Culture, Politics, Social Media, Trumpism
Miller’s Gutter on Gettr
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jason Miller, former Trump spokesman, deadbeat dad, and accused harasser is behind a Twitter alternative called Gettr. Having explored it briefly, one can say the site is a poorly designed social-media gutter. See also The Latest Pro-Trump Twitter Clone Leaks User Data on Day 1 and The Pro-Trump Social Network Has an Anime Porn Problem.
Gettr has low-quality (or disgusting) content because it attracts subscribers who write low-quality (or disgusting) posts. Trumpism tends toward the gutter, morally and expressively. A Trump-oriented network or website will only head in one foul direction.
Free people have (and should have) rights to a wide continuum of lawful speech, even if it’s low-quality or disgusting. Those rights don’t, however, compel private parties to host that speech.
For those committed to a better discourse during this time of vulgar Trumpism, a few reminders —
1. For private organizations with dedicated domains or Facebook pages: it’s their private property. They don’t need to permit right-wing trolls or Trump shills to mar their publications. They can either ban comments or moderately properly (as happens at FREE WHITEWATER). No normal person would let someone vomit on his shoes; private publishers shouldn’t allow Trumpists to diminish their websites.
(For government organizations, First Amendment principles more closely constrain, as they should, public action against comments. First Amendment principles don’t, however, apply to private speech, no matter how often Trump and his ignorant horde insist that they do.)
2. For publishers that offer, mostly, comment forums open to all: that’s no easy position in times like these. They’re going to catch some Trumpism on their sites. (Along with occasional comments that amount to defamatory speech.) If comment sites decide against moderating, they should at the least avoid entering some conversations or promoting others selectively.
The best course is to hold one’s position, refusing Trumpists’ efforts to transform worthy efforts into unworthy ones.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.13.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:29 AM and sunset 8:32 PM, for 15 h 02m 49s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 12% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1973, Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system to investigators for the Senate Watergate Committee.
Recommended for reading in full —
Patrick Marley reports Wisconsin man who’s scanning ballots, conducting election review was convicted of fraud:
A small group of Wisconsinites conducting a review of the presidential election — including a felon convicted of fraud — hopes soon to scan ballots in Brown County.
The group of about a half dozen volunteers has collected images of about 2 million ballots using the state’s open records law, said Gary Wait, a former private investigator who is helping lead the effort. Those involved have visited two Dane County communities to scan ballots and examine them with microscopes.
Assisting Wait is Peter Bernegger of New London, who was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud and mail fraud. A federal judge in Mississippi sentenced him to 70 months in prison and ordered him to pay restitution of $2.1 million.
An appeals court upheld his conviction but lowered his restitution to $1.7 million. Bernegger has spent years fighting his conviction, filing numerous appeals.
Josh Dawsey reports The Republican Party’s top lawyer called election fraud arguments by Trump’s lawyers a ‘joke’ that could mislead millions:
Justin Riemer, the Republican National Committee’s chief counsel, sought to discourage a Republican Party staffer from posting claims about ballot fraud on RNC accounts, the email shows, as attempts by Donald Trump and his associates to challenge results in a number of states, such as Arizona and Pennsylvania, intensified.
“What Rudy and Jenna are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court,” Riemer, a longtime Republican lawyer, wrote to Liz Harrington, a former party spokeswoman, on Nov. 28, referring to Trump attorneys Rudolph W. Giuliani and Jenna Ellis. “They are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing.”
Jamelle Bouie writes The Less Trump Pays for Jan. 6, the More It Costs Us:
For two months after the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump fought to invalidate and overturn the results. When election administrators and judges refused to play ball, he urged his most loyal followers to march on Congress, to prevent final certification of the electoral vote. “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he told a crowd of thousands on Jan. 6.
“We’re going to the Capitol,” Trump said, and though he did not, many of his supporters did.
Trump was impeached for his leading role in the insurrection, but not convicted. The stain of that second impeachment notwithstanding, he left office without sanction. He lives in freedom, cushioned by continued wealth and influence. He still has the Republican Party in his thrall, and within that party, the only orthodoxy that matters is whether you also want to “stop the steal.” After a brief and uncharacteristic silence on this point, Trump now hails the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as heroes.
“These were peaceful people, these were great people,” he said during a recent interview on Fox News, in which he also embraced the MAGA martyrdom of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed inside the Capitol.
