And Wisconsin, and Texas, and ...

Really delighted seeing people discover what poisonous, deliberate racists @NCGOP & @PatMcCroryNC are. xoxo🇺🇸

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) July 30, 2016

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"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" Or Bust

Major League Baseball must permanently retire ‘God Bless America' - NY Daily News: 

[It] embodies great things about America, but also our worst things: self-righteousness, forced piety, earnest self-reverence, foam.

It's not the national anthem so, no, I won't stand, won't remove my cap, and certainly won't sing along. (The Yankees, not surprisingly, are the absolute worst about this. Kate Smith's version scrapes the inside of my skull. I'd sooner stand for "Jeter Bless the Bronx" than listen to that mess ever again.)

way down down down in this subbacultcha

The Dark Internet Humor of Harambe Jokes: 

We should not still be talking about Harambe. When I say “should not,” I don’t even mean that it’s morally wrong to joke about Harambe. (Though more on that in a moment.) I mean that, as a running joke, Harambe should have had a shelf life of maybe two weeks. The meme should have died shortly after the animal did. 

But it didn’t.

If @NCGOP didn't do Harambe, it's only because they were beaten to it. Wetting their pants while trying piss on Tim Kaine is about all they're capable of these days.

Here's a screenshot of that @NCGOP tweet about @timkaine, since they deleted it. #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/LbAywwnnob

— Ben Amey (@BenAmeyTV) July 28, 2016

Bernie Smash

Bernie Sanders is now officially with HER.#DemsInPhilly #HesWithUs http://pic.twitter.com/HxqOjx4QA1

— Pin Head (@PiercedSkull) July 26, 2016

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I'm not #ImWithHer, but I applaud Bernie for trying to fix the machine from within. I don't think it's going to work, but in terms of taking steps toward that goal, he did about as well as he could have last night.

Durham's Duffer Bros. On "Stranger Things"

Two Brothers Funnel Their Nostalgia for Eighties-Era Durham Summers Into New Netflix Series Stranger Things | TV | Indy Week: 

Image via Vulture

Fans of the era's genre films will spot plenty of visual and narrative homages in Stranger Things, from the synthesizer-driven score and the Stephen King-style title card to the presence of eighties mainstays Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine in major roles. There are shout-outs to movies such as Poltergeist, The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Less Than Zero, and to pop-culture touchstones from X-Men comics to Dungeons & Dragons.

More, if only slightly, than a mere nostalgia machine, Stranger Things aimed to subvert at least one horror trope -- the sexually active teenager will be murdered -- and possibly a second if we consider the wealthy, entitled sport/prep boyfriend has no redeeming features. (The latter, I suppose it could be argued, wasn't crying out for subversion.)

Not a classic, but if a summer read is a thing, then I'd call this a serviceable summer series. Flawed, but not fatally. For example, Winona Ryder didn't really get a chance to shine until the back half of the series, but her character finally got a little room to breathe, so she wasn't completely wasted. Did the "upside-down" parallel dimension make sense? No.

Black Mirror and Les Revenants have been languishing in my queue, think I'm going to finish them off before I finally give Breaking Bad a try.

Wow, We Are A Fragile Species (Vocal Fry Edition)

Can a Woman’s Voice Ever Be Right? -- The Cut:

Image via nymag.com

The public sniping at women’s voices reflects a deeper cultural anxiety about whether they have a right to speak at all. Classicist Mary Beard points out that this anxiety is historic, written into our cultural DNA. She writes, “Public speaking and oratory were not merely things that ancient women didn’t do: they were exclusive practices and skills that defined masculinity as a gender … the tone and timbre of women’s speech always threatened to subvert not just the voice of the male orator, but also the social and political stability, the health, of the whole state.” This is our cultural inheritance, and its patterns play out on Twitter and the floor of the House of Representatives alike: “Women, even when they are not silenced, still have to pay a very high price for being heard.”

He Doesn't Want To Be President, He Wants To Be Able To Say He Won The Presidency

How Donald Trump Picked His Running Mate - NYTimes.com:

Image via Jezebel

... [A]ccording to the Kasich adviser (who spoke only under the condition that he not be named), Donald Jr. wanted to make him an offer nonetheless: Did he have any interest in being the most powerful vice president in history?

When Kasich’s adviser asked how this would be the case, Donald Jr. explained that his father’s vice president would be in charge of domestic and foreign policy.  

Then what, the adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of?

“Making America great again” was the casual reply. 

In a way, it's almost a relief. But then, even had it been Kasich, it would have been a terrifying prospect in and of itself. That it's Pence makes the prospect even worse.

