Here's to a little more common sense and good will and a little less angst and celebrity fandom

 Right on the money. Since I could not have written a better op-ed, I will just post this one from Julie Doll

https://www.cjonline.com/story/opinion/2021/12/17/christmas-wish-list-includes-less-angst-scandals-and-more-expertise/8931844002/

It’s almost Christmas, which means it’s time for our wish lists. Mine starts with what should be an easy one.

I wish people would stop trashing our country. Litter and pet feces make our neighborhoods, our countryside and our society look dirty, tacky, inconsiderate and careless.

That people refuse to do something so simple — dispose of trash appropriately — suggests that perhaps our nation deserves some of those adjectives.

I wish that the stupid things people say or do — including things from more than a decade ago — were not so often hyped into national scandals.

Because we are part of a culture focused on churning up digital anger and angst, regrettable emails, tweets and other actions are blown up into sins against humanity. Further, the blunders or offensive antics of one person are claimed to be representative of whole categories of people.

The traffickers in exaggerated scandals are often as destructive and judgmental as the people they target.

I wish people could distinguish between wealth and intelligence. Just because someone is rich doesn’t mean they are smart, or even savvy about business. Usually it means their family and their bankers have hired competent people to look after the money.

I also wish people were better at separating fame and expertise. An NFL quarterback, for example, may be a genius about football, but that doesn’t mean you should listen to his advice about contagious diseases.

Americans are too enamored of celebrities. We buy their useless health products, call on them to testify before Congress, solicit their advice on national policies and admire them for their political activities.

I wish we were better at recognizing and appreciating true expertise, even when the experts tell us things we do not want to hear.

Experts aren’t always right, and they will be the first to tell you that. But they are far superior to the pretenders who promote themselves by trashing expertise, knowledge and science.

I wish people would be more considerate about using their key fobs to lock/unlock their cars. Honking your horn after 10 p.m. is not a neighborly thing to do, unless it’s a true emergency.

I wish every political debate did not have to be framed as either-or. Like Columbus Day or Indigenous People Day. Socialism or Capitalism. No gun restrictions or no guns at all. It makes us look simple-minded.

I wish we would stop trying to make heroes out of men who shoot unarmed people.

It now may be legal to shoot and kill someone because you are fearful of the situation you helped create, or because you’re afraid of the person you provoked. But it is not an act of heroism.

I wish there was more enforcement of traffic laws, such as speeding, distracted driving and aggressive driving.

Our roads are growing more dangerous, as evidenced by an 18% increase in traffic fatalities during the first six months of 2021. Bad drivers and bad driving have wiped out two decades of progress.

I wish the best to local newspapers, journalists and journalistic endeavors striving to succeed in the 21st century.

Lots of different ideas are being tried, but the goal ought to be the same for the varied approaches: Not only to help good journalists make a living but also to deliver credible, reliable local news and information, which are vital to sustaining strong communities.

Now a resident of Arizona, Doll is a native of Garden City, Kansas. A former journalist, she worked at newspapers in Kansas, California, New York and Indiana.

Republican talking point: You're playing into their hands, don't do it even though we told you to

Angry Republicans

In the last couple of months a possibly new, Republican Party talking point has occasionally bubbled up in Republican extremist rhetoric. If real, this beast is ice cold, cynical and cruel.  Crackpot and hateful comments from the Republican rank and file are being pushed back against as "You're playing into their hands," referring to the rhetorical value those comments give to Democrats.

Two examples make the cynicism and cruelty of this Republican propaganda tactic clear.

Republican opposition to COVID vaccines plays into their hands

This Tweet says it.

'You’re playing right into their hands' when you doubt the vaccine, President Trump says. pic.twitter.com/xJc7JTL0cR

— No Spin News (@NoSpinNews) December 20, 2021

The ex-president's propaganda advisors have convinced him (i) to reverse course and embrace COVID vaccines as his great idea, and (ii) tell people in crowds not to question, reject or attack the vaccines because 'You’re playing right into their hands.' Even while saying that, the ex-president still undercut the vaccines by opposing mandates: "You're playing right into their hands when you sort of like, 'Oh the vaccine.' If you don't want to take it, you shouldn't be forced to take it. No mandates," he said, as the crowd cheered."

