IDIOTIZED PUBLICS

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—These are just a few examples. These sentiments are everywhere throughout the Democratic establishment and its allied media. Do these seem like the sentiments of a media class who believes Donald Trump poses an urgent existential threat and must be defeated at all cost? Or do they sound like a media class who promoted Russiagate and Trump hysteria for ratings?

Rania Khalek and Anya Parampil pay tribute to their friend Kevin Zeese, a long time organizer and anti-war activist in DC.

ERIC ZUESSE–All of these countries have the most-libertarian policies regarding coronavirus-19, policies such as the smallest percentage of people who are wearing face-masks in public, and such as the freest activity in crowds, and, generally, the least concerns about spreading the virus to others (such as to teachers, healthcare providers, and the general public). These countries — libertarian countries — have the most-relaxed policies regarding protection of the public from the spread of the virus. All of them are U.S.-allied countries. The first of the three lists — the list that’s unadjusted — includes two countries that are not U.S.-allied: Iran and Russia. However, Iran and Russia aren’t among the actual 12 worst, according to either of the two bottom-line measures: “Tot Cases/1M pop”, and “Deaths/1M pop”. Generally speaking (which means that there are some exceptions to this), being a U.S.-allied country usually reflects being a country that pursues libertarian responses to the coronavirus-19 problem.

PHILIP WEISS—One way to understand the donations is BDS. Ilhan Omar is for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel. Melton-Meaux is against it.

This is now a fault-line in the Democratic Party. The rank-and-file clearly are favorable to BDS. Polling data show that 44 percent of Democrats support BDS; while only 15 percent oppose it. Yet 92 percent of House Democrats vote for a bill that characterizes BDS as antisemitic.

An informal, captivating chat with Caleb Maupin as guide to the multitude of news, lies, distortion and ideologies that shape our world. His spontaneous, unassuming style, and barebones production value, make him stand out in contrast to the elaborate sets utilized by the lavishly paid corporate disinformers.