him to be a tough guy and a defender of patriotic Americans against wokeism and CRT and so on.
Just like Abbott tried to do with his demonstrative asshattery over inspections, this isn't about actually accomplishing anything or executing policy, it's about winning the news cycle. DeSantis has won this news cycle hands down because most venues are reporting this as an actual blow against Disney rather than performance art.
Well, quite a few dissents to you here today, Charlie. I'll take them in the order they appeared.
First, and as it turns out most important, because this issue runs through all the stories as their cause. These people are NOT CONSERVATIVES and you of all people should stop using that word to describe them. They stole it from you! I've said it before, I'll say it again; I'll keep saying it till it gets through: as a German friend who survived Nazism once told me, "The Nazis didn't elect Hitler - the conservatives did! They believed him when he told them he was one of them, a lie they discovered too late." Far right radical revolutionaries (there's a one word synonym for that word salad: seven letters, starts with "f" and ends with "t") are not conservatives. Ever. As Hofstadter pointed out 68 years ago, they adopt the language of conservatism, but their desires are far from conservative. As your post today demonstrates.
So, stop calling them "conservatives." You and Charles C.W. Cooke are conservative. Rich Lowry and the rest of your former friends are not.
And if you doubt that, go back and read Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. There are accounts there of what the Nazis did to business and business leaders who failed to be sufficiently "supportive." Little Jimmy Vance is merely saying the quiet part out loud.
Now to Hobby Lobby. That case had nothing to do with the "defense of conscience" and everything to do with the defense of the attitude above. Hobby Lobby was about the "right" of Fundamentalists (there's nothing "Christian" about them) to run other people's lives so that their desires controlled. Just like DeSantis and the attack on Disney. "I don't like this, and so I have the right to deny your right to have this." It had nothing to do with "conscience." As to Masterpiece Cake Shop, that was a case of a Fundamentalist looking for the opportunity to get more Fundamentalist customers, and a couple members of the group the cake shop owner had enjoyed oppressing and was unhappy that he could no longer do so, smacking him back. Not a case of conscience either. Fundamentalists are all about "us controlling you" which is why Fundamentalism provides the underlying energy to the not-so-New Right.
As to Ben Shapiro, one can only applaud him for his unceasing 24/7 efforts to disprove the ancient anti-Semitic slur that all Jews are really smart. He and fellow KAPO Josh Mandel deserve some sort of plastic pot they can put on the shelf in their study for their hard work. The two of them will both end up in their reserved seats at the back of the last cattle car on the trip to Auschwitz.
I don't suppose it is coincidental that the two counties that will take the tax hit if Disney's special district is dissolved just happen to be the two counties that gave solid support to Biden in 2020, or that the mayor of one of the communities is married to the candidate most likely to wipe the floor with Widdle Marco in November. Yeah, DeSantis didn't think of that for even a minute. (/snark)
Today's GOP are masterfully gaming the system. DeSantis made sure the bill revoking Disney's status doesn't take effect until late 2023 - meaning Floridians will not feel the tremendously bad effects on them and their economy until well after the midterms. DeSantis and his cronies will not pay a political price, while reaping all of the benefits this episode of culture wars will give him with the Magats. There's plenty of time to not follow through in 2023....
I'm not seeing much about how futile all this is. There are three possible reasons for Disney to oppose the Florida education bill. First, their executives genuinely think it is the right thing to do. Second, they are responding to the demands of their employees, enough of whom genuinely think it is the right thing to do that management feels they have to listen to them. Third, they are responding to their customers, enough of whom think this is the right thing to do that management feels they have to listen to them.
Whichever of these three things is true, what basis do Republicans have for believing that ending Reedy Creek will change anybody's mind? Perhaps having no moral values themselves, caring only for power, they imagine that their opponents have no moral values either. In fact, there is good evidence for this in what the Republicans say. They assume that Disney and other corporations are faking it, and will retreat the minute the costs become too high.
