I’m responding to your comment about someone’s offering you a million dollars to pick one person out of a crowd and correctly identify their political party. You thought it would be racist to pick a Black woman out of a crowd and guess that she is a Democrat. I’m sure that you and I both feel the same way about racism (i.e., strongly opposed), but we clearly disagree about whether this is, indeed racism.
If you were asked to pick a woman from a crowd who reads the “National Enquirer,” and you picked a Black woman on some ferkokte theory that Black women aren’t educated enough to know that the Enquirer is bird cage liner, THAT’s racist — you have applied a negative stereotype with no basis in fact. However, statistics are supposed to be scientific, and not skewed positive or negative. If you know that, say 90% of Black women vote Democratic, you’d have to be nuts to identify a Black lady as Republican — unless she’s wearing a MAGA hat.
Oh, and I am already SO tired of hearing about "landslides" and "mandates". He did not even get 50% of the vote. More people voted AGAINST him than for him.
Does Peck not realize that his lies about Trump's "mandate" remove all credibility about his other claims? Or is he so uninformed that he does believe that Trump got a landslide? (Maybe "everybody he knows" voted for Trump, the usual basis for the landslide claim.)
And 89 million registered, eligible voters DID NOT VOTE in this election, which is more than either Trump or Harris got. We are reaping their whirlwind. those righteous people who are above the fray.
Right, I read 65% of eligible voted, so 49.5 * .65 = 32% of voters voted Trump, 48* .65 = 31% voted Harris, 37% voted other or didn't vote. A landslide is sometimes around a 6% victory and this was not one or a mandate.
There is a difference between good and perfect. Dylan’s line was good, Kristofferson’s perfect. That plus “I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday” makes Bobby McGee one of the greatest songs of all time.
Even the NY Times parrots the inane media narrative that Democrats need to get with it and stop being the party whose identity is opposition to Trump and start being FOR something. It’s a basket of deplorable clichés. A January, 16 Times article says Democrats must find common ground and learn to coexist with Trump. To collaborate.
I know what they mean, but apparently it did not occur to the writer that that word has more than one meaning. Either way, they are wrong. Collaboration will not help. (Look what being first-in-line collaborators did for Joe and Mika. I hear tell even fewer people watch now.)
Democrats in government and we civilians must not collaborate even in the benign sense of the word, not if it means giving up essential parts of who we are. Appeasement for the sake of peaceful coexistence is unacceptable. Resist!
From pages 431-32 of Katherine Graham’s autobiography: “I also took a lot of heat over the years because of Herblock’s cartoons….as I wrote to one reader…’He could not continue to be as good as he is if he were subjected to censorship or control by those who do not share his particular genius, by somebody telling him to be more careful, to pull his punches, to do it in some other way.’ To another reader, I summed up the situation by saying: ‘You either live with him or without him—the latter of which is unthinkable to me.’”
True, but I think Ann Telnaes is doing an incredible job, too. I’m just glad she can publish her cartoons on substack. I hope this raises her national profile.
Hard disagree on watching the inauguration. Minimize his numbers by any means possible. It will be easy to find out all we need to know about it without watching.
At the end of DT taking the oath, if there is even one Democrat left with backbone - she or he should shout "LIAR" at the top of their lungs and let it echo throughout the Rotunda and the next four years.
And by the way, Rottunda would be a good nickname for the blob sitting in the Oval Office.
I'll take the civic decorum of Obama and Biden sitting there as Trump blubbered that we live in shameful times. Trump let the world know that he is no less an embarrassment to himself and his followers than he has always been.
Love the Kiri te Kanawa incident! I have frequently found myself impressed with “odd-looking” young people who are very smart and articulate. Then I think about how “odd-looking” my friends and I were in the late 60’s and just go “hmmmm.”
"You are going to hear some big-league bullshit today from the greatest political con man of our times." No, I will not. I'm not giving a second of my time to this asshole.
I will miss being able to wake up without worrying that the President has engaged in nuclear brinkmanship during the night. I am puzzled why people are covering him as if he’s a normal person and not a sociopath who sucks up to despots and wants to be coronated not installed. A little bird told me things are not going to go well for 47 or for us. In fact, a flock of birds.
Your statement that choosing a black woman with a high chance of having chosen a Democrat is racist is incorrect. Racism is to differentiate between races with a clear demeaning of one over the other. It's not racist to look at three children of different races and state that one is Asian, one is Black, and one is White. That's an accurate description of each. In this case you are making a rational association in the same way that picking either Bill Walton or Kareem Abdul Jabar from a crowd and saying they look like basketball centers. People over 6'11' tend to play center. That Black women currently vote Democratic more reliably than any other group is a widely shared and published statistic. Use of such a fact for personal gain may be a selfish act, but it's not racist.
I’m responding to your comment about someone’s offering you a million dollars to pick one person out of a crowd and correctly identify their political party. You thought it would be racist to pick a Black woman out of a crowd and guess that she is a Democrat. I’m sure that you and I both feel the same way about racism (i.e., strongly opposed), but we clearly disagree about whether this is, indeed racism.
If you were asked to pick a woman from a crowd who reads the “National Enquirer,” and you picked a Black woman on some ferkokte theory that Black women aren’t educated enough to know that the Enquirer is bird cage liner, THAT’s racist — you have applied a negative stereotype with no basis in fact. However, statistics are supposed to be scientific, and not skewed positive or negative. If you know that, say 90% of Black women vote Democratic, you’d have to be nuts to identify a Black lady as Republican — unless she’s wearing a MAGA hat.
