Black Lives Matter. Still

This should have been expunged years ago, along with everyone else arrested for cases like this… or arrested during the classical civil rights era for civil disobedience.

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Totally not surprising that she was never cleared.

The Drunk History ep about her was pretty good:

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I’ll have to watch that later… Lisa Bonet!!!

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I’m given to understand she ate no basil :wink:

(Off topic a bit more, I’m always thrown off by odd-lettered mirror sentences—the word for which just leapt completely out of my brain—because I never expect there to be a shared letter at the center.)

In more on-topic news, ex-Vox video journalist Carlos Maza has an excellent video on the creation of the right-wing freak out over critical race theory, if anyone needs a primer for how we got here:

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More about this right-wing brand of “moral panic” journalism and how to recognise and dismantle it.

The characteristics of these BS stories include:

  1. Low stakes: the supposed terrible consequences levied by the accused (in this case leftists) are in reality either minor or non-existent.

  2. Irrelevant Examples: examples of the “disturbing trend” provided in the story are tangential at best.

  3. Misleading statistics: quantitative supporting data in the story, often taken from dubious sources, is misinterpreted.

  4. False equivalence: the story usually downplays actual examples of the trend perpetrated by those who the accusation benefits even as it acknowledges it in passing).

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While I appreciate the frustration, I disagree with the “it just doesn’t matter who wins” argument. The rightwing goal is to dehumanize anyone not wealthy, straight, cis, white male. The Dems certainly are not scoring huge points at this point, but anyone arguing that they are just as bad is not being realistic. Not a big Biden fan, but would take him over Trump in an instant. We are facing this in VA right now. If Trump-kin wins, it will be because McCauliffe cannot motivate the base due his centrist bona fides. And the consequences for all the groups who stayed home will be significant. Easy for me to not worry about it, I am the most privileged of the privileged and won’t see the consequences much. But my friends and family who do not enjoy those privileges will see huge impacts in their lives. Abandoning the field to the fascists just cannot be the answer.

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It needs to be qualified with “…if you’re expecting real, affirmative change”. Without that it’s just an unhelpful false equivalency. With it it’s a reasonable demand to a party establishment that consistently over-promises and under-delivers to PoC.

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It is a very legitimate criticism of the Dem establishment. I guess my point is, barring a wholesale overhaul of the electoral process in this country allowing for a multiparty system, (rank choice would be a good start) IMHO the only real option we are left with is to vote for Dem candidates while working to move the party to the left. Giving up on the electoral process entirely leaves the field open to the rightwing, and nothing good comes of that.

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Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

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I don’t even appreciate that. Pols cannot wave a magic wand to make the voters’ wishes instantly come true. I get that the pandemic has warped some people’s sense of the passage of time, but I’m frustrated repeatedly reminding people that the Biden administration started earlier this year, and hasn’t even been in place for a full year. We already know the GOP/GQP will blame Democrats for all progress they’re responsible for blocking. The last thing we need is people throwing up their hands like we have a one-party majority in Congress. Voters looking at just the top of the ticket is not enough.

This is what I mean regarding better educating the public about civics, setting expectations, and understanding that the ship of state does not steer like a powerboat. It moves more like a cargo vessel, which is currently under threat of a mutiny and sabotage. The 2020 election was a good first step, but it was just a step - not a complete reversal of 2016. I feel like we need a PSA listing all of the GOP/GQP members who got re-elected last year, to remind folks why they’re not getting everything they want in record speed this year.

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seth meyers GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers

snl s reactions GIF

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PALINDROMES. God. Thank you brain (and search).

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I’m guilty of this a lot. I keep reminding myself but the situation in Texas feels pretty hopeless.

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I just look at the primaries and elections every year as a chance to move things in a positive direction. Persistence, strategy, and patience tend to pay off in politics, so I look at it as a cross between “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Scorpion and the Frog.”

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Nailed it with that last comparison. A progressive has to play the long game. The only way to get progress in the US is to shift the Overton Window left, which means shifting the Dem party left. They won’t split or even give much thought to progressive causes until the fascist threat is negligible. So step 1 is for the Dems to win big - while reminding them that POC and labor handed them victory; step 2 is to become the threat to their neoliberal power.

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It happened before - on class issues and on race. The democratic party gave us the New Deal, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Right act. The rightward shift started as a backlash to Carter’s loss in 1980, an culminated in the Clinton’s dominance of the party since the 1990s. But there is already evidence that things are shifting back left. Rank and file, and all people who generally vote Democratic, need to keep up the pressure, though.

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Angry Star Trek GIF

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