We are not the only democracy to have had a corrupt, would-be authoritarian in high office. But we have had a hard time holding that person minimally accountable, much less keeping him out of contention for future office, which would have been accomplished had he been removed from the White House.
History, Music
Monday Music: What is Ragtime?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.12.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:28 AM and sunset 8:32 PM, for 15h 04m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 6.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM, and her Planning Commission at 6 PM.
On this day in 1962, The Rolling Stones perform for the first time at London‘s Marquee Club.
Recommended for reading in full —
Kevin Sieff reports The Trump administration used an early, unreported program to separate migrant families along a remote stretch of the border:
The Trump administration began separating migrant families along a remote stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border months earlier than has been previously reported — part of a little known program coming into view only now as the Biden administration examines government data.
In May 2017, Border Patrol agents in Yuma, Ariz., began implementing a program known as the Criminal Consequence Initiative, which allowed for the prosecution of first-time border crossers, including parents who entered the United States with their children and were separated from them.
From July 1 to Dec. 31, 2017, 234 families were separated in Yuma, according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security, almost exactly the same number as were separated in a now well known pilot program in El Paso that year. Because the Yuma program began in May, and the existing data on family separations begins only in July, the number of separations there was likely higher than 234, a prospect the Biden administration is now investigating.
Some of the parents separated under the Yuma program still remain apart from their children four years later. Others are missing — lawyers and advocates have been unable to locate them since they were deported alone. The children separated in Yuma in 2017 were as young as 10 months old, according to government data.
Tiffany Hsu reports Despite Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated, Fox News Hosts Smear Shots (‘Months after Rupert Murdoch got a Covid-19 dose, one of his network’s stars, Tucker Carlson, called a Biden vaccination proposal “the greatest scandal in my lifetime” ‘):
Back in December, before the queen of England and the president-elect of the United States had their turns, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Afterward, he urged everyone else to get it, too.
Since then, a different message has been a repeated refrain on the prime-time shows hosted by Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham on Mr. Murdoch’s Fox News Channel — a message at odds with the recommendations of health experts, even as the virus’s Delta variant and other mutations fuel outbreaks in areas where vaccination rates are below the national average.
Mr. Carlson, Ms. Ingraham and guests on their programs have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.
Peter Beaumont reports Haiti police say murder suspect is middleman living in Florida:
As Haiti descended ever deeper into a dangerous political chaos, with notorious gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier calling on Haitians to “mobilise”, the motive for the killing of [Haitian Pres. Jovenel] Moïse remained clouded in mystery.
The latest suspect was identified by police as Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian in his 60s living in Florida who describes himself as a doctor and has accused his homeland’s leaders of corruption.
“He arrived by private plane in June with political objectives and contacted a private security firm to recruit the people who committed this act,” Haiti’s police chief, Léon Charles, said, describing a private Venezuelan security company based in Florida called CTU.
Humor
A Message from the Danish Road Safety Council
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.11.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with scattered showers, and a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 05m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1839, Ebenezar G. Whiting of Racine receives patent #1232 for his improved plow, the first patent issued to someone from Wisconsin.
Recommended for reading in full —
Rich Kremer reports Eau Claire County District Attorney to Resign Amid Sexual Harassment Investigation:
Eau Claire County District Attorney Gary King, who is being investigated for sexually harassing employees and being intoxicated in court, will resign from office in August.
In a letter sent to employees Friday, King said he will step down from his position Aug. 14.
“I feel this decision is in the best interest of the office,” wrote King. “It is my hope that this decision will allow the work of the office to move forward without further distraction.”
King had been the focus of a sexual harassment investigation since Feb. 10. After an employee had asked the county’s human resources department for assistance in addressing her concerns about King’s behavior, an outside attorney was hired to write an investigatory report.
The report contained interviews with unnamed employees in the district attorneys office that cited instances where King had rubbed a female employee’s foot when she had taken a shoe off, pulled her onto his lap and asked her if she would participate in a threesome with him and a resident living nearby the county courthouse.
Mitchell Schmidt reports Tony Evers vetoes bills eliminating personal property tax, creating legislative human resources office:
Another bill vetoed Thursday would have established a nonpartisan human resources office with a director appointed by and reporting to the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, which Republicans control.
The office would have provided human resources services to the Legislature, and also with establishing a formal complaint process to review and investigate allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, violence or bullying by legislators or legislative or service agency staff.