Agreed. It’s racial, not racist.
Oh, and I am already SO tired of hearing about "landslides" and "mandates". He did not even get 50% of the vote. More people voted AGAINST him than for him.
Does Peck not realize that his lies about Trump's "mandate" remove all credibility about his other claims? Or is he so uninformed that he does believe that Trump got a landslide? (Maybe "everybody he knows" voted for Trump, the usual basis for the landslide claim.)
He was told (by T...) that it was a landslide so it was. Also, 2+2=5.
And 89 million registered, eligible voters DID NOT VOTE in this election, which is more than either Trump or Harris got. We are reaping their whirlwind. those righteous people who are above the fray.
Right, I read 65% of eligible voted, so 49.5 * .65 = 32% of voters voted Trump, 48* .65 = 31% voted Harris, 37% voted other or didn't vote. A landslide is sometimes around a 6% victory and this was not one or a mandate.
There is a difference between good and perfect. Dylan’s line was good, Kristofferson’s perfect. That plus “I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday” makes Bobby McGee one of the greatest songs of all time.
Even the NY Times parrots the inane media narrative that Democrats need to get with it and stop being the party whose identity is opposition to Trump and start being FOR something. It’s a basket of deplorable clichés. A January, 16 Times article says Democrats must find common ground and learn to coexist with Trump. To collaborate.
I know what they mean, but apparently it did not occur to the writer that that word has more than one meaning. Either way, they are wrong. Collaboration will not help. (Look what being first-in-line collaborators did for Joe and Mika. I hear tell even fewer people watch now.)
Democrats in government and we civilians must not collaborate even in the benign sense of the word, not if it means giving up essential parts of who we are. Appeasement for the sake of peaceful coexistence is unacceptable. Resist!
vis, hitler.
From pages 431-32 of Katherine Graham’s autobiography: “I also took a lot of heat over the years because of Herblock’s cartoons….as I wrote to one reader…’He could not continue to be as good as he is if he were subjected to censorship or control by those who do not share his particular genius, by somebody telling him to be more careful, to pull his punches, to do it in some other way.’ To another reader, I summed up the situation by saying: ‘You either live with him or without him—the latter of which is unthinkable to me.’”
Herbert Block was one of the best political cartoonists ever. If only he were around to skewer the Tea Party and Trump.
True, but I think Ann Telnaes is doing an incredible job, too. I’m just glad she can publish her cartoons on substack. I hope this raises her national profile.
Hard disagree on watching the inauguration. Minimize his numbers by any means possible. It will be easy to find out all we need to know about it without watching.
At the end of DT taking the oath, if there is even one Democrat left with backbone - she or he should shout "LIAR" at the top of their lungs and let it echo throughout the Rotunda and the next four years.
And by the way, Rottunda would be a good nickname for the blob sitting in the Oval Office.
Rotunda would've been a good name for the 8th dwarf.
I'll take the civic decorum of Obama and Biden sitting there as Trump blubbered that we live in shameful times. Trump let the world know that he is no less an embarrassment to himself and his followers than he has always been.
The latest headline on the NPR website reads, "Trump Vows Golden Age." The weather forecast is for showers.
It’s the trickle down effect.
I always say he believes in a "trickle-over" economy.
Today's Substack post in its entirety from Bob Garfield:
"Today, January 20, 2025, is a date which will live in infamy."
"He is a Robber Barron and swindler..."
Gene, I'm curious whether this was a typo or a subtle comment on Trump's fondness for nepotism?
Oh, it was deliberate. I should have lowercased robber, though.
Came here to applaud what I was sure was intentional Barron. Spit coffee out my nose.
IIRC Trump himself once used the alias John Barron, long before his third son was born.
Good point! That's probably what Gene was going for.
Yes, John Barron. But he liked it enough to ...
Love the Kiri te Kanawa incident! I have frequently found myself impressed with “odd-looking” young people who are very smart and articulate. Then I think about how “odd-looking” my friends and I were in the late 60’s and just go “hmmmm.”
"You are going to hear some big-league bullshit today from the greatest political con man of our times." No, I will not. I'm not giving a second of my time to this asshole.
I wish that in the movie when Dylan was futzing around that Joan Baez had yawned “ Your poetry is lousy, I say.”
I will miss being able to wake up without worrying that the President has engaged in nuclear brinkmanship during the night. I am puzzled why people are covering him as if he’s a normal person and not a sociopath who sucks up to despots and wants to be coronated not installed. A little bird told me things are not going to go well for 47 or for us. In fact, a flock of birds.
More like a murder of crows.
Your statement that choosing a black woman with a high chance of having chosen a Democrat is racist is incorrect. Racism is to differentiate between races with a clear demeaning of one over the other. It's not racist to look at three children of different races and state that one is Asian, one is Black, and one is White. That's an accurate description of each. In this case you are making a rational association in the same way that picking either Bill Walton or Kareem Abdul Jabar from a crowd and saying they look like basketball centers. People over 6'11' tend to play center. That Black women currently vote Democratic more reliably than any other group is a widely shared and published statistic. Use of such a fact for personal gain may be a selfish act, but it's not racist.
Another tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-19-2025