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What Trumpism Means for Democracy

Andrew J. Bacevich TomDispatch
American democracy has been failing for decades, so a disturbing number of us are turning to authoritarianism. Is Trump our Juan Perón? Trump's Atlantic City empire has crumbled. But Trump himself has somehow emerged stronger than ever. The man who sought to lure all aspiring monarchs to A.C. ('welcome to a kingdom where everybody's treated like a king') has whipped up a heady mix of xenophobia, political bromides, and so-light-it-floats policy proposals into a movement

Why America Is Moving Left

Peter Beinart The Atlantic
Republicans may have a lock on Congress and the nation's statehouses - and could well win the presidency - but the liberal era ushered in by Barack Obama is only just beginning. The need to win the votes of Millennials and minorities, who lean left not just on cultural issues but on economic ones, will shape how whoever wins in the general election, and governs once in office.

books

Whistling 'Dixie'

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
On the morning of November 22, 1963, President Kennedy told his wife Jackie as they started for Dallas, where he would later be assassinated, "We're heading into nut country today." The city was full of reactionary Kennedy haters, led by powerful ultraconservatives who would eventually remake the Republican party in their image. The book under review charts what made Dallas a hub of far-right activism back then, shedding light on today's national political landscape.

Vindication for Planned Parenthood - Grand Jury Indicts Anti-Choice Zealots Who Produced Phony Planned Parenthood Videos

New York Times editorial The New York Times
Neither the videos nor the many investigations that followed have found any evidence that Planned Parenthood employees offered to sell fetal tissue for a profit. Texas is the 12th state in which investigations stemming from the videos have found no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. A grand jury in Harris County, Tex., went a step further. Though it was convened to investigate Planned Parenthood, it indicted two members of the group that made the videos instead.

There is No Doubt that the Bernie Generation Is Our Political Future

Tom Hayden Peace & Justice Resource Center
The Bernie generation is our political future, joining with groups demanding living wages or $15/hr, Black Lives Matter, the Dreamers, and 350.org. With their roots in the Occupy movement, they are viscerally mad at the rigged economy based on McJobs and the monopoly power of the plutocrats.This is such an important election, the riskiest of my lifetime. If we win, then we can resume our quarrels and patient work for peace and justice.

GOP Tickles the Dragon’s Tail

Michael Winship Bill Moyers and Company
After years of flirting with America’s right wing and egging on a growing rage, the GOP establishment is "shocked" by Trump's success -- and scrambling to save face.

Tidbits - January 14, 2016 - Deportations and Anti-Latino Racism; Flint Poisonings - Ordered by Gob. Snyder; Attack on Public Sector Unions; Bernie; Oregon; BDS; Susan Sarandon; Speaking Out Against Madness - Ruth Horowitz; lots of announcements...

Portside
Reader Comments: Deportations and Anti-Latino Racism; Flint Poisonings - Ordered by Gob. Snyder; Attack on Public Sector Unions; Bernie; Oregon; Support BDS; Susan Sarandon Supports Bernie; Help Support UAW Local 2865, which democratically voted to endorse the BDS campaign; Robert Rhodes; Speaking Out Against the Madness - Ruth Horowitz; Concussions? - Drink Chocolate Milk; Lots of announcements - Lafayette (IN); New York; Washington, DC; activist scholarships...

Will the GOP Mount a Third-Party Challenge to Trump?

Jeff Greenfield Politico
When Republicans look at the perils posed by a third-party bid from Donald Trump, they may be looking in the wrong direction. It’s not Trump the Defector that could trigger the biggest threat to the party, but Trump the Nominee.
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