Open records advocates raised concern over specific language in the bill regarding confidentiality that they said could be used to shield investigatory records from public access.
“While I would support a clean bill that establishes a Legislative Office of Human Resources, I cannot support a bill that would be used to hide official misconduct from public scrutiny,” Evers wrote in a veto message.
Dan Spinelli reports Under Trump, Presidents Got More Power to Fire Agency Heads. Biden Just Used It:
On Friday, Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump administration appointee who had clashed with congressional Democrats and disability rights activists. Originally appointed by Donald Trump in 2018, Saul’s term was set to last until 2025.
….While federal law says that the Social Security Commissioner can only be fired for cause, recent Supreme Court rulings have strengthened Biden’s ability to oust independent agency leaders as he likes. Last year, in a case brought during the Trump administration, a conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled that Congress’ mandate that the president only be able to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “with cause”—and not “at will”—was unconstitutional. The issue arose after the Obama-appointed CFPB director, Richard Cordray, resigned to run for governor of Ohio, kicking of a complicated legal- and power- struggle over the agency’s leadership.
Under that ruling, Biden was able to replace Trump’s permanent CFPB director shortly after entering the Oval Office. Last month, the justices ruled that the president can similarly fire the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency without cause, clearing the way for Biden to quickly replace the Trump holdover leading that office.
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 13th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Judas and the Black Messiah
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, July 13th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Judas and the Black Messiah @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Biography/Drama/History
Rated R (Violence, profanity)
2 hours, 6 minutes (2021)
In 1966, William O’Neal (the Judas) is offered a plea deal by J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton (The Black Messiah). Stars Oscar winner (Best Supporting Actor) Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, and Martin Sheen. This is a powerful interpretation of American racial history.
If vaccinated, no mask required. Reservations no longer required. Free popcorn and a beverage will be re-instituted!
One can find more information about Judas and the Black Messiah at the Internet Movie Database.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.10.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Saturday in Whitewater will see scattered afternoon showers with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:26 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 06m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1832, General Henry Atkinson’s troops begin construction of Fort Koshkonong after being forced backwards from the bog area of the “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk: “The Fort, later known as Fort Atkinson, was described by Atkinson as “a stockade work flanked by four block houses for the security of our supplies and the accommodation of the sick.”
Recommended for reading in full —
Rich Kremer reports Search Committee Named to Find Next UW System President:
University of Wisconsin Board of Regents President Edmund Manydeeds has named a 19-member search committee charged with selecting a new UW System president. The announcement comes just more than a year after a previous search failed, with the sole finalist withdrawing his candidacy citing “process issues.”
The naming of the search committee kicks off what is expected to be a 10- to 12-month process to find a new leader to replace interim President Tommy Thompson, who has held the job since July 1, 2020.
The committee is more than twice the size of the previous presidential search committee, which drew anger and multiple resolutions from campus employee and student government groups because it didn’t include faculty, staff or non-regent students.
Regent Vice President Karen Walsh will chair the search committee, which includes four other board members, two former regents, three chancellors, two provosts and a campus vice chancellor along with professors and staff members from multiple UW campuses.
Maya Yang reports Charlottesville removes Confederate statues that helped spark deadly rally:
Work was under way on Saturday morning to remove a statue to a Confederate general that helped spark a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
The small Virginia city said the equestrian statue of Gen Robert E Lee and a nearby statue of Gen Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson would be removed to storage. Designated public viewing areas for the removals had been established.
A crane was moved into place and workers were preparing as the sun came up first to hoist Lee away. Just after 8am local time, the statue of the man on his horse was hoisted slowly off its plinth.
Charlottesville’s mayor, Nikuyah Walker, gave a speech in front of public and media as the lifting equipment was moved into position.
(America’s seditious enemies are unworthy of America statues.)
Philip Bump writes A third of White conservatives refuse to get vaccinated — a refusal shown in polling and the real world:
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released over the weekend shows a stark divide in vaccination hesitancy by political group. Overall, about a fifth of Americans say they definitely won’t get vaccinated. That’s about the percentage for independents and Whites overall. But among Republicans and White conservatives, the figure is more than a third.
If you’re skeptical of those results, fair enough. But there is a correlation in the real world: States that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 have almost uniformly seen lower densities of vaccinations than states that voted for Biden. About the time that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was paused, the two groups of states diverged, with blue states continuing to add vaccinations far faster than red ones.