But what if Disney isn't faking it? What if they, their employees, and their customers really believe what they say? Then this course is doomed to failure. To me, it's a symptom of living in a bubble; living in an echo chamber, they've convinced themselves that they are populists, when in fact they represent a minority of the population. They may succeed for a while by twisting the rules in their favor, but they will eventually fall.
Dems need to understand that elections are no longer about policy. Policy achievements will not win elections. Elections are about culture wars. Focusing on policy achievements is a sure path to defeat.
In regards to the apocryphal Andrew Jackson quite used by JD Vance, I had the pages with it bookmarked in my grandmother’s college history text (“Political and Social History of the United States: 1829-1925,” by Arthur Schlesinger, pp. 26-27).
The quote was attributed as Jackson’s response to the SCOTUS’ decision in Worcester v. Georgia, about which Chief Justice Marshall declared that the Cherokees possessed the status of a “nation” under protection of the federal government. Georgia was attempting to establish jurisdiction over Cherokee lands but this decision was handed down to stop it.
At this point in the story, insert Jackson’s reported quote, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” according to this textbook. It is completely in line with Jackson’s subsequent actions, the surrender of Cherokee lands through a treaty and removal of Cherokees and other southeastern tribes to Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears.
How fitting that a candidate championing white supremacy would use a quote by a president who did not regard Native people as human.
Florida doesn’t have much of an economy. Lots fed money from Medicare and Social Security. DeSantis or Trump may be facing some tough years. Q/E infinity May no longer work. Disney has other problems. The Parks are still popular. Let’s hope Disney can continue to irritate the right. Someone has to do it.
I was shocked over the attempt to use the XIVth Amendment to get MTG off the ballot.
Until a Federal Court convicts her of sedition, after a fair trial where the presumption of innocence stands until evidence proves otherwise, and she has run out all of her appeals, can she be prevented from running for office.
This case amounts to harassment.
Don't get me wrong I love the theater of it but it really is wrong.
Today is Easter for Orthodox Christians. Last Sunday was Easter for non-Orthodox Christians. Passover ended at sundown Friday. What happened to Easter Joy in Judaeo-Christian America this year? Apparently, through no fault but my own, I missed it. The WaPo has a picture story contrasting Easter in Ukraine and Russia. Putin attended Midnight Mass, while a priest celebrated mass outside a church in Bucha on the grounds of which is a mass grave. In today's Morning Shots we hear of the Revenge Tour of the GOP. Vengeance. Killing Civilians. Mass Graves. Own the Libs. Easter Joy? Forget about it; there are so may books to ban.
There is a certain elephant in the room, going unmentioned in Charlie's discussion, but everyone knows it's there: Fascism.
Rich Lowry: Fascist
Ron Desantis: Fascist
Ben Shapiro: Fascist
The Federalist: Fascists
These are all people who know better. They know their history. They know what Fascism is, and where it leads. But they've embraced Fascism, because as bad as Fascism was for everyone else, it was a pretty good deal if you were a Nazi. They're riding the Fascism train because they know if they win, they will be gods, and if they lose, there will be no consequences.
Sad to say, especially as a life-long democrat now in my senior years, that the Democratic Party is not up to the task of saving Democracy. Biden let the progressives push him too far to the left, and when we lose seats in both the House and Senate, they will insulate themselves from responsibility by claiming we didn't go far enough.
Sadder to say is that if inflation doesn't come roaring back down in the next 4-5 months, a majority of our fellow Americans are going to hand the GOP the reins of power, and we will have a most difficult time wresting it back from them for years to come.
It's both a blessing and a curse to be a Senior citizen in America these days....
Why not call it what it really is? National Socialism. We should call them out and force them to admit what they really are. It's time to stop being nice because the more decent, law abiding, reasonable Americans shrug their shoulders and say "what can we do?" The more Democracy they will destroy little by little. This is how it happens.
"And certainly not Lowry, who stands athwart incipient authoritarianism and asks, ‘Why Not?'"
