The "Cowboy Myth" Of Rugged Individualism Destroyed

"I write a lot about how the Biden-Harris administration is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both political parties widely shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. And I write about how that so-called liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the Reconstruction-era image of the American cowboy—who, according to myth, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against what they insisted was creeping socialism that stole tax dollars from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women.

"But five major stories over the past several days made me realize that I’ve never written about how Trump and his loyalists have distorted the cowboy image until it has become a poisonous caricature of the values its recent defenders have claimed to champion."

Click on the link below for more:

Conservative Economics Debunked

Mega-Corporations And Big Tech: A Monopoly Nightmare

"The effort to turn theory into practice that will open up new ways of thinking about antitrust lawsuits attempting to rein in big tech and other mega-corporations, which are operating in a new phase of capitalism."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the history of monopolies, anti-trust legislation and what is needed presently to resist the continuing growth of monopolistic corporate practices:

New Era of Antitrust for a New Era of Capitalism, Mega-Corporations and Big Tech

The Reason Today's Young Are Pissed Off (And, Rightly So)

"In a scorching talk, marketing professor and podcaster Scott Galloway dissects the data showing that, by many measures, young people in the US are worse off financially than ever before. He unpacks the root causes and effects of this "great intergenerational theft," asking why we let it continue and showing how we could end it."

Click on the link for the video:

How the US Is Destroying Young People’s Future

An Example of "Bidenomics"

"The Biden administration has been scrupulous about making sure that money from the funds appropriated to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and manufacturing base has gone to Republican-dominated districts; indeed, Republican-dominated states have gotten the bulk of those investments. 'President Biden promised to be the president of all Americans—whether you voted for him or not. And that’s what this agenda is delivering,' White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian told Matt Egan of CNN in February.

"But there is, perhaps, a deeper national strategy behind that investment. Political philosophers studying the rise of authoritarianism note that strongmen rise by appealing to a population that has been dispossessed economically or otherwise. By bringing jobs back to those regions that have lost them over the past several decades and promising 'the great comeback story all across…the entire country,' as he did today, Biden is striking at that sense of alienation."

Click on the link below for more details about how empathetic Biden is regarding the working class AND WHAT HE IS DOING TO ATTACK THE ECONOMIC INEQUALITY FOSTERED BY THE OTHER POLITICAL PARTY HISTORICALLY AND PRESENTLY:

The Working Class Has Suffered Under Republicans

Math Education: It's Not Easy

"Dr. Jo Boaler is a leading math education expert and one of the writers of the California Mathematics Framework, a set of guidelines focused on improving equity in California's math classrooms. We first talk about her upcoming book, Math-ish, and the beauty of pursuing more "ish" in our lives. Then, we discuss a recent anonymous complaint that was filed with Stanford University, accusing Dr. Boaler of misrepresenting research to serve her own agenda."

Click on the link below for an example of a new approach to mathematics education that is not well-received in some academic circles:

Dr. Jo Boaler Tried To Improve Math Education. Then An Anti-woke Mob Came For Her

Economic Inequality: The Root Of All Evil?

"The past, present, and future of tackling the uselessness of extreme wealth by exposing and closing tax avoidance loopholes and pushing for a culture change to embrace the need for a more equal society."

Click on the link below for an exploration of all the possible negative effects of economic inequality in the USA:

Society of Extreme Wealth and its Discontents: Tax avoidance, wealth inequality and the detrimental effects felt by us all

The Young Are Not All Progressive

"Author and journalist Kyle Spencer knows - she wrote the book on it. It's called Raising Them Right, soon to be out in paperback. She spent extensive time with Charlie Kirk, among others, and saw how he built an effective right wing youth movement. How did he do it? Who is funding it? Do these people really believe what they say? She answers those questions and more."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting how the conservatives are radicalizing college students in the USA:

Believe It Or Not, The Right Has An Effective Youth Movement

Trans Athletes: The Current Knowledge

"A groundbreaking study that was sponsored by the International Olympic Committee and released late last week sought to compare a range of athletic abilities between trans athletes and their cisgender counterparts. The finding that trans women athletes are at a relative disadvantage in many key physical areas relating to athletic ability and perform worse on cardiovascular tests than their cisgender counterparts could be the first step in fighting back against the conventional wisdom conservatives have spread that trans women’s participation is inherently unfair."

Click on the link below for the details that fly in the face of ignorance, dogma, and bigotry:

This study on trans women's athletic disadvantages ought to change the debate

"Trickle-Down" Economics: A Major Feature Of Republicanism Once Again Debunked

"New research examines the history of Republican tax cuts and the results will chill you to the bone. Who wins vs. who loses. the working class or the billionaires... "

Click on the link below for a video supporting the fact that Republicans have to be rejected at all levels of government. Vote wisely in 2024:

Scientists Examined 50 Years Of Tax Cuts For The Rich - Their Shocking Conclusion

This graph begins just before Reagan started the Republican attack on all but the 1%
(Note: this ends in 2007. It is much worse after Trump left office)

Rural Whites: Somehow The USA Must Defang Them

"Rural America is hurting. Trump is justifying attitudes that some scholars try to underplay. Can rural rage be pulled away from reactionary movements offered by the far right or will rural white rage consume America?"

