• “Who Said It: Donald Trump Or Rwandan Hate Radio?”
I’m sure some will criticize Alex Ruthrauff for the impertinent incivility of pointing out that our president’s rhetoric is indistinguishable from the eliminationist dehumanizing language that motivated the génocidaires of 1994. But, well, it is.
The president of the United States is demonizing whole populations with his “xenophobic torture porn” talk. That’s not good.
• Hemant Mehta shares some fun videos from Rachel Oates about the “hot” and “cold” techniques employed by purported psychics. It’s flim-flammery, of course, but a gifted artist can make it seem convincing.
I do not claim to be a psychic, but I feel like I can engage in a bit of fortune-telling regarding the next six months for Gen. John Kelly in his new job. He will be undermined and frustrated at every turn until he eventually becomes a scapegoat for his boss and winds up unceremoniously discarded, stripped of all dignity, and forever tarnished.
• James McGrath has a good round-up and summary of the latest news about the conquest of Canaan: “Living Descendants of Biblical Canaanites Identified Via DNA.” As he notes, this isn’t really new news — just additional confirmation of something historians and archaeologists and biblical scholars have recognized for some time.
Claude Mariottini writes that this: “is important because it may provide more information about the Canaanites and their culture and shed valuable information on the makeup of the people who lived in Canaan at the time Israel settled in the land.” Such information is good to know for biblical scholars like Mariottini because it informs our understanding of the kind of stories we find in our Bibles, and thus teaches us better how to read and interpret and understand the meaning, intention and agenda of those very, very ancient stories. (It’s particularly relevant for trying to understand those biblical stories that also read a bit like, yes, xenophobic torture porn.)
Others — including many of my evangelical brethren — won’t find this kind of information good to know. They’re determined to believe that they already know all they need to know about what kind of stories the Bible contains, and any information that can’t be made to fit with that preconception will be unwelcome.
• “Religious freedom’s loss would be Kansas’ gain.” Mark Silk is not impressed or optimistic about the appointment of failed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to be America’s “religious freedom ambassador.”
• “Tea drinkers and gardeners beware!” Chris Morran shares a bonkers story about the myopia and abusive overreach of police departments addicted to the War on Drugs: “How Home-Grown Tomatoes And Misread Tea Leaves Led To Pointless Police Raid On Innocent Family’s Home.”
Here, again, is former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman explaining the purpose and origins of the “War on Drugs”:
“You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
The family in Morran’s story are privileged, educated, professional white folks. They’re not black and they’re not hippies. But this is how it works. Once we allow power to be abused against those people, the precedent is established. And once that happens, it’s not good for those who are not those people either.
• This track from Earl St. Clair is a catchy and irresistibly charming bit of American dreaming. We could talk about ways in which it may be problematic — embracing consumerism, or capitalism, or the victim-blaming notion that determination is all you need to follow your dreams despite the game being rigged. But St. Clair seems to acknowledge, and to laugh at, all of that himself. And he & PJ aren’t singing about Cristal, Maybach or diamonds on your timepiece, but about just how sweet it would be not to have to worry about how the bills will get paid, and maybe even one day being able to get your eyes fixed.
Plus, unlike dozens of somber think-pieces about the economic anxiety of the working class, this you can dance to.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In