It seems that what’s old is new again...John and Aida Rodriguez begin 2024 by telling us about a Massachusetts cop going into a library to act like he’s going to confiscate books that offend his sensibilities somehow...I guess I’m a little surprised that this is happening in a blue state, but I know I shouldn’t be...when a kid grows up and tries to carry out a mass casualty event with a weapon of death because they were radicalized after reading “And Tango Makes Three,” let me know, OK?...
...and I couldn’t quite get to this item from a week or so ago in my ‘hood, more or less, but I should do so now; it seems that one of these “parental rights” idiots named Clarice Schillinger had a beer party for her daughter and a bunch of her friends who were minors (oopsie!), and things got out of hand with incidents of assaults involving Schillinger and other family members (allegedly!)...Ben Gleib, Mondale Robinson and Cenk discuss (more here)...
...and here is an item timed for the recent holiday that’s a little more upbeat; Brittany Page and Jesse Dollemore introduce us here to a guy named Colin McConnell in Detroit, who helped widower Don Wilson, who had just lost his wife at 39, leaving Wilson as the primary caregiver for three young kids...there is good in the world, though I know it’s hard to find sometimes (more here)...
...and author Diane Winston speaks with Sam and Emma on The Majority Report on the media’s support of The Sainted Ronnie R way back when; I forgot about the impact of USA Today, but I think corporate consolidation (including media companies) and the quest for “balance” at the expense of actual reporting had more to do with excusing the excesses of the “party of Lincoln”...and yes, I think it matters to point out how apocalyptic terms reeking of something approximating religiosity first worked their way into our political dialogue (again, under #40); Jerry Falwell does indeed deserve a heaping helping of blame for that as far as I’m concerned...those sentiments have been in our politics probably since this country’s founding, but they were more carefully coded until about the ‘80s when all of that was brought into the open...
...and Thom Hartmann gives us a brief excerpt from the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate, with a question focused on racial equality and educational opportunity...I thought Nixon was categorically wrong on a lot of issues, not just in that campaign but during his presidency, but he was also a formidable intellect; however, JFK pretty much “cleaned his clock” on this answer, being in command of this issue and a lot more...and boy, is Thom ever right about the League of Women Voters and debates, and yes, we can thank Poppy Bush in ’92 for putting us on the sorry path to the point where candidates’ debates (Repug debates for sure, and Dem also at times) are carried out like steel cage wrestling matches...
...and speaking of combat, I have a feeling that this year is going to be one big fight, so I might as well set the tone right now.
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