https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/opinion/voters-democratic-party.html?ref=dispatch.the-citizens.com

«Conflict drives attention. Attention drives reach. Reach drives votes. Call out the corruption, the hypocrisy, the fraud. Take big, countervailing stands. Make it visceral. Make it personal. Make it fun — the kind of thing people want to be a part of. We are just coming off a campaign cycle in which failing to do this cost us: On our worst issue, inflation, Democrats from the White House on down never convincingly named a villain. Republicans and then voters happily made the villain us.

The fight shows we care. It shows that maybe, just maybe, we might even deliver on what we say. If we can’t show people we believe in something enough to fight for it, we shouldn’t be surprised when they stop believing in us. It’s the authenticity, stupid.»

Reading comments on the piece in the WSJ about Australia I just posted (generally a mistake, I know), and I run across this:

«Let’s hope the Democrats seize on this and pick Crazy Bernie and or AOC as their next candidates.»

https://www.openweb.com/share/2wakhkshxuOW6kk6zwvXgwU7PQA

I can’t tilt at every windmill across that landscape (I kind of expected WSJ subscribers to be a little more clear-thinking but maybe it’s a matter of commenters vs. non-commenters), but I do actually have a thought, which is this:

If AOC, who I generally support, much to my surprise, wants to gain a little more heft as a real presidential possibility, she’ll work on an economic plan and make some boring economic pronouncements.

Maybe lower corporate and income taxes, raise taxes on the wealthy (consumption! mortgages on 2nd homes!), strengthen the IRS, encourage the half of America that doesn’t invest to invest, start talking about a value-added tax, etc., etc. See Planet Money’s 6-point economic plan. (https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/19/157047211/six-policies-economists-love-and-politicians-hate).

«“Ordinarily, security concerns in political discourse are about China, Russia, cybersecurity, illegal immigration,” said Justin Bassi, executive director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a government-funded think tank. “Here the security discussion has been, can we trust our most significant security ally?”»

https://www.wsj.com/world/first-canada-now-australia-the-trump-factor-boosts-another-world-leader-in-a-close-election-bef1c5a1

If anybody wants a gift link, I can share one. I think that was the punchiest (concluding) paragraph.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/02/nx-s1-5384790/trump-orders-end-to-federal-funding-for-npr-and-pbs

«On social media platforms, Trump recently blasted the two national public broadcasting networks, posting in all caps: [BLAH BLAH BLAH]»

Ya know… I would stop using “blasted” and just say, “the President posted, in all caps, …”

SOOOOOO….. I ran across this blog when they commented on a post I made. I’m not exactly sure what the point of their blog is. Plain evangelism, maybe? There aren’t ads, nor is there much dialog, so… 🤷‍♂️?

They seem to have the standard fundamentalist take on things (which isn’t necessarily bad – I think we all (ok, *some* of us) are fundamentalists about something, right?), but it’s also got that Lifeway-scented Christian bookstore feel to it, and I do have opinions.

I found myself getting carried away with a serious reply to one of their posts, which might be silly, given all the signs of non-genuine-ness. And then I thought, hey, I have a blog.

So, here it is, my credo, copy/pasted to its very own blog post:

https://wp.me/pbc0BG-IH

(Not that; that’s just the post I’m responding to, if I’m working this machine right.)

«Biblical convictions are now labeled as hate speech.»

Sometimes, they ARE hate speech. Westboro Baptist Church has done no one any favors. Religion can be used to oppress as much as uplift. Do you believe gay people are going to hell? If so how does that affect your thinking and your speech?

«Now is not the time to retreat. Now is the time to stand.»

Stand for what? It’s a little vague, and I might mistakenly fill in details from your general tone.

I stand for justice, compassion, and the use of the brains God gave us.

I stand for science: for immunizations, for fluoride in the water, for an understanding that we evolved from conditions God set up (without His guidance, because what kind of a system needs constant tweaking?). I stand for impartial inquiry and actions informed by what we learn.

I stand for compassion: I stand for caring for the oppressed and unfortunate, regardless of their religion, and without attempting to coerce conversion. It’s enough that they know I am Christian and I act out of my conviction. If atheists, Muslims, etc. show up and act compassionately out of THEIR convictions, that’s fine, too. I call for a compassionate response to law-breaking, for a response proportional to the crime. No one should get sent to a prison run by a dictator in a faraway country for a speeding ticket.

I stand for justice: I stand for the righting of wrongs, including those done by white Christians against our non-white brothers and sisters, both in the past and in the present. (I don’t want to vacate the land my house is on, though, nor do I want to lose my neighbors. That’s tricky, and I hope we can work something out.) I stand for justice for the Rohingya and Uyghur peoples. I stand for justice for the Palestinian people. (That does not mean I support Hamas. I know some people equate those two positions.) I stand for justice for women: no one should be forced to stay in an abusive marriage. No one should be forced to bear a child they don’t want. No one should be excluded from opportunities at work merely because of their gender.

I stand for self-determination. All people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Except: if oppressing Black people makes you happy, sorry, you don’t get to pursue that.)

I stand for a lot more, but that’s the gist.

And I stand for all of this *in my church*. I will not worship in a place that does not agree with my convictions. I will not surrender my brain and free will to any human minister, only to God’s calling for me. (And even then, boy howdy, am I imperfect, because later today I will be drinking and playing video games instead of reading *The Sum of Us* or figuring out how to talk to Republicans or committing to a zoom call to do the same.)

«But it was Mother who took up the explanation. “Sandra Voi was a genius, but she was also a pragmatist. Our demarchist system is as perfect as it can ever be. Flawless, instantaneous mass democratic participation. The will of the people, without interference. No government, no hierarchies, no vested interests, no possibility of bias or corruption.”

“But—” Julius said.

Mother raised a gentle, silencing hand, and he let her continue. “But true democracy embodies the possibility of its own dissolution. If a ballot were put to the people to abandon our demarchist principles, and the votes carried the day… what then? You may say that no such vote would ever be cast. But that is to neglect the pressures that may apply during times of crisis, during emergencies and times of economic hardship, or when wild and seductive new ideas run rife. Sandra Voi took the long view. She knew that even the most perfect system must contain a self-protecting contingency.”

“We are that contingency,” Father said.»

Elysium Fire
Alastair Reynolds https://bookshop.org/p/books/elysium-fire-alastair-reynolds/114307?ean=9780316555661&next=t&digital=t

I think these guys are supposed to be the bad guys, and the “perfect demarchist system” is supposed to be a good thing, but….

In light of the ’24 election… now what?

https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-judge-arrested-supreme-court-suspended-49f25ea7702d3211719f926f8cfc90b7

I wonder if this is as much to give her a break to prepare her case as it is anything else.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/716347/antisemitism-bill-congress-jews-jesus/

«The added language, … proposed by the committee’s chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, states that the legislation would not “diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, including the free exercise of religion.”»

Oh, ok, that’s… uh… good? We can still say the Jews killed Jesus? Yay?

Pretty sure we’re coming to a point where the definition of “antisemitism” will be changed.

Today, I finally learned. The hard way. 😕

https://food52.com/blog/19158-it-s-time-to-replace-the-bag-of-beans-in-your-pantry-here-s-why

Meh. A broadcast program from ancient days that’s on cable now. I guess.

BUT:

«Carr is a Project 2025 author who has long put it right out there that he thinks the FCC and government should be in the business of monitoring platforms and shutting them down if they won’t push right-wing propaganda.»

https://www.wonkette.com/p/watch-scott-pelley-read-paramount

If “conservatives” can swallow this without choking, they can certainly choke down the return of the Fairness Doctrine.