Open thread. We need one!
Archives for July 2022
Test 7
Late Night Open Thread: Very Normal People, Baymax Edition
here is the scene from baymax with the trans man without linking back to a transphobe/giving a transphobe clout pic.twitter.com/rBMh9rtNwR
— $ ELIANA $ (@loveIabor) June 29, 2022
It’s a few seconds in an online cartoon, how many people actually care… Oh.
Late Night Open Thread: Very Normal People, <em>Baymax</em> EditionPost + Comments (19)
War For Ukraine Day 132: Air Raid Sirens Have Sounded Over Almost All of Ukraine As Russia Continues Its Bombardment
Just a quick note. My comment last night explaining why the number of comments and the amount of commenters had dropped off on these update posts since we came back online was not directed at any specific person. Nor was it an attempt to shame or pressure anyone into commenting more. I appreciate all the kind words and everyone is very welcome for the posts. I know that you all wish as much as I do that they didn’t have to be done. I also want to make something else clear: not commenting on any particular post is not an issue. There is a lot going on and not just in Ukraine. There are things that I cannot cover – both the Saudi war against the Houthis and the famine the Saudis have created as a result in Yemen, the ongoing acts of domestic terrorism via mass shootings in the US, etc – because right now and for the foreseeable future I have the time to do the war update posts and that’s it. But all this other terrible stuff is going on in other places. For those of us in the US, there are terrible things going on at home, just as there are in other places where we have commenters and readers. So not commenting or pacing yourselves and only commenting periodically is perfectly understandable.
To the update!
We begin with President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier this evening. Video below, English transcript after the jump (emphasis mine):
GOP Thuggery Open Thread: The ‘Loyal’ Opposition
‘Senior NRO writer’, self-proclaimed NeverTrumpist Dan McLaughlin (via Isaac Chotiner):
MAGA: Trump should have been installed as dictator
RESPECTABLE, NEVER-TRUMP REACTIONARY: MAGA would have never needed to do a coup if only the Electoral College were slightly more tilted against the will of the majority pic.twitter.com/mfjGDCQilp— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 5, 2022
GOP Thuggery Open Thread: The ‘Loyal’ OppositionPost + Comments (193)
We’ll do the right thing…eventually
There’s some evidence the Highland Park shooter was a Trump fan, including a photo of the killer wearing a Trump flag as a cape and dressed as Waldo at a Trump rally. The shooter also allegedly liked a tweet by President Biden, which right-wingers claim proves he’s a Democrat. The town the shooter attacked has a substantial Jewish population, so some are speculating the murders were a hate crime.
All or none of this may turn out to be true, but here’s one thing we do know right now: If the shooter had not been able to easily obtain an AR-15-style rifle that can spray a street with deadly rounds, he wouldn’t have been able to kill seven people and injure dozens more in a matter of seconds.
The same is true of the Uvalde school shooter, the Buffalo supermarket shooter, the Parkland school shooter, the Pulse nightclub shooter, the Las Vegas music festival shooter, the El Paso Walmart shooter, the Sandy Hook school shooter, etc., etc., etc.
The Both Sides Chicken Must Be Fucked Regularly
The Times really tore it up this weekend. First, they published an opinion piece by Bret Stephens’ ex-wife Pamela Paul, who was the editor of the Books section for ten years, explaining how both the far-left and far-right have agreed that “women don’t count”. Her evidence for the far-left includes her statement that noted far-left organization Planned Parenthood doesn’t have the word “women” on the front page of their website. (It’s all over their site, just missing from the front page.)
Not to be outdone comparing the use of gender pronouns to making 10 year-old rape victims carry their babies to term, the Times also published a guest opinion piece comparing regular doctors to “pro-life” doctors in their approach to “delivering” an ectopic pregnancy: “When a mother’s life is threatened by the course of her pregnancy, there is a wide gulf between a culture that assumes she and her baby are pitted against each other and one in which both are valued.” I sure hope when both the baby and the mother are valued, that the pro-life doctor is able to excise the completely non-viable set of cells (a.k.a. “her baby”) before the mother exsanguinates. (Ectopic pregnancies are horrible, and it’s too bad the author had to experience one, but there’s no reason for the Times to give this kind of nonsense a platform.)
Speaking of young people seeking abortions, the Times went all the way to Texas to find a young person who is “life affirming” (the new “pro-life”) to show that, yes, there are young women who are against abortion. This young woman works at a “crisis pregnancy center” which means that’s she’s a known and frequent liar working for a lying bunch of fucking liars, but still, she’s definitely one young person opposed to abortion. The 12th graph of the piece does acknowledge that just 21% of women 18-29 were opposed to abortion in the latest Pew survey, so I guess it’s “journalism” after all.
Also, though it wasn’t published this week, Emily Bazelon’s earlier Times piece about transgender kids used Genspect, an organization that supports “100% desistance and a ban on transition up to age 25” as the “other side.” Now it appears that her piece has been entered into evidence by the state of Texas in a hearing to justify their investigation of trans kids.
I’m not generally an “ignore it and it will go away” person, but the Times’ editors clearly thrive on criticism from Democrats — they think they’re “doing it right” when we’re pissed, because the sacred “both sides” are being represented. So, and I know this is a long term project, in addition to unsubscribing, I think we need to concentrate on media that does represent our issues, and isn’t afraid to report on those who are immiserated by Republicans, because the Times sure as hell isn’t getting the job done.
(Funny side note to the Pamela Paul story: here’s Jon Lovett’s tweet about it, and here’s thirsty as fuck Jon Chait responding by saying that if you invite me onto your podcast, Lovett, I’ll explain why it makes sense. The notion that Chait has some grand insight that is so super-secret that he must be invited onto Lovett or Leave It just to share his wisdom is a real knee slapper.)
The Both Sides Chicken Must Be Fucked RegularlyPost + Comments (291)