It's like I've been saying all along. Trump doesn't want the job, isn't committed to anything except being an entitled asshole. (And being racist.) That he's the nominee simply highlights the fact the rest of the Republicans are entitled assholes genuinely committed to a radical ideology that will unmake the country. They were all just as bad, and in at least Cruz's case - worse, and the Republican base (at least the segment that isn't genocidal-for-Jesus) could smell it on them.

So, last night Christie played attack dog for Trump by indicting Clinton in the convention's kangaroo court. ("Guilty!" the mob shouted, "Lock her up!" they chanted.) Now that he's not going to be VP, it seems clear he's angling for a top cabinet position. My guess is State, based on how he focused on Clinton's foreign policy disasters. (And yes, she has been and will be a disaster.)

With Christie, I don't know. Does he really mean half of what he says, does he have any kind of principles beyond screw-the-enemy? If Trump can't win, and recent polling data still indicates he won't, is it even worth the bother of speculating about?

Here Comes The Argument (For The Lesser of Two Evils)

Third Parties & Voting for the Lesser Evil | Talking Philosophy

Here's a snippet from the linked post, it's worth reading the whole thing, but the root of my disagreement with LaBossiere is in this bit:

In the upcoming election, I intend to follow my principle. While I voted for Sanders in the primary and prefer him over Hillary, I think that a Trump presidency would be vastly worse for the country as a whole than another Clinton presidency. Hillary, as I see her, is essentially a 1990s moderate Republican with a modern liberal paint job. As such, she can be counted on as a competent business as usual politician who will march along with the majority of the population in regards to social policy (such as same sex marriage and gun regulation). Trump has no experience in office and I have no real idea what he would do as president. As such, I am taking the classic approach of choosing the lesser evil and the devil I know. If I was voting for the greater evil, Cthulhu would have my vote. 

It might be objected that my approach is flawed. After all, if a person votes based on a rational assessment of the impact of an election on everyone, then she could end up voting against her own self-interest. What a person should do, it could be argued, is consider the matter selfishly—to vote based on what is in her interest regardless of the general good. 

This approach does have considerable appeal and is based on an established moral philosophy, known as ethical egoism. This is the view that a person should always take the action that maximizes her self-interest. Roughly put, for the ethical egoist, she is the only one with moral value.

Does it leap out at you, too? For me, it's the reduction of voting for the candidate who best represents your values, whom you believe would make the best President, to an ethical egoist position. Altruism vs. ethical egoism here is a frame, not an entirely worthless one, but a frame that is hung over the argument to facilitate clubbing together would be Green or Libertarian voters with Ayn Rand and her philosophy for morons. (Sure, it actually applies to the latter group, but it denigrates the motives, aspirations, and beliefs of Greens and other progressives.)

If we consider the morality of voting for a third party candidate from deontological or utilitarian (consequentialist) perspectives, it's suspiciously convenient (though, of course, not impossible) with this framing that a vote for the Clinton can be cast as a virtuous action either way; not to mention suspiciously convenient that a principled vote for a candidate who is not merely a lesser-of-three-evils option, but a "good" option, then doesn't seem to have a philosophical leg to stand on.

So, let's remove the frame. My counterargument is that a vote for a third party candidate who best represents not only my own views, but who best represents the views of a majority of Americans -- views which I think most ethicists agree are generally "better" than dehumanizing, wealth-concentrating, warmongering, environment degrading, etc. -- is, at least from the deontological perspective, a more virtuous vote, than the one for the neoliberal candidate (or the fascist buffoon).

That we shouldn't consider voting for the best candidate a ideal normative action requires we bring in some consequentialist notions based on cynical assumptions: "a third party vote is wasted", "the mass media doesn't recognize a candidate as viable, therefore she is not viable", "if you don't vote for the lesser of the two evils, you increasing the risk that the greater of two evils will win and make things worse than they otherwise would have been", "it's selfish to vote for the candidate who best represents your values", and so on. Now, some of those are harder to dismiss than others, and I'm sure many will find no fault at all with the one that says if you don't vote for the lesser of two evils, you're effectively supporting the evil, which -- by logical necessity, I think -- would make that voter actively evil.

What subscription to that belief fails to recognize is how much it leans on a host of other assumptions, which I don't think even those people who take that position would agree with. The major networks and big newspapers don't get to decide what candidates are viable based on how it benefits their bottom line to align with the oligarchical agents in our society. That's a power determination that the internet and social media have long since undercut. It is easier today than it ever has been to find the strong arguments and dismiss the blatantly self-serving propaganda of the super-wealthy elites. A refusal to consider a third party candidate as viable, unless it's a Ross Perot-like approved option of the rich, is nothing more than a mix of intellectual laziness and moral cowardice. "Oh, the rich say this person can't win, so they are going to ignore her? I guess I might as well accept their judgment over my own," says the sucker born every minute.