America, CDA, Common Council, Development, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, Regulatory Capture, WEDC
Competition: Good for Individuals and Society
by JOHN ADAMS •
Pres. Biden plans measures to increase market competition. David Leonhardt reports Biden’s New Push (‘The U.S. economy suffers from a lack of competition. President Biden wants to change that’):
The U.S. economy has been less dynamic in the 21st century, by many measures, than it was in the late 20th century.
Fewer new businesses are starting. Existing businesses have slowed the pace at which they hire new workers (as the chart here shows). Workers are less likely to switch jobs or move to a new city. Companies are investing in new buildings and equipment at a lower rate. And small businesses make up a shrinking share of the economy.
….
Together, these trends suggest that the economy suffers from a lack of fair competition, many economists believe. Large corporations are often able to increase profits not by providing better products than their rivals but instead by being so big that they exercise power over workers and consumers. The government also plays a role, through policies that protect existing companies at the expense of start-ups and new entrants into an industry.
The technical term for excess profits from a lack of competition is “monopoly rents.” Just think about how frustrated you may have been by the customer service from an airline, cable-television provider or health insurer. And then imagine how frustrating it may be to work there. Despite the problems at these companies, consumers and workers don’t always have good alternatives.
The lack of competitive dynamism plays a role in many of the U.S. economy’s biggest problems: the disappointing economic growth of the past two decades; the declining share of output going to workers; and rising income inequality. It also helps explain the new concern — among both Republicans (like Josh Hawley and Ken Buck) and Democrats (like Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar) — about the power of big business.
We’ve a national, state, and local lack of competition.
If only incumbent businesses mattered to individual or community prosperity, then monopoly rents would be a regrettable necessity. Yet prosperity doesn’t depend only on incumbent businesses, but on a competitive marketplace where new private options emerge. Monopoly rents are both consequence and cause of uncompetitive markets. (That they are a consequence of weak competition should be clear, but their imposed costs also impair future economic opportunities.)
It’s so easy – and self-serving – for development men to say they want to help business. They say as much, but what they mean is that they want to help their preferred private businesses against competition and that they’re willing to bend public boards, commissions, agencies, and legislatures to their narrow personal ends.
A marketplace – a community, a society – is more than a few men manipulating public rules for private appetites.
Biden is right to push toward more competitive markets (in capital, labor, goods, and services).
Cats, Science/Nature
Friday Catblogging: Why Cats Do These 6 Things
by JOHN ADAMS •
Narimes Parakul writes Why your cat does these 6 things, according to science:
Having a cat (or several) can add companionship and warmth to any household. As you share each other’s space, however, you may have noticed a few quirks that your cat exhibits, varying from adorable to plainly bizarre.
Emma Grigg, animal behaviorist with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, said understanding cat behavior can be extremely beneficial for cat owners. “People who know more about their cats and understand cat behavior better tend to have better bonds with their cats. This enables us to really appreciate them more for who they are,” said Grigg. Here, she answers some of the internet’s most commonly asked questions about cats and their sometimes confusing behavior.
Knead the blanket? Cat owners may notice their cat kneading soft surfaces from time to time, be it blankets or their human. Grigg said this behavior is most likely carried over from their days as kittens. When they nurse, kittens tend to knead on their mother to help the milk release and as a comforting behavior. “When they do it on a favorite person or bed, it’s a self-soothing behavior. With humans, it’s almost like a sign of the bond: ‘You are someone who is important to me, and I’m comfortable.’ So it’s a good thing,” said Grigg.
Chitter when they see birds? Although the exact reasoning behind the occasional chirps from cats when they watch prey is unclear, animal behaviorists believe the sound reflects their excitement, particularly when they see prey they cannot catch. Likewise, cats wagging their bodies before pouncing on toys could serve multiple purposes, including priming their muscles to make a jump or to get a better view of the prey and improve their depth perception.
(Remaining 4 behaviors @ Parakul’s article.)
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.9.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:26 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 08m 10s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1962, Starfish Prime tests the effects of a nuclear explosion at orbital altitudes.
Recommended for reading in full —
Molly Beck reports Tony Evers signs Republican-written state budget that cuts income taxes, announces $100 million more for schools:
WHITEFISH BAY – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday signed into law a new state budget written by Republican lawmakers that includes billions in income tax cuts and announced he would be providing school districts with an additional $100 million in federal funding to make up for what he characterized as a plan that falls short for schools.
