Sagan Flashback

Carl Sagan nailed it back in 1995.

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— NightDiver13 (@nightdiver13.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 9:46 AM

One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Save the Republic

The Election Story in One Visual

When George Clooney, Michael Moore, and the New York Times decided last summer that Biden was too old to be President, it never occurred to them, apparently, that U.S. voters might prove themselves less ageist than they are racist and/or sexist, whether explicitly or implicitly. A major oversight, we now know.  

Spend a few minutes studying the visual aid below (click it to enlarge).  Let its message sink in. 

Does this chart suggest a reason that the Trump fascists want the nation's youth narrowly programmed in K-16 Christian nationalist schools, rather than in schools that encourage cultural and economic mixing and that allow for diversity of thought and expression? 

Could it be that schools DO matter?

Election of the Living Dead

I hope you don’t waste your time like I did this morning reading the liberal media's analysis/commentary on what was unleashed last evening on our country—and the world. From my reading, it is clear that the media sympathetic to the Blue team are quickly forming up the circular firing squad and taking aim, even while ignoring the necrophilic zombie hoard that is battering down the nation's institutional doors. 

Here's an example from a Reuters piece that poses as straight news story:

. . . Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration – twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump. Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated. 

Harris also struggled to counter another Trump-era trend: a torrent of misinformation unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. An avalanche of misrepresentations and falsehoods about her record was spread by the former president and amplified on right-wing websites and media, including conspiracy theories on issues ranging from migrant crime to voter fraud.

So even before all the votes are counted, the media establishment is racing to tell us that last nite's terrifying electoral result can be blamed on the female candidate for not countering or overcoming the various excuses that America's prevailing white "christian" caste of misogynist, racist men (and women) have disingenuously trotted out for pollsters over the past months to conceal the real reasons they voted to re-elect a racist, misogynist felon whose multiple sexual assaults, criminal convictions and indictments, egregious lies, unadorned stupidity, and narcissistic bullying was much less important to them than, say, the price of eggs.

And while we're blaming Kamala Harris for Americans' shameless capitulation to their darkest natures, let's blame her, too, for not single-handedly countering the Billionaire Boys' Club propaganda machine (foreign and domestic) that spread the magnificent lies spewed endlessly by Trump and his sycophants. 

Surely, Musk's X, Zuckerberg's Facebook/Instagram, or Murdoch's Fox "News" share no responsibility for "countering" what Kamala Harris should have countered alone.

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Fortunately, for me, I found something in my Inbox this morning that's a little more soothing.  It is written by a woman (Rebecca Solnit) and posted by a good man (Anand Giridharadas) that provides some much needed salve for my grieving soul. I hope it does yours, too.