🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The GOP Presidential Debate Is Livestreaming on Rumble, Home to White Nationalist Nick Fuentes | WIRED'

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Torn on this article. I think you can choose to patronize a platform without being associated with its worst users, so I wonder if the Fuentes connection is overstated. That said, choosing to livestream on Rumble is absolutely pandering to Fuentes-type right-wingers, so it’s a bad, bad move. link to “The GOP Presidential Debate Is Livestreaming on Rumble, Home to White Nationalist Nick Fuentes | WIRED”

Pete, mint brownies, and two competing visions of Mormonism

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Pete and Sarah were mainstays of my Mormon experience growing up. Their oldest—a famously rowdy boy with several rowdy younger brothers—was present on the Sunday when I was introduced in children’s classes as a newcomer to the congregation. When I outgrew children’s classes and made my way to youth Sunday School, Pete was our teacher for a while—the kind of teacher who tried to suppress a giggle (and usually unsuccessfully) whenever the word “ass” (especially “dumb ass”) appeared in the KJV.

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Heritage Foundation Says That Of Course GOP Will Use KOSA To Censor LGBTQ Content | Techdirt'

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Masnick makes a good point here. I’m sympathetic to “for the kids” motivations, but I’m increasingly convinced that Masnick is right, that it’s meant to make bad policy sound impossible to argue against. link to ‘Heritage Foundation Says That Of Course GOP Will Use KOSA To Censor LGBTQ Content | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Kelly Craft escalates anti-trans rhetoric, calls for excluding ‘transgenders’ from Ky. schools'

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This is indefensible, and no amount of spin from a comms director can change how harmful this is. link to ‘Kelly Craft escalates anti-trans rhetoric, calls for excluding ‘transgenders’ from Ky. schools’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'January 6 Report: 11 Details You May Have Missed | WIRED'

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Two years later, and we’re still learning just how bad this event was. Only two years later, and large parts of the country are ready to sweep it all under the rug. link to ‘January 6 Report: 11 Details You May Have Missed | WIRED’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'With Falsehoods About Pelosi Attack, Republicans Mimic Trump - The New York Times'

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Republicans’ reaction to this just makes the story more and more tragic. We have a real problem on our hands, and while I don’t believe all Republicans are this far gone, I’d like to see more from them condemning this behavior instead of trying to keep the party together and ahead. link to ‘With Falsehoods About Pelosi Attack, Republicans Mimic Trump - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Republicans Continue to Spread Baseless Claims About Pelosi Attack - The New York Times'

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Just sickening. link to ‘Republicans Continue to Spread Baseless Claims About Pelosi Attack - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Nancy Pelosi, Vilified by G.O.P. for Years, Is a Top Target of Threats - The New York Times'

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McDaniel can say what she wants—and its true that not all criticism of Pelosi is violent in nature—but in my mind, there’s no denying that two decades of GOP demonization has had a role to play in this terrible attack. link to ‘Nancy Pelosi, Vilified by G.O.P. for Years, Is a Top Target of Threats - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump Is Already Boosting Election Conspiracies Ahead of the Midterms'

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I’ve been worrying about 2024, but 2022 is going to be bad enough. GOP needs to do something about this. link to ‘Trump Is Already Boosting Election Conspiracies Ahead of the Midterms’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Right After Primary Win, Bolduc Reverses Support for Election Lies - The New York Times'

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What a cheap, cynical about-face. The fact that candidates think this is something they can do to drum up voters and then change strategy is worrying. link to ‘Right After Primary Win, Bolduc Reverses Support for Election Lies - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Republicans Have Realized That Forcing People to Give Birth Is Wildly Unpopular'

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This is very interesting—it gives me some hope that I haven’t had over the past couple of months. link to ‘Republicans Have Realized That Forcing People to Give Birth Is Wildly Unpopular’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'On Truth Social, QAnon Accounts Found a Home and Trump’s Support - The New York Times'

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I don’t know that any of this is surprising, but it remains worrying. link to ‘On Truth Social, QAnon Accounts Found a Home and Trump’s Support - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'McConnell Dismisses the Threats to U.S. Democracy - The New York Times'

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McConnell gets so close to recognizing the danger other Republicans pose to democracy, but he always stops just short. link to ‘McConnell Dismisses the Threats to U.S. Democracy - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Republicans Are Suddenly Very Eager to Defund the Police'

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I’ve been thinking this since yesterday. It’s telling how so many “law and order” conservatives who make a big deal about being pro-police reverse on those positions as soon as law enforcement is inconvenient for them. link to ‘Republicans Are Suddenly Very Eager to Defund the Police’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Gun-makers made millions marketing AR-15-style guns as a sign of manhood : NPR'

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So much of modern right-wing politics boils down to concerns about masculinity. link to ‘Gun-makers made millions marketing AR-15-style guns as a sign of manhood : NPR’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'With midterms in sight, few Republicans are defending Trump as they did in 2019 : NPR'

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Look, there may be less of a coordinated defense, but ignoring the Jan. 6th hearings is almost as bad as defending Trump from them. link to ‘With midterms in sight, few Republicans are defending Trump as they did in 2019 : NPR’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Arizona Makes It Illegal To Record Cops From Less Than Eight Feet Away | Techdirt'

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It’s funny how conditional the GOP’s concerns about free speech are. That’s not to say that free speech isn’t a complicated topic to be weighed in conjunction with other concerns—it absolutely is. But if a party wants to use a simplistic view of free speech as a rallying cry, stunts like this show how just how simplistic that view is. link to ‘Arizona Makes It Illegal To Record Cops From Less Than Eight Feet Away | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Texas GOP's new platform says Biden didn't really win the 2020 election : NPR'

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I get that some of this is bluster and posturing, but that doesn’t make it any less worrying. This is the same state GOP that leaned into Gab a year or two ago. link to ‘Texas GOP’s new platform says Biden didn’t really win the 2020 election : NPR’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Amid Jan. 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the G.O.P. - The New York Times'

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This is more worrying to me—and more damning for the GOP—than anything that happened on January 6th. link to ‘Amid Jan. 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the G.O.P. - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows'

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GOP has some reckoning to do. link to ‘Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Pence, Tiptoeing Away From Trump, Lays Groundwork for ’24 Run - The New York Times'

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I don’t think I want a Pence presidency any more than another Trump one, but I do want to see the GOP wrestle with what it’s going to be going forward. link to ‘Pence, Tiptoeing Away From Trump, Lays Groundwork for ’24 Run - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'McConnell and McCarthy’s Jan. 6 Fury at Trump Faded by February - The New York Times'

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Disappointing that G.O.P. leaders so quickly did an about face. January 6th was a terrible event, and it’s cynical and irresponsible to pretend anything otherwise. link to ‘McConnell and McCarthy’s Jan. 6 Fury at Trump Faded by February - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump as a Modern-Day Party Boss: Hoarding Cash and Doling Out Favors - The New York Times'

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Very interesting read. I have never been a Republican, but I frequently voted GOP prior to 2016. Because my personal political views have shifted since then, it’s hard to say whether I would vote for a GOP that throws off the Trump baggage, but I do hope such a party one day re-emerges. I may not agree with it, but we certainly need it. link to ‘Trump as a Modern-Day Party Boss: Hoarding Cash and Doling Out Favors - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'House G.O.P. Kills Bid to Honor Pioneering Black Judge - The New York Times'

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Litmus tests like this are making me even more worried about the future. link to ‘House G.O.P. Kills Bid to Honor Pioneering Black Judge - The New York Times’