– THE COLLECTION –

Bracing for Campaign Season

The 2018 election is coming

Effective political discourse–

OR WE COULD JUST KEEP YELLING AT EACH OTHER

This summer Nikki Haley had a message for conservatives: Stop trying to “own the libs.” I am sorry to report that this very wise advice was not very well received by all. Too many voices in media think 'stick it to the other guy' is a great plan, and not enough people in power care about being effective. Witness the anonymous resister of the NYT op-ed. If that person truly thinks he or she must resist from within the Administration, then he or she should've kept quiet. Tactics and strategy—which the right proves it isn't good at time and time again—for internal resistance need stealth to work. Then there is the honor point, also from Nikki Haley. Sustained resignations and inability to fill vacancies make for more credible, if less sensational, evidence of administrative disfunction than Deep Throat pieces in the NYT, a paper not above manufacturing sources. (The NYT appears as entries 1, 7, and 8 in this Top Ten list of journalism scandals of the '00's.) 

Owning and resisting isn't working. In fact, it is damaging the quality we need most: a sense of greater community. Gracy Olmstead notes, the urban and rural divide is deeper than, perhaps, ever, because our politics rules everything. We don't interact with our neighbors anymore, and that begs a chicken and egg question about not knowing our neighbors anymore. But no matter which came first, not knowing each other makes yelling easier. Fixing that should help. Last Spring, Melissa Braunstein offered some practical tips for building relationships outside your political tribe. They ought to come in handy over the next few months.

It’s not paranoia if they
really are out to get you

Laura Hollis says the Democrats are becoming what they say they despise. Read the whole thing, but I draw your attention to the comparison of conservatives and Democrats. Conservatives see eyes start rolling when we talk about social media bias. It is a figment of our imagination, or so we are told. Only it isn't. Hollis talks of Sarah Jeong, infamous—or famous depending on one's politics— for her many anti-white people tweets. Jeong still has her job, contra say, Kevin Williamson. And she is still on Twitter, even though it took Twitter no time to suspend Candace Owens for satirizing Jeong. Owens replaced Jeong's references to white people with references to Jewish people and the Twitter powers-that-be shut that right down. Leftist Asian-Americans are allowed to be racist. Right African-Americans are not. 

And then came the McCain example from last week. Someone tweeted out a doctored pic of Megan McCain, the token righty on The View, grieving over her father’s casket. The doctored bit? A hand holding a gun aimed at McCain's chest with the caption, "America, this one's for you." Twitter took the better part of a day to take the tweet down, and that only after McCain's husband, a well known publisher in right media with tens of thousands of followers, complained on Twitter. Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, apologized for the delay at his Congressional hearing earlier this week.

What was Dorsey up on the Hill for? Congress is investigating Facebook and Twitter's questionable platform monitoring practices. Google was supposed to be there too, but they wouldn't send a high up enough exec. (Hey, it sorta worked for Facebook in the EU this summer. He almost got a closed-door meeting out of it.)

The Personal is Political:
40 years on

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL

I am a localist. Why focus on far away DC drama over which our individual vote counts not very much, when we could focus on close state and local issues over which our vote holds a lot more power? So I will feature a couple of local, mid-term stories each week, starting with my own hometown. 

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Houston, or parts of it, really did lose its mind over a Trump t-shirt.  I chose this link because it is the most comprehensive, but it bothers me. For balance (I guess) the story guides the reader to the impression that the flare up is the parents' fault, as if it wasn't troubling or newsworthy that a local councilwoman yelled at a couple of teenagers in a restaurant. The smattering of suggestions about West U's racism complete the effect. The story became chatter fodder all over town when channel 2 followed up on the police report, you know, something that local news outfits tend to do.

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It isn't new that Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill's husband has gotten federal funds for various endeavors. I see a few articles from six years ago, too. It might not keep coming up but for loans she makes to her campaign. 

TALKING WITH
CONSERVATIVE WOMEN

I've seen a few new efforts to talk to conservative women, about the Second Amendment and guns, or about who conservative women are in college, where we are assumed to not exist. We are very "other," which has been a topic here and in the magazine on many previous occasions. One interesting thing about our otherness: we aren't allowed to make jokes. The Babylon Bee satirized the Ocasio-Cortez fake interview incident, and as the Bee does, the piece gets laughs because it is so close to true.
Allie Beth Stuckey edited a real interview of the US House candidate from New York by editing in her own questions. It's a pretty standard comedy talk show gimmick, and she followed the form well. Only this time, people though it was real so they demanded Stuckey take down the interview. She didn't. 

LET KIDS BE KIDS

Children don't belong in politics. See the Trump t-shirt story above, or read Melissa Braunstein on injecting children into politics. Sandbox, who grew up in Soviet Ukraine, agrees. So does Jennifer Michelle Greenberg. 

The Briefcase

If Democrats take the US House, an impeachment is likely. Because of this some think the Administration should delay the Supreme Court confirmation vote.  But, as Erin Hawley points out, The Supreme Court has nothing to do with impeachment.

And in a News of the Weird entry for this briefcase, Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle company GOOP has entered into a $145K settlement for unscientific claims about its vaginal eggs. (Remember from the eyebrow raising stories a while back, the polished stones women were supposed to place in our vaginas to restore assorted functions? They were shaped like eggs.) This is not the first of GOOP's unscientific claims, nor will it likely be the last, but as someone who has written on morality bought retail, I found the name of GOOP's third product in the false-advertising complaint interesting: Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend. Apparently it is a tincture. From its name I assume it rats you out about, oh, I don't know, the pH of your sweat, but it smells lovely while it judges you.  

 One Liners  

Useful background information for the midterms from Megan R. Wilson: Lobbying's Top 50: Who's Spending Big? 

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Today I Learned: Myers-Briggs was a mother-daughter team...which would have been Briggs-Myers but for the unfortunate initials, BM.

A follow up from last week's Adventures in Title IX email: DeVos reins in Title IX. 

NOW PLAYING

Business for the Common Good, a documentary:

FROM THE MAGAZINE

–

Statuesque Lessons: Let's keep the Confederate Monuments, Part I
by Edge of the Sandbox

What the GOP Really Needs: How a power couple could help the GOP win the 2018 Midterms
by Rory Riley Topping

Politically Correct Atonement: a sacrificial system for 21st century sins
by Brenna Siver

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Otherwise, until next week,