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Media Bits and Bytes - September 10, 2019

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The New ‘Heathers’ Is a Trumpian, LGBT-Bashing Nightmare

Samantha Allen Daily Beast
The original Heathers were a group of croquet-playing WASPy socialites; the new Heathers are comprised of a plus-size girl, a genderqueer student, and a black girl. In other words, this is less a reboot and more an intentional inversion of the original concept, built on the premise that the bullied have since become the bullies.

The Hoax of Climate Denial Why “Politically Motivated” Science Is Good Science

Naomi Oreskes Tom Dispatch
In recent decades, of course, the Republicans have lurched rightward on many topics and now regularly attack scientific findings that threaten their political platforms. In the 1980s, they generally questioned evidence of acid rain; in the 1990s, they went after ozone science; and in this century, they have launched fierce attacks not just on climate science, but in the most personal fashion imaginable on climate scientists.

Naomi Oreskes, a Lightning Rod in a Changing Climate

Justin Gillis New York Times
Dr. Oreskes’s core discovery, made with a co-author, Erik M. Conway, was twofold. They reported that dubious tactics had been used over decades to cast doubt on scientific findings relating to subjects like acid rain, the ozone shield, tobacco smoke and climate change. And most surprisingly, in each case, the tactics were employed by the same group of people.

The Rise of the New New Left

Peter Beinart The Daily Beast
Bill de Blasio's win in New York's Democratic primary isn't a local story. It's part of a vast shift that could upend three decades of American political thinking. Americans don't necessarily grow more conservative as they age. Sometimes they do. Economic circumstances that have pushed Millennials left are also unlikely to change dramatically anytime soon. de Blasio's mayoral campaign offers a glimpse into what an Occupy-inspired challenge to Clintonism might look like.
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