Click on the link below for an evidence-based look at the problem, its cause, and how to resolve it:

Why America's Rural Whites Are Angry

Do NOT Underestimate The First Criminal Trial Of The Bastard

Click on the link below for one of the best-detailed analyses you will find regarding this first of many trials of the bastard:

The real DOJ corruption scandal at the heart of Trump's criminal trial in New York

What's Really Happening Within The Republican Party

"There are really two major Republican political stories dominating the news these days. The more obvious of the two is the attempt by former president Donald Trump and his followers to destroy American democracy. The other story is older, the one that led to Trump but that stands at least a bit apart from him. It is the story of a national shift away from the supply-side ideology of Reagan Republicans toward an embrace of the idea that the government should hold the playing field among all Americans level."

Click on the link below for an interesting take on the real problems within the US Republican Party:

The Republicans Are Toast

Immigration: A Look At How Trump & Biden Handled It

"We’re excited to share the first conversation in our WITHpod 2024: The Stakes series. For the first time since 1892, we have an election in which both candidates have presidential records, which provides a unique opportunity to cut through messaging and rhetoric and culture war flotsam and actually take a hard look at what each man has actually done as president. On The Stakes, WITHPod will choose specific areas of policy -- immigration, taxes, climate -- and talk to an expert about the two candidates' records on the topic. We’re starting with one of the highest salience and most complex policy areas: immigration. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, joins to unpack immigration policies under Trump vs. Biden, border enforcement, the state of the asylum system and more."

I have posted previously about the fact that Immigration is not only good for the USA, but is needed (link). The above series of podcasts begins with the issue that polls show is the number one topic for Republicans. Click on the link below for the stated podcast:

The Stakes of Immigration

The 2nd Amendment To The US Constitution: Conservatives Are Lying

Click on the link below for a 10-minute video debunking everything conservatives believe about the 2nd Amendment:

This Maga DUMMY Just Failed The Easiest TEST

Religious Nationalism: A Pandemic Within The USA Going Unnoticed

"Author and journalist Katherine Stewart joins us today to discuss her reporting on religious nationalism, as well as the organization and structure behind these efforts, and what we can do in the face of it all.

"Be sure to check out the recent film God and Country which is based on her 2020 book, The Power Worshippers!"

Click on the link below for a podcast that interviewed a true expert on the matter:

God and Country with Katherine Stewart

A Historical Look At Revolutions

"Fareed Zakaria is the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and a foreign affairs columnist at the Washington Post. He joins Preet to discuss his new book Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, and how this current moment of global political fracture mirrors societal upheavals of the past."

Click on the link below for a podcast putting today's global turmoil in perspective:

Revolutions, from 1600 to Trump

Roger Ailes: The Bastard Behind It All

"Roger Ailes did more to degrade the tone of public life in America than anyone since Joseph McCarthy."

Click on the link below for a biography of the main influencer of forming the present Republican Party:

A short biography of a bully

Conservatives: Get Over It, Immigration Is Good And Needed

"While immigration remains a hot-button political issue that focuses on illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, it is crucial to move the discussion to a serious analysis of the importance of immigration for the nation’s demographic and economic growth, and how broad policies such as comprehensive immigration reform can address our future needs. The new census projections should play a central role in those discussions."

Click on the link below for the details "THEY" don't want you to know (to borrow a phrase from the pseudoscientists):

New census projections show immigration is essential to the growth and vitality of a more diverse US population

Deregulation: A Base Motive Of Republicans

The controversy over medical abortion pills (actually, the non-controversy as it is safe and effective) is just one issue that Republicans/Conservatives/MAGAs are using to attack and remove ALL government regulations. Let's be clear, they want to replace EXPERTS with political appointees who will carry out their agenda. 

A key tool to implement this change is to change laws.  Click on the link below for links exposing this effort:

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-supreme-courts-assault-on-government-could-make-the-far-rights-dreams-come-true/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-chevron-deference-oral-arguments-federal-regulations/

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/supreme-court-launches-latest-salvo-in-war-on-federal-government

https://www.govexec.com/management/2024/01/supreme-court-appears-ready-end-deference-federal-agency-expertise/393404/

It's Not "MIS"information, it's "DIS"information From Conservatives

"Misinformation is spreading on social media as some fight to stop what they call censorship. The Supreme Court is now grappling with how the First Amendment applies to the online world."

Misinformation: wrong information by mistake.

Disinformation: wrong information by design.

Click on the link below for a 15-minute "60-Minutes" segment parsing out the difference and exposing the dishonesty of Republicans/conservatives/MAGAs:

The Right to be Wrong