Waiting ... For My Lucky Day! Tabs, Fri., Nov. 8, 2024

Morning news roundup!

Tabs gif by your friend Martini Glambassador!

Welcome to our many, many new subscribers. We love all of you.

I am reading exceedingly few campaign post mortems, in fact, this might be the only one I’ve so far read because who cares? It strikes me as correct on some points (I don’t know where Bernstein got his Joe Biden Mad-On from; I love Old Handsome Joe, but it is true his disapproval rate is sixty percent).

That left her in a strange, self-contradicting campaign limbo, constantly getting asked questions such as “what will you do to lower prices” without an option of saying, truthfully, “nothing, you morons, inflation is right where we want it to be, it would be grossly irresponsible to cause deflationary pressures to this economy!” For just one example.

(Good Politics Bad Politics)

This is a blow. Wonkpal Dr. Sarah Taber, who spent the last unknown number of months hauling ass all over North Carolina, meeting with farmers and sharing ideas as a crop scientist for how the state can grow better crops and make more money doing it, lost her race for Ag commissioner to some six-term do-nothing old white bubba fuck. God damn stupid ass biting their own faces idiots. (Sarah Taber more gracious than she fucking well should be.)

My friend Karoli wrote down a stream of “livid.” And now her goddamn house is on fire too. (Crooks & Liars)

Oh look, a clear-eyed assessment from the New York Times on the hard right turn we are about to suffer. Kind of wish you could have written something about it, Sam Kinison voice, BEFOOOOOOOOOOORE. (Gift link, whatever, you can read it or not)

Here’s a calm (no really, she’s always calm!) post about Orban’s Hungary and some of the things we can look forward to, and dissecting the results landing where I do: It’s the propaganda, people.

In the U.S., pervasive right-wing media, from the Fox News Channel through right-wing podcasts and YouTube channels run by influencers, have permitted Trump and right-wing influencers to portray the booming economy as “failing” and to run away from the hugely unpopular Project 2025. They allowed MAGA Republicans to portray a dramatically falling crime rate as a crime wave and immigration as an invasion. They also shielded its audience from the many statements of Trump’s former staff that he is unfit for office, and even that his chief of staff General John Kelly considers him a fascist and noted that he admires German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

As actor Walter Masterson posted: “I tried to educate people about tariffs, I tried to explain that undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes and are the foundation of this country. I explained Project 2025, I interviewed to show that they supported it. I can not compete against the propaganda machines of Twitter, Fox News, [Joe Rogan Experience], and NY Post. These spaces will continue to create reality unless we create a more effective way of reaching people.” 

But I don’t know how to do TikToks! I only know how to read! (Heather Cox Richardson)

A duh a duh a duh: People who know correct information about things were more likely to vote for Kamala Harris, a duh! (Ipsos)

Well! Looks like we all missed this story on Trump doing the thing he screamed and shouted and bitched and moaned that Biden had (in fact not) done: Trump deprioritized the apprehension of immigrant actual sex offenders and criminals in favor of separating families. Oh, and: “While Trump poured resources into detaining asylum seekers, he also released nearly 58,184 noncitizens with criminal records, including 8,620 violent criminals and 306 murderers.” (Cato — yes, that Cato — Institute)

The Mainers who ran this neo-Nazi fuck out of town. “We have a bunch of 80-year-old men that went up to that dickhead’s face and threatened to backhoe his body into a grave. And that’s nothin’. That’s just the flake on the potato plate.” (Atavist)

Our friends at Scientific American have some tips on working through your very real election grief. Is number one “run a neo-Nazi fuck out of town”? Because seems like that would feel real good. (Scientific American)

EVAN POPS IN: At my Friday place it’s “We Don’t Win By Compromising Our Values For These Assholes,” which is kind of exactly what The Moral High Ground is all about, which is why the newsletter is called that. [The Moral High Ground]

Ashton Pittman over on BlueSky said this is his song the past couple of days.

Since Chris Isaak was my boyfriend for many years (he did not know it), I’ve got my own for you.