Now this is desperation. The upside-down U.S. flag incident that the New York Times treated as a “scoop” three-and-a-half years after it took place started falling apart almost immediately, so then the Times concocted an even more attenuated flag-based theory that Justice Joseph Alito had signaled his approval of the January 6, 2021 rioting at the Capitol. In neither case was there any evidence that Alito flew the flags or was aware of their significance; he explained the incidents, but, see, because he’s a conservative SCOTUS Justice, the Axis just assumes he must be lying.
The fact that the second flag was used by Black Lives Matter more prominently than by the J-6 idiots? Never mind. That the same flag had been flying without incident for 50 years outside the City Hall of the wokiest city on the continent? So what? That the sainted Justice Ginsburg unambiguously signaled her conflict of interest regarding all things Trump with a symbolic protest she made explicit? That the attack on Alito had to rely on the pre-women’s liberation, anti-feminist theory that a husband is responsible for the conduct of his wife? Hey, this is the American Left of 2024: Double Standards and Hypocrisy Don’t Matter when you’re trying to save democracy! That the Washington Post reporter who investigated the Alito home’s fluttering distress symbol when it happened decided it was a proverbial nothingburger?
About that…. serial Ethics Alarms Ethics Dunce Eric Wemple, who is the Washington Post’s “media critic” these days, thus telling you all you need to know about the credibility of the Washington Post, was actually allowed to issue an op-ed yesterday condemning his own paper for its “deference to Justice Alito” handing “a scoop to the New York Times.” In this thing, Wemple really says that the Post ignored a “sizzling tip” in 2021. That there was a nautical distress signal flag flying over the Alito home was a sizzling tip! Sizzling! Yes, he really wrote that.
I have explained in excessive detail why the flag attack on Alito is another marker of the Left’s desperation and panic; I’m not going to bore myself and you by repeating it. The Axis sent this contrived hit job up the flagpole to see if anyone would salute, as in the old Madison Avenue cliche, and the only ones who did were those whom bias has made almost too stupid to breathe without assistance. But they can’t let it go!
What this tells us is that the toxic mixture of left-wing fury, hysteria and “by all means necessary” is already nearing the breaking point. Progressives and Democrats find themselves stuck with a failed and deteriorating President and the ineffectiveness of a last-ditch tactic which betrayed all of the liberal values and traditions that once nobly defined them: Joe Stalin’s trick of designating his political rivals as “criminals.” Now they are reduced to grasping at straw, or rather flagpoles, forgetting that now only does bias make you stupid, eventually it causes you to look stupid too.
Ethics Alarms 
I don’t know. I struggle with things like this.
Up here in the land of maple syrup, our polls are showing the Conservatives up by 17 points. barring something truly exciting happening in the next 12 months, we’re going to have a change in government, and there’s nothing the Liberals can really do about it. But that doesn’t mean they pack their toys up and go home… No, they’re taking the spaghetti-wall approach and hoping something sticks. From the more obscure and absurd (Diagolon!) to the tried, tested and absurd (Abortion Rights!), we’ve seen what I interpret as ever more shrill and disconnected rhetoric.
That’s what happens when you’re an out of touch party with corruption scandals, a flogging economy, an unpopular leader, and a poll deficit so large your could drive a truck through it.
America shouldn’t be at that point. Biden isn’t so far back in the polls that he’s dead politically like Trudeau is… Which is kind of amazing, because he’s basically dead physically, but America is willing to vote for the walking dead now. But my point is that people *are* willing to vote for him. As much as he annoys the living bejesus out of Republicans, he checks enough of the Democrat’s policy boxes… I mean, really, replace him with a fire hydrant, and so long as the hydrant runs as a democrat, it basically has the same platform. Women, generally, don’t like that Roe v. Wade was overturned…. And people Hate Trump. I mean, really hate him. And regardless of what you think of the recent cases, he’s done a lot of questionable shit. In fact, so much questionable shit, that there’s a myriad of low hanging fruit – The swamp he made after running on draining the swamp, the bridges he’s burned because he has a mass of raw nerves for skin, regardless of what you think of the charges, it’s easy to make the argument that even if the base actions aren’t illegal, they certainly aren’t good.
With facts like those… Who needs to focus on stupid shit like this? It’s like the conversation is being purposefully distorted and dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. I have no idea why, and it bothers me. It almost feels like the parties don’t respect the intelligence of the electorate, and so they’re purposefully feeding the masses a steady diet of outrage Pablum, less they go out and actually become informed.
It almost feels like the parties don’t respect the intelligence of the electorate, and so they’re purposefully feeding the masses a steady diet of outrage Pablum, less they go out and actually become informed.
It almost feels that way, HT, because that’s exactly what’s going on.
The parties are feeding the electorate “outrage pablum” (I love the term may I use it?) for two main reasons. Candidates use this tactic when they don’t have anything positive to sell.
The second reason can be found in a quote from Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, “Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.” This quote succinctly explains why negative campaigning works so well. This works so well because humans are hard-wired through our survival instinct to address threats before enjoying rewards.
To Jack’s point, progressives are desperate to try anything to retain power. Typically, many voters are ignorant of the suitability of candidates and vote for the party. However, Obama’s failed third term is such a glaring nightmare that many of its policy failures are difficult to ignore. Even complete jerks or people on government assistance know inflation is a big problem every time they go to the grocery store, gas station, or Amazon. This negative reinforcement happens at least weekly without the opposition spending a penny on advertising.
Progressives are also becoming fearful because the utopia they have been selling for years is not materializing. Taxpayers and businesses are leaving progressive cities and states due to high taxes and crime rates. As previously stated, inflation is a big problem. People are also realizing that going green is costing them money with no tangible benefit. Unrestricted immigration is viewed as a problem in the US and Europe. The Russia and Ukraine war is draining countries of resources and there is no plan to end the war or its costly support. For the first time in decades, conservatives are resonating with the electorate here and abroad. The pendulum may be reversing course.
“I love the term may I use it?”
Send me $5 in the mail. (Go ahead)
US or Canadian?
“As much as he annoys the living bejesus out of Republicans, he checks enough of the Democrat’s policy boxes… I mean, really, replace him with a fire hydrant, and so long as the hydrant runs as a democrat, it basically has the same platform.”
They keep Biden as a placeholder. He is as malleable as wet clay in his handlers hands. I don’t know which is worse: his observed behaviors being an act to keep him from being prosecuted, or he walking, talking dummy that repeats the policy directives of a bunch of unelected personnel.
“They keep Biden as a placeholder. He is as malleable as wet clay in his handlers hands.”
This is a defining feature of the Democrat Party. We used to say it about Obama too… He basically ran as a lank slate, and Democrats projected their desires onto him, and he became what they asked for. Joe Biden, Hillary, and Bill Clinton have 180’d on basically every social position they ever held, not because they did some deep soul searching and came to new positions, but because Democrats. Do. Not. Have. Principles. And those were the positions that were going to get elected (or so they thought) at any given point and time.
I hate the “both sides are just as bad” thing. Republicans, by definition, are not as bad as Democrats simply because they are NOT Democrats. It’s Column A or Column B. No substitutes. If you think they’re both evil, you have to go with the lesser of two evils. Surely there’s some fancy ethics term for that. Failing to choose is choosing the greater of the two evils.