The Democratic governor signed the $87.3 billion two-year state spending plan in an elementary school library in a Milwaukee suburb, igniting his reelection campaign that will rely on areas like Whitefish Bay where a shifting electorate could prove crucial in Wisconsin’s tight statewide races.
The governor tweaked the plan using his veto authority in 50 largely minor areas but left intact the centerpiece of the Republican plan — a more than $2 billion tax cut package that would reduce the state’s third tax bracket for about half of Wisconsin residents to 5.3%.
Shamane Mills reports DOJ: Wisconsin Could Get $65M Under Proposed Opioid Settlement:
Wisconsin could receive $65 million from a proposed $4.3 billion multistate settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced Thursday.
In 2019, Attorney General Josh Kaul filed suit against Purdue alleging the maker of OxyContin helped ignite the drug crisis with deceptive marketing claims.
“It’s critical that we hold those responsible for the opioid epidemic accountable,” said Kaul in a statement announcing a proposed settlement. “No lawsuit can undo the destruction the opioid epidemic has caused. But by recovering funds from those whose unlawful conduct led to the opioid crisis, we can support prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and deter the kind of conduct that led to the epidemic.”
Wisconsin is one of 15 states that dropped their opposition to the Purdue Pharma Oxycontin bankruptcy plan which critics initially thought let the Sackler family, which made billions off the sale of opioids, off too easily.
Rebecca Beitsch reports Trump appointee erred in firing Voice of America whistleblowers: watchdog:
A government watchdog found the Trump-appointed leader of Voice of America (VOA) erred in his dismissal of six employees, which was likely retaliation against whistleblowers and wrongly stripped some of them of their security clearances.
President Biden dismissed U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) CEO Michael Pack on his first day in office following a string of complaints by employees that he was politicizing VOA and other state-funded media outlets.
Five of the employees in question have already been reinstated to their positions by the new administration, but the Thursday review from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) clears all the employees of wrongdoing, while documents reviewed by The Hill include some previously unreported details about strife at the agency.
….
“What is shocking are OIG’s discovery of the many more ways Pack and his political appointees – while running USAGM for a mere six months – managed to break the law, abuse authority, endanger public health and safety and grossly mismanage the agency,” David Seide, a whistleblower attorney with the Government Accountability Project who represented one of the employees, said in a statement.
Pack faced complaints from more than 30 whistleblowers during his tenure, firing six on the same day who had protested management decisions while at USAGM.
City, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, School District, Trumpism, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whither the Conservative Populists?
by JOHN ADAMS •
In places big and small, including Whitewater, there are three main types of conservatives: traditional, transactional, and populist. (Right-wing populist in our time is mostly a euphemism for Trumpist.) Of these types, only the right-wing populists are a dynamic movement. Traditional conservatives each day look more like large reptiles after a cataclysmic meteor strike, and the much smaller population of transactional conservatives, like creatures of the order Blattodea, are suited to move slowly & methodically even after a meteor strike, a nuclear war, whatever.
By its nature, a populist movement requires a meaningful number of people, agitated with specific concerns or grievances. It’s an impatient, insistent, and histrionic perspective, demanding immediate action on its socio-economic grievances.
So, where’s conservative populism headed?
For Thomas Edsall, Trump’s Cult of Animosity Shows No Sign of Letting Up:
In 2016, Donald Trump recruited voters with the highest levels of animosity toward African Americans, assembling a “schadenfreude” electorate — voters who take pleasure in making the opposition suffer — that continues to dominate the Republican Party, even in the aftermath of the Trump presidency.
With all his histrionics and theatrics, Trump brought the dark side of American politics to the fore: the alienated, the distrustful, voters willing to sacrifice democracy for a return to white hegemony. The segregationist segment of the electorate has been a permanent fixture of American politics, shifting between the two major parties.
….
Trump has mobilized and consolidated a cohort that now exercises control over the Republican Party, a renegade segment of the electorate, perhaps as large as one-third of all voters, which disdains democratic principles, welcomes authoritarian techniques to crush racial and cultural liberalism, seeks to wrest away the election machinery and suffers from the mass delusion that Trump won last November.
Regardless of whether Trump runs again, he has left an enormous footprint — a black mark — on American politics, which will stain elections for years to come.