One source comments: Federal research has found Trump’s views played a significant role in spreading misinformation and fomenting the response to vaccines he was fighting at Sunday’s event. While in office, he downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus early in the pandemic, repeatedly saying it would just “go away,” even as infections and deaths swelled. He flouted his own administration’s safety protocols by holding large rallies and packing the White House with unmasked guests. He and former first lady Melania Trump got vaccinated in private before leaving office, . . .

There is not one shred of Republican concern for anything other than propaganda value for Republicans. Human deaths, injuries and economic damage are not part of Republican thinking. Political concerns are relevant, not collateral damage. 

Death threats play into their hands

Another example is when rank and file Republicans in public crowds raise the matter of when it is time to shoot evil, tyrant Democrats dead. One source comments about a Republican rally in Arizona from last October: 

“At this point, we're living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns?” the man asked, to applause from the crowd. “No, and I’m not – that’s not a joke. I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

Kirk quickly denounced the man’s comments, .... “You’re playing into all their plans, and they’re trying to make you do this … ,” Kirk said. “They are trying to provoke you and everyone here. They are trying to make you do something that will be violent that will justify a takeover of your freedoms and liberties, the likes of which we have never seen.”  

Sorry, Charlie, but “they” – whoever they are – aren’t responsible for the fact that your supporters are now asking when they should start shooting their fellow Americans. 

You own this, pal. You and Donald Trump, who has staged a year-long temper tantrum, unable to accept the fact that he lost the election.

You and all of the Republican leaders and aspiring leaders across the country who have promoted the Big Lie or remained silent, declining to stand up to the wanna-be emperor and tell him to put some damn clothes on.

Dissident Politics analysis

Clearly, Republican politicians, propagandists and financial backers have come to realize that rank and file GOP folks should not publicly say any of the most cruel, violent and/or grossly idiotic things things the GOP and ex-president have been publicly preaching for years. All those nasty propaganda effort chickens are home roosting and it isn't setting well with elite Republican propagandists and strategists. Apparently they fear a backlash and loss of some votes. 

In particular, neither the ex-president nor Mr. Kirk expressed any negative moral response about refusing vaccines or shooting evil tyrant Democratic socialists-communists dead. Their concern was only partisan political. Dead citizens and Democrats are just fine, but just don't say it in public.

Questions: 

1. Is that analysis just over the top hyperbole or pure lies, or is it a plausible description of the hard core, radical right or fascist Republican ideologue mindset?

2. Is the 'you're playing into their hands' tactic to try to tamp down some of the savage rank and file rhetoric just a one-off sort of thing and not really representative of the mindset behind the Republican propaganda and talking points political war on political opposition, truth and democracy? 

Local GOP Officials Fueled Supporters' Rage ahead of the 

Jan. 6 coup attempt

Is the GOP a death cult?

Over time the Republican Party went from an increasingly radical right party to an authoritarian tribe under Trump and then to what now appears to be an authoritarian (fascist IMO) anti-vaxx Trumpist death cult. One commentator argues that the party is death cult. It appears that the anti-vaxx crowd is mostly Republicans, so there is at least a strong correlation between Trumpism and anti-vaxx belief and behavior.

NPR, Dec. 5, 2021: More than 90% of Republicans surveyed believe or are unsure about at least one false statement about COVID-19: Misinformation appears to be a major factor in the lagging vaccination rates. Poll data indicates that Republicans are far more likely to believe false statements about COVID-19 and vaccines. A full 94% of Republicans think one or more false statements about COVID-19 and vaccines might be true, and 46% believe four or more statements might be true. By contrast, only 14% of Democrats believe four or more false statements about the disease.