Like what you did there, Charlie!👍
DeSantis has become the Orban of Florida - autocratic, revengeful, ham fisted. Peel back the layers and you find a group of people terrified of anyone who isn't heterosexual. They constantly throw out words to stoke the Right like "woke mob". Or, like Ted Cruz, sinisterly say Disney is going to produce cartoons showing Mickey and Pluto "getting it on". They deal in cruelty, hate and exclusion. The basis is fear and the response is punishment. Little men like Shapiro may get a rush of testosterone but ultimately this will cost DeSantis.
I am a lifelong Democrat. I am extremely concerned about our democracy. I think it is toast. It is at these times that I am glad I am old and won't see the Fascist dictatorship in action. At least half the country is living in an alternate universe where they can deny Covid even exists or that Trump is the most corrupt politician in a long, long time. Nothing penetrates to these deluded people. I know because I live with one of them.
Can someone tell me what exactly "woke" is. It seems to me that if you are "woke", you are not racist, xenophobic or homophobic. That you care about democracies like Ukraine and that you want all Americans to earn a living wage and have health care.
I seriously think everyone is over-reading this Florida situation.
The probability of Disney losing its special status here is infinitesimal. It has a post-'23 vote, and Disney has to also vote to accept the loss of status. The odds of all that coming together in the face of the crippling issues all parties involved would face is highly unlikely.
What this is doing is getting DeSantis a metric ton of airtime for being the Republican who takes on the woke business and 'wins', inasmuch as he got a bill passed that doesn't do what most people thinks it does. Since most people aren't diving down into the weeds of the actual details of the bill, everyone thinks that DeSantis has done a really thing rather than what will almost certainly be a symbolic action.
He wins this round because now he gets a bunch of memes showing him to be a tough guy and a defender of patriotic Americans against wokeism and CRT and so on.
Just like Abbott tried to do with his demonstrative asshattery over inspections, this isn't about actually accomplishing anything or executing policy, it's about winning the news cycle. DeSantis has won this news cycle hands down because most venues are reporting this as an actual blow against Disney rather than performance art.
Well, quite a few dissents to you here today, Charlie. I'll take them in the order they appeared.
First, and as it turns out most important, because this issue runs through all the stories as their cause. These people are NOT CONSERVATIVES and you of all people should stop using that word to describe them. They stole it from you! I've said it before, I'll say it again; I'll keep saying it till it gets through: as a German friend who survived Nazism once told me, "The Nazis didn't elect Hitler - the conservatives did! They believed him when he told them he was one of them, a lie they discovered too late." Far right radical revolutionaries (there's a one word synonym for that word salad: seven letters, starts with "f" and ends with "t") are not conservatives. Ever. As Hofstadter pointed out 68 years ago, they adopt the language of conservatism, but their desires are far from conservative. As your post today demonstrates.
So, stop calling them "conservatives." You and Charles C.W. Cooke are conservative. Rich Lowry and the rest of your former friends are not.
And if you doubt that, go back and read Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. There are accounts there of what the Nazis did to business and business leaders who failed to be sufficiently "supportive." Little Jimmy Vance is merely saying the quiet part out loud.
Now to Hobby Lobby. That case had nothing to do with the "defense of conscience" and everything to do with the defense of the attitude above. Hobby Lobby was about the "right" of Fundamentalists (there's nothing "Christian" about them) to run other people's lives so that their desires controlled. Just like DeSantis and the attack on Disney. "I don't like this, and so I have the right to deny your right to have this." It had nothing to do with "conscience." As to Masterpiece Cake Shop, that was a case of a Fundamentalist looking for the opportunity to get more Fundamentalist customers, and a couple members of the group the cake shop owner had enjoyed oppressing and was unhappy that he could no longer do so, smacking him back. Not a case of conscience either. Fundamentalists are all about "us controlling you" which is why Fundamentalism provides the underlying energy to the not-so-New Right.
As to Ben Shapiro, one can only applaud him for his unceasing 24/7 efforts to disprove the ancient anti-Semitic slur that all Jews are really smart. He and fellow KAPO Josh Mandel deserve some sort of plastic pot they can put on the shelf in their study for their hard work. The two of them will both end up in their reserved seats at the back of the last cattle car on the trip to Auschwitz.
