onfocus

It’s very important that people understand this: We reside in a media environment that promotes—whether it intends to or not—right-wing authoritarian spectacle.

Current media coverage relies on the idea that both parties want a functioning democratic government. That has changed and this premise is giving cover to Republicans.

“It would be almost like if someone was doing a speech to kindergartners and they talked about the Holocaust and the horrors of the Holocaust,” she said, adding that the district had used the episode to remind its principals that all instructional resources, including guest speakers, must be “thoroughly vetted.”

Ridiculous levels of hatred. Like this author, none of us should change reasonable behavior to appease bigotry. As always, please register to vote and then vote for people who care about making life better for other people.

The star’s comments come amid a wave of anti-trans legislation in the U.S., specifically targeted at restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth. While right-wing politicians claim that the risks of this kind of care do not outweigh the benefits, peer-reviewed research disagrees. Multiple studies show that gender-affirming care reduces the rates of depression and suicidality among transgender kids.

Guys like Carlos Santana think they're taking a lone wolf stand but they're really just joining an angry mob. If you're raising yourself up by dumping on vulnerable people you're on the wrong side.

A Georgia school board has voted to fire a teacher after officials said she improperly read a book on gender fluidity to her fifth grade class.

Like this teacher, we should all resist this bigotry any way we can. As always, please register to vote and then vote for people who care about other people.

West Virginians, trapped in the clutches of economic hardship, find themselves mercilessly shackled to a state most can ill afford to abandon, left to suffer the full weight of the WVU administration’s harrowing decisions. We will learn only subjects aligned with the preferences of the rich, driven by their financial motivations.

I work for an R1 land grant university and I like to think those designations help keep the university on track. Seeing WVU make students pay the price for poor leadership is sobering.

The incomparability between the Trump and Biden “scandals” is almost too obvious to mention, but not mentioning it in a story about the Hunter Biden case is journalistically criminal. I’d recommend something like “Despite attempts by Republicans to liken the legal perils faced by Trump and Biden, Trump faces a slew of incredibly serious criminal charges including for conspiring to steal a presidential election; Biden has been credibly accused of nothing.”

Both sides journalism has become a parody of itself. What was once a way to maintain objectivity is now an offensive way journalists appease media owners and mislead everyone else.

Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade has determined that Republicans who have repeatedly boycotted legislative sessions will not be allowed to run for re-election, reported The Oregonian on Tuesday.

Enjoying this new "finding out" phase.

[Trump] and the six unnamed co-conspirators told these GOP officials in seven states what illegal acts they should do and how they should do them. Those communications are not protected speech. They are instructions on how to commit fraud.

You can’t extend plausible deniability infinitely. We all saw this crime happen in real time despite the constant gaslighting posing as legal nuance.

Alito, and the kinds of people who can afford to pay Alito, are bristling merely because justices are being investigated like any other public officials with power.

A+ headline

Taranto showed up at Obama's residence on Thursday after former President Donald Trump posted screenshots on his Truth Social platform that featured a purported address for Obama's home in Washington. Taranto's account reposted Trump's post.

This should be the headline: Former President Incites Followers to Violence Again.

There is no historical basis rooted in the founding era for it either: The Constitution by its own text explicitly rejects the existence of such a norm, as do several of the Federalist Papers, and the debate at the Constitutional Convention itself. The United States has a storied and continuous history prosecuting federal officials of both parties and across all branches starting in the founding era and which is unbroken through to 2022.

This article by Matt Tait thoroughly cuts through the BS about former Presidents being immune to prosecution for crimes. The media bosses want Trump back so badly that they’re spinning yarns about norms.

“Treasurer Read and I believe that Fox’s board of directors breached its fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast false claims that Dominion and Smartmatic rigged the 2020 presidential election,” said Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in a statement. “We hope to hold the board accountable and protect the long-term value of Oregon’s investment in Fox Corp.”

In related news, the State of Oregon is in hot water today for investing public servant pension money in known hucksters Fox Corp.