A Washington Post opinion piece makes the death cult argument like this:

Sarah Palin, rocket scientist, offered her thoughts on the coronavirus vaccine at a far-right conference in Arizona over the weekend.

“It will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot,” she proclaimed.

But Palin’s talk of dead bodies is on point. By discouraging vaccination, she and Tucker Carlson and the rest of the anti-science right are quite literally getting people killed. Studies show that those living in the most pro-Trump counties in the United States are dying from covid-19 at a rate more than five times higher than in the most anti-Trump counties.

The Fox News crowd bristles at the notion that the Trumpified Republican Party has taken on aspects of a cult. But it’s looking more and more like a death cult, as my friend Sidney Blumenthal puts it. Nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple died at Jonestown. Thirty-nine died in the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. But tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Republicans are dying unnecessarily from covid-19 because they refuse to get vaccinated.

Blogger Charles Gaba, who has been tracking coronavirus death rates by county, reported Monday that since June 30, there have been about 117 deaths per 100,000 people in the reddest 10 percent of the United States (as measured by counties’ vote share for Donald Trump in 2020) — nearly six times the death rate of about 21 per 100,000 in the bluest decile. Likewise, the 100 million people who live in the most pro-Trump 30 percent of the United States had a death rate of about 98 per 100,000 since June 30 — more than triple the 30 per 100,000 among the people who live in the least pro-Trump 30 percent.  

Back in September, Palin had boasted on Fox News: “I am one of those White, common-sense conservatives, I believe in science, and I have not taken the shot.” And now she says she won’t take it — unless and until she’s a dead body.

Thanks to Palin and other death-cult leaders, countless Republicans have become exactly that.

ACASignups.net, Dec. 20, 2021

If the Republican Party isn't a Trumpist death cult, then what is it? The correlation between counties voting for or against the ex-president and deaths at least implies that Trumpism causes deaths more than non-Trumpist anti-vaxx belief and behavior. If one believes that Trumpism causes avoidable COVID deaths, then one can logically believe the Republican Party really is a Trumpist death cult. But, as we all know, correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

Questions: Is the Republican Party a Trumpist death cult? If not, then what is it, e.g., a group of people that just happen to be Republicans and live in counties that merely correlate with places where COVID death rates are higher than the national average for unknown reasons? Is Fox News the high priest of Trumpist dogma and propaganda?

Is Santa Claus a Republican?

 Is Santa Claus a Republican?

Consider:

He gives out gifts to everyone. At first glance, you might think a free handout for all is strictly liberal policy. But Santa clearly doesn’t believe the government should be the one handing out the gifts, and chose to take on the task himself. That’s a pretty conservative mindset. Santa leans Republican on this one.

He employs all of those elves. In true capitalist fashion, Santa is a business owner who has created probably thousands of jobs with all of the elves he employs. But we don’t really know how well he pays his workforce or his thoughts on upping the minimum wage. It’s also unclear whether the elves have ever attempted to organize or how Santa feels about labor unions. Sounds Republican.

He loves red. Santa wears a red suit every day, and Rudolph’s nose is red. Obviously Republican.

He’s religious. Santa is, after all, St. Nicholas. And he’s Father Christmas, not Father Holidays. Score another point for Republican.

He’s not a fan of healthy eating. Santa appears to survive on nothing but cookies, and has the belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly to prove it. He obviously doesn’t want the government telling him how he should eat, like a true Republican.

Santa is no environmentalist. Doling out lumps of coal to naughty children just like a Republican would.

Those reindeer, though. This is one that could go either way. First off, they look more like donkeys than elephants—a point for the Democratic side. And it’s likely that the reindeer might actually be female (male reindeer shed their antlers prior to Christmas time, and the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh all have antlers). So it seems Santa supports females in the workplace and gender equality — traditionally an issue championed by Democrats.

But we wonder about the ethics of using reindeer to fly him and a sleigh full of presents all around the world for hours, with no breaks. We think PETA would not approve, and neither would most liberals. Something to consider.

SO, what is YOUR take on this issue?