By contrast, Yascha Mounk contends that We Might Have Reached Peak Populism:
But we can’t forget how much worse things could be right now—and what a major achievement it was for Joe Biden to have defeated Donald Trump. America booted an authoritarian populist from office in a free and fair election at the conclusion of his first term.
For those who are interested in the fate of liberal democracy around the world, that triumph raises a key question: Was Trump’s loss an aberration owed to specifically American factors? Or did it portend the beginning of a more difficult period for authoritarian populists around the world—one in which they might be held accountable for their many mistakes and misdeeds?
But you could also make the case for optimism. Recent developments in Europe and Latin America suggest that some of the populists and antidemocratic leaders who have dominated the political landscape for the past decade might finally be encountering serious trouble. If the picture looked almost unremittingly bleak a few years ago, now distinct patches of hope are on the horizon.
As for where conservative populists are likely to make themselves felt (in Whitewater or elsewhere), it’s likely to be where
(1) they can find emotional issues to motivate their adherents,
(2) they have the greatest contempt for their opponents,
(3) the best chance of convincing – often deceiving – others into thinking populism is a majority opinion, and
(4) where others are weakest in their responses to rightwing populism’s claims (‘[p]eople aren’t inclined to do for a politician what he won’t do for himself. Advancing and defending are not assurances of re-election, but their absence makes defeat likely. It has been a tumultuous year; passivity is not a winning response to tumult.’)
It’s a reasonable guess that there will be tumultuous days ahead.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.8.21
by JOHN ADAMS •
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 71. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 09m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1789, James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
Recommended for reading in full —
Ricardo Torres reports ‘We never agreed to anything’: Foxconn area property owners get $1.6 million they didn’t ask for and their business is landlocked:
It may seem like the Ericksons got a good deal from the Village of Mount Pleasant: $1.6 million for less than 2 acres of land to help make way for the massive Foxconn project.
But it’s a deal the family didn’t ask for, or agree to, and now they’re waging a fight against the village.
“It closed our business,” Jack Erickson said. “So when you say you got $1.6 million for an acre and a half; well, an acre and a half plus you closed our business. And you landlocked us on 11 acres. They know what they’re doing.”
Jack and his wife, Colleen, have owned and operated Erickson Trucks-N-Parts since 1997 in Mount Pleasant. In 2016, they were planning to construct a new building on their property along the frontage road.
Then, in 2017 the Foxconn Technology Group announced it would be building a massive campus in Mount Pleasant, and the Ericksons’ property was in Area I of the development.
Now the Ericksons are one of the few remaining private properties in the Foxconn area. They’ve launched a fight against the village to prevent officials from declaring the property blighted, be fairly compensated for their property or have access to a public road so they can maintain their business.
See also FREE WHITEWATER‘s dedicated category on Foxconn.
Paul Waldman writes Trump’s latest ridiculous lawsuit shows how small he has become:
The lawsuit itself is so laughable that it gives away the game; not even Trump could think this is something he’d actually win.
His complaint against Facebook — presumably prepared by actual lawyers, hard as that may be to believe — claims that it “rises beyond that of a private company to that of a state actor. As such, Defendant is constrained by the First Amendment right to free speech in the censorship decisions it makes regarding its Users.”
It goes on to use the word “unconstitutional” again and again to describe Facebook’s decisions, despite the fact that only government action is or isn’t constitutional.
Facebook may be one of the most pernicious forces on Earth, but it’s a private company that set up rules for those who chose to use its service. Trump repeatedly violated those rules, and was kicked off. It really isn’t all that complicated, and it’s the furthest thing from “unconstitutional.”
….
To repeat, even if the companies were just removing Republicans for being Republicans (which they aren’t), they would have every right to do so.
Ambitious politicians often stage stunts to appeal to their party’s base; the dumber they think that base is, the dumber the stunts will be. But Trump is a former president. No one expected him to discover dignity for the first time in his 75 years, yet so much of what he is doing these days is just petty and small.
And what is this suit about? It’s about money, of course. As soon as Trump announced the suit, fundraising texts were blasted out to his supporters.
“President Trump is filing a LAWSUIT against Facebook and Twitter for UNFAIR CENSORSHIP!” they read. “Please contribute IMMEDIATELY to INCREASE your impact by 500% and to get your name on the Donor List President Trump sees!”