Monday Morning Tabs and Takes

Leftovers from last week and over the weekend.

Signs and Portents

Trump is still in the GOP driver’s seat.

Saturday Morning Tab Clearing

Some stories worth noting but not at great length.

Republican Leaders Are Killing Their Voters

Republicans are dying at a much higher rate than Democrats.

Some Pretzel Logic from American Greatness

I went down the rabbit hole a tad…

Trump Committed Four Crimes, Say January 6 Committee

The ball is now in Merrick Garland’s court.

Trump a Laughing Stock

Is this how the cult ends?

Forecasting 2024 Way Too Early

There are at most eight toss-up states for the 2024 Presidential election.

Trump’s Rhetoric and the GOP’s Test

Spoiler alert: the GOP has already failed this test multiple times.

Red and Blue States Aren’t Permanent

The margins for 2024 are likely to be slim. But that hides a larger story.

Trump Hemmorhaging Donors and Backers

The ship is abandoning the sinking rat.

Republican Governors Don’t Like Trump

Alas, it probably doesn’t matter.

Trump’s Run Exasperates GOP Elite, Thrills Dems

Some of the early reactions to the inevitable announcement tell the tale.

Murdoch Gunning for Trump

The New York Post and Wall Street Journal are blasting the losing loser.

Trump 2022’s Biggest Loser

The 2020 loser has doubled down on losing.

Democrats Outperform Expectations

The Needle is Broken

Biden Adopts Trump’s Immigration Policy

He’s using a tool he denounced as cruel to deal with a humanitarian crisis.

[Death penalty - image of a stretcher with shackles] [Death penalty - image of a stretcher with shackles]

The Parkland Shooter Sentence And The Death Penalty

Another example of the arbitrariness of the death penaly

The Florida Fantasy Meets Hard Reality

How a hideous, diabolical, pestilential, God-abandoned hellhole became our 3rd largest state.

“Illegal” v. “Undocumented”

Wherein I take issue with a charactization made by Tom Nichols and discuss the politics of language.

Today’s Reverse Freedom Rides

A shameful stunt reminiscent of an even darker era.

DeSantis’s Martha’s Vineyard Stunt

This is just playing crass political games with human beings.

Thursday Tabs

Push Poll Hackery

Manipulating public opinion with dubious survey research.

[Voter Fraud Graphic] [Voter Fraud Graphic]

Reflections On “Voter Fraud” And The Design Of Government Systems

Are 20 arrests worth a $1.2 million dollar investment?

Private vs Public Opinion

What we believe and what we say we believe are often not the same.

‘Don’t Tread on Me’ License Plates

States are sponsoring an increasingly controversial image.

Liz Cheney 2024?

She’s almost certainly going to lose her House seat. Can she get a promotion?

White House Rudderless, Aimless, and Hopeless?

Some Democrats are less than pleased.

Racial Equity and America’s Roads

A new initiative aims to right decades-old wrongs.

Takeaways From the Takeaways

It’s not all about Trump.

Two Years After George Floyd

Very little progress has been made towards racial justice.

Podcast Recommendation (Plus: More on US Democracy)

Ezra Klein discusses the dynamics of American conservatism in historical perspective. Plus, he helps illustrate a key problem that we have in thinking about American politics (IMHO).

More on Florida’s Higher Ed “Reform”

Pointless change that will increase costs and create confusion.

Florida Abolishes Professor Tenure

Because they’re indoctrinating the youth with their biased agendas and liberal, unfactual diastribes.

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CRT? Tired. Groomers? Wired!

The latest strategic moral panic from the far right

Democratic Backsliding and the American Right

The only way to save our freedom is to destroy it.

Is this Cancel Culture?

Two related examples: are they “cancel culture” or not?

Trump Losing Sway with Republican Voters?

We can only hope.

America’s Four Parties

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans truly represent most Americans. Fixing that is exceedingly unlikely.

Trump Leads Biden in Meaningless Poll

We’re three short years from the next election.

Yes, Florida’s Numbers are Better; No, that is not a Vindication of DeSantis’ Policies

Let’s look at the numbers and the clear effects of policy choices.

President Joe Biden observes trainers and apprentices at work at the final assembly station during a tour of Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 5 Training Facility, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Lanham, Maryland. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz) President Joe Biden observes trainers and apprentices at work at the final assembly station during a tour of Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 5 Training Facility, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Lanham, Maryland. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

Selling the ‘Build Back Better’ Plan

The Catch-22 of passing a massive spending bill in an undemocratic system.

Vaccines v. Monoclonal Antibodies

The difference is politics, not reason.

DeSantis’ Gall, Obfuscation, and Dishonesty

As the pandemic’s effects continue to worsen in Florida, DeSantis continues to play the worst kind of politics.

DeSantis: No Mask Mandates in Florida

His executive order blocks schools from having masking rules.

Ohio, Trump, and the Primaries

Thinking about party evolution and behavior going into 2022.

The Tragedy of Politicized Vaccines

Public health shouldn’t be made into a partisan issue.

Florida’s Campus Speech Law

Ron DeSantis and friends are afraid of higher education.

Some CRT Theory/Politics of Race Thoughts

You know, some light weekend thoughts.