Gravedigger of American Democracy

Conservatives love to say that liberals try to make everything about race. But it seems to me that they have an entire vocabulary of racial codewords that they may not even realize they’re using. “Suburban” always means “white.” “Urban” always means black and poor. “Hardworking” always means white and rich. “Working class” always means white and middle-income. White people with jobs who live in the city? Elitists. Black people who live in the suburbs and work in kitchens or factories? Not really mentioned.

This is true of sports commentary, as well (For a look at how sports commentary and right-wing media are basically drawing from the same well, check out this article by the founder of Deadspin): Black athletes are praised for their instincts, their physicality, their natural talent. White athletes get praised for their smarts, their hard work, their approachable personality, their looks.


And speaking of national politics… it ain’t good. Notable scholars are calling Mitch McConnell “the gravedigger of American Democracy.” And as we all know, and should have known for some time, moderate Republicans cannot save us. Our only hope is that they’re as incompetent as they are evil.

Rep. Jim Renacci, the Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, defended flying in a strip-club owner’s private plane to a meeting earlier this week with faith leaders. As one does. https://t.co/RWAEFp8Y2K — Catherine Rampell (@crampell) October 6, 2018

I’m taking Economics 101 here are my hot economics takes
Despite it not being part of my homework, I’m slogging my way through the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s 2018 report titled “Power, Platforms, and the Free Trade Delusion.” It’s very dense. It may make more sense after the macroeconomics portion of the course. But the introduction is pretty sharp:

[In] the end, social and political actions – in the form of rules, norms and policies – will determine how the future unfolds.
In this respect, the digital revolution has the misfortune of unfolding in a neo-liberal era. Over the last four decades, a mixture of financial chicanery, unrestrained corporate power and economic austerity has shredded the social contract that emerged after the Second World War and replaced it with a different set of rules, norms and policies, at the national, regional and international levels. This has enabled capital – whether tangible or intangible, long-term or short-term, industrial or financial – to escape from regulatory oversight, expand into new areas of profit-making and restrict the influence of policymakers over how business is done.
This agenda has co-opted a vision of an interconnected digital world, free from artificial boundaries to the flow of information, lending a sense of technological euphoria to a belief in its own inevitability and immutability. Big business has responded by turning the mining and processing of data into a rent-seeking cornucopia

Art/Transit Criticism Twitter
Cultivating joy
French bulldog puppy discovers mud.
Ladybug as hat.

What if… movie posters from an alternate universe.

Dog abandons obstacle course for hugs.

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