I don't suppose it is coincidental that the two counties that will take the tax hit if Disney's special district is dissolved just happen to be the two counties that gave solid support to Biden in 2020, or that the mayor of one of the communities is married to the candidate most likely to wipe the floor with Widdle Marco in November. Yeah, DeSantis didn't think of that for even a minute. (/snark)
Today's GOP are masterfully gaming the system. DeSantis made sure the bill revoking Disney's status doesn't take effect until late 2023 - meaning Floridians will not feel the tremendously bad effects on them and their economy until well after the midterms. DeSantis and his cronies will not pay a political price, while reaping all of the benefits this episode of culture wars will give him with the Magats. There's plenty of time to not follow through in 2023....
I'm not seeing much about how futile all this is. There are three possible reasons for Disney to oppose the Florida education bill. First, their executives genuinely think it is the right thing to do. Second, they are responding to the demands of their employees, enough of whom genuinely think it is the right thing to do that management feels they have to listen to them. Third, they are responding to their customers, enough of whom think this is the right thing to do that management feels they have to listen to them.
Whichever of these three things is true, what basis do Republicans have for believing that ending Reedy Creek will change anybody's mind? Perhaps having no moral values themselves, caring only for power, they imagine that their opponents have no moral values either. In fact, there is good evidence for this in what the Republicans say. They assume that Disney and other corporations are faking it, and will retreat the minute the costs become too high.
But what if Disney isn't faking it? What if they, their employees, and their customers really believe what they say? Then this course is doomed to failure. To me, it's a symptom of living in a bubble; living in an echo chamber, they've convinced themselves that they are populists, when in fact they represent a minority of the population. They may succeed for a while by twisting the rules in their favor, but they will eventually fall.
Dems need to understand that elections are no longer about policy. Policy achievements will not win elections. Elections are about culture wars. Focusing on policy achievements is a sure path to defeat.
In regards to the apocryphal Andrew Jackson quite used by JD Vance, I had the pages with it bookmarked in my grandmother’s college history text (“Political and Social History of the United States: 1829-1925,” by Arthur Schlesinger, pp. 26-27).
The quote was attributed as Jackson’s response to the SCOTUS’ decision in Worcester v. Georgia, about which Chief Justice Marshall declared that the Cherokees possessed the status of a “nation” under protection of the federal government. Georgia was attempting to establish jurisdiction over Cherokee lands but this decision was handed down to stop it.
At this point in the story, insert Jackson’s reported quote, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” according to this textbook. It is completely in line with Jackson’s subsequent actions, the surrender of Cherokee lands through a treaty and removal of Cherokees and other southeastern tribes to Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears.
How fitting that a candidate championing white supremacy would use a quote by a president who did not regard Native people as human.
Florida doesn’t have much of an economy. Lots fed money from Medicare and Social Security. DeSantis or Trump may be facing some tough years. Q/E infinity May no longer work. Disney has other problems. The Parks are still popular. Let’s hope Disney can continue to irritate the right. Someone has to do it.
I was shocked over the attempt to use the XIVth Amendment to get MTG off the ballot.
Until a Federal Court convicts her of sedition, after a fair trial where the presumption of innocence stands until evidence proves otherwise, and she has run out all of her appeals, can she be prevented from running for office.
This case amounts to harassment.
Don't get me wrong I love the theater of it but it really is wrong.
Today is Easter for Orthodox Christians. Last Sunday was Easter for non-Orthodox Christians. Passover ended at sundown Friday. What happened to Easter Joy in Judaeo-Christian America this year? Apparently, through no fault but my own, I missed it. The WaPo has a picture story contrasting Easter in Ukraine and Russia. Putin attended Midnight Mass, while a priest celebrated mass outside a church in Bucha on the grounds of which is a mass grave. In today's Morning Shots we hear of the Revenge Tour of the GOP. Vengeance. Killing Civilians. Mass Graves. Own the Libs. Easter Joy? Forget about it; there are so may books to ban.
Rich Lowry has spent entirely too much time pontificating from his ivory tower, while getting high sniffing his own farts.