Put another way, I don't think "you shouldn't vote in your best interest, and in the best interest of the country, because most people won't" makes sense. Rather, that notion reinforces the "most people won't" when any position we take ought to be voting in the best interest of the country. (Or, if you're feeling selfish, voting based on self-interest alone.)

Until people make their voices count, they won't count. I don't owe anybody my vote, and I am thinking of the greater good when I vote for the candidate who shares more of my values than any of the others. It's not my fault she "can't win," it's yours, LaBossiere and your ilk.

Now, I could be wrong. Maybe Stein would be an ineffective, or bad, President. But I'm not convinced of that by arguments based on cynical acceptance of the plutocratic definition of viable candidates. Convince me Stein is wrong on foreign policy. Convince me she's wrong on energy policy, on civil rights issues, on women's health issues, on wealth inequality issues ... go ahead. I'm waiting.

If we get Trump/Pence in 2016, then we deserve the fucking disaster that's coming.

If we get Clinton/Kaine, then the mitigated disaster that's coming is what we deserve. Enjoy your endless war, continuing concentration of wealth, private prisons, surveillance state, corporate welfare, and new trade treaties. I'll continue to speak against them, to vote against them, and remind you what you voted for when you do, too.

---

Anticipated questions/objections:

Did Nader cost Gore the 2000 election?
No. Gore cost Gore the 2000 election. Also, the Supreme Court. Also, Clinton, whose Administration was more moderate Republican than progressive. Had Clinton/Gore been more progressive than NAFTA and DADT, we never get into the mess Bush left us. Had they been more progressive, Gore would have been able to steal Nader's thunder; he could have co-opted the message with credibility and won those voters over. He didn't try, and wouldn't have been credible if he had.

Don't I care Trump could win if I don't vote Hillary?
Of course I do. A Hillary Presidency would be better than a Trump, no doubt. But a Stein would be better than either. I'm voting the way I think people should vote, hoping they eventually will learn because I want change, a bold new direction, an end to Citizens United, and much more. I don't believe Hillary wants those things.

#TeamValor Representin'

tfw all your friends are on different #PokemonGo teams #TeamInstinct #TeamMystic #TeamValor http://pic.twitter.com/wSI8oQ6dOI

— Joe Sondow (@JoeSondow) July 15, 2016

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Yeah, I've been playing. It's just Ingress with retro-pop culture gloss instead of a hard sci-fi one, but it gives me an excuse to sing "Ji--i-i-i-gglypu-u-uu-uu-ff" randomly.

Turning Up Like a Bad Pence

cryptonaut-in-exile: Mike Pence, C-Street twat, blowing hard on the dog-whistle today.

For all the nods of assent the choice of Mike Pence for running mate by Donald Trump is receiving, it's worth recalling what the C-Street Republicans stand for, in addition to evangelical sex scandals. It's been a number of years since I've bothered paying attention to Pence (the leading link is from November, 2010,) not looking forward to listening to more of what he has to say.

2016, You Really Are Something

Dallas Police Officers Killed By Snipers: What We Know Friday : The Two-Way : NPR

Image via NPR

A coordinated sniper attack in Dallas killed five police officers Thursday, in a bout of violence that didn't end until the last of at least two snipers who had fired on police died in a parking garage. Police say at least four people were involved in the attack; they have three suspects in custody.

I'm afraid to read the comments, or look at twitter. The hot takes must be flying.

This was inevitable though, wasn't it? Not justifying, not endorsing ... just observing. The police have been waging a war on dark skin since ... forever? ... and if they can't solve their racial issues, if *we* (white people, generally) can't solve *our* white supremacy problem, then shouldn't we expect violent opposition from the oppressed?

It feels horribly old-fashioned, and perhaps inadequate, but I still cling to the idea that the Rule of Law is the answer. Yes, there is a problem with the law: there are too many low-level offenses that basically criminalize the state of being poor, of being black, and that needs to change. But even with bad laws, the fixes would happen if applied equally; if white parents had to deal with their kids going to jail for pot smoking, for example, the way black parents do, you can bet your ass things would change.

If police crack down harder now, because of this, I fear these won't be the last police to be hunted down and killed.

So, yeah, I guess I have a hot take: serve and protect, or there will be more blood.