On Afghanistan coverage, the pushback begins

U.S. Air National Guard members welcome Afghan evacuees in Kuwait

Often, the initial “news” coverage of a story is not the final word. Rather, events prove the original coverage wrong, and a strong counter-narrative develops and takes hold. For example, when the website to sign up for Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare coverage first went online in late 2013, it had technical problems for a short time. That’s not so unusual, given that the ACA and its website were (a) brand new, and (b) massive in scope. Nevertheless, the media, swayed by Republicans desperate to criticize President Barack Obama, went into a feeding frenzy, which not only covered all the problems with the new ACA website ad nauseam, but implied that the underlying ACA itself (and even Barack Obama’s presidency) therefore must be problematic, which was not the case. Thus, while the initial criticism was damaging to the ACA and President Obama, the website was soon fixed, millions of people signed up for healthcare coverage, and the popularity of this Obama cornerstone grew steadily and has remained high ever since.

Something similar now appears to be happening in Afghanistan. Many in the “news” media (in quotes because it’s more opinion than news) seem to be forgetting that it was Donald Trump who cozied up to the Taliban, first offering to invite them to the Camp David presidential retreat, then signing the agreement to let 5,000 of them out of prison and to pull U.S. troops out. Instead, the media, again fed by the same old dishonest Republican attacks, have been hammering President Joe Biden for the “calamity” and “disaster” of the Taliban taking over control of Afghanistan again, even though Biden had little or no room to prevent that outcome after the deal that Donald “The Art of the Deal” Trump struck. Moreover, it’s not just right wing media who are attacking President Biden. Here, for example, is CNN‘s Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward, expressing feelings rather than investigating facts just a few days ago:

As can be seen after the jump, however, the pushback against these false narratives is beginning to take shape.

Send postcards to stop the Republican recall of California Governor Newsom

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Republican ideas are not very popular, as is reflected in GOP election losses at the presidential level, in control of the U.S. Congress, and in a number of states. Nowhere is this more apparent than in California, where the voters routinely choose Democrats for virtually every statewide office. Rather than coming up with better policies and trying to sell them to voters, however, California Republicans instead have tried to circumvent the regular election process by commencing recall petition drives against California Governors. Backed by Republican millionaires, these recall petitions, which can get on the ballot as special elections, attempt to throw out the Democratic Governor and replace him with a Republican. The last time the Republicans tried this in California — against Governor Gray Davis in 2003 — it worked, and the result was the disastrous era of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the Republicans are at it again, and have forced a special election on September 14 to determine whether Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom should be recalled (and, hopefully for the GOP, replaced by a Republican).

However, Governor Newsom and the Democrats are not standing by idly. They have launched various “Vote No” campaigns, including personal appearances by Newsom and others. Even President Joe Biden is lending his support:

Part of this Democratic campaign is a large effort to get out the vote by sending hand-written postcards to California Democratic voters. We have a bunch of postcards on the way here to be written, and are really looking forward to joining this grassroots effort. The following are some resources to be part of this nationwide postcard writing campaign to save Governor Newsom’s duly won seat:

In ironic twist, Republicans lose Big Business over COVID

Norwegian Cruise Line, fighting Republican COVID inaction

Last week, we reported that, by standing in the way of COVID vaccinations and precautions even as the delta variant ravages the U.S. population, Republicans are increasingly “out of touch with the current reality, and way behind the curve of events.” At the time, there was a small but growing number of big corporations and organizations (e.g. Walmart, Target, Tyson Foods, McDonald’s) that were ignoring Republican anti-safety ideology to some degree and taking precautions of their own, such as vaccination and masking requirements. Now, the list of such companies is growing rapidly, and includes, for example, Google, Facebook, United Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. Other companies, such as Delta Airlines, require the Coronavirus vaccine for new employees, and formally encourage vaccination for existing workers. At this point, therefore, an increasing percentage of U.S. workers is under some kind of COVID mandate from their employers, again in contrast to the unhealthy rhetoric from the GOP. It is also reasonable to think that many small businesses look to these larger companies for guidance, and will soon, if they do not already, require similar protections for their employees.

Republicans are losing the COVID war

Oregon National Guard soldier receiving COVID vaccine

On Monday, President Joe Biden‘s White House COVID-19 Data Director, Dr. Cyrus Shapar, reported that the United States had reached a long-sought milestone in vaccinations:

Perhaps not surprisingly, however, red states have been of little or no help in reaching this COVID vaccination milestone:

Nevertheless, despite the efforts of many Republicans, including those on Fox “News,” to raise doubts about and opposition to COVID vaccines and other precautions such as mask-wearing, things are starting to change. If these Republicans are waging a very sick war that keeps COVID alive and kills many Americans, it appears they are losing allies.

The story is COVID. Drive the story.

Everyone should be masking in public

If you subscribe to the right news services or social media accounts and look through the headlines, you will find out that right now, America and the world are facing a new COVID emergency. The problem, largely based on the “Delta variant,” is bad enough that organizations from the California State University System to the Washington Post are starting to require proof of COVID vaccination for those who show up in person, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.) announced Monday that it would mandate coronavirus vaccines for its front-line workers. Likewise, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just announced that all people, including those fully vaccinated, should wear masks indoors again in areas with “high” or “substantial” COVID transmission.

However, U.S. Republicans, whose anti-vaccine, anti-mask diatribes and protests are largely responsible for the new COVID emergency, don’t want to talk about the new COVID surge (except, cynically, to try to blame President Joe Biden, who has made extraordinary strides and numerous public calls for full vaccination). Rather, Republicans want to distract by cosplaying about immigration, attacking the imaginary “Critical Race Theory,” fretting about trans people and their bathroom use, or just about anything else that is part of their 24/7 Culture War.

How to persuade Republicans to take the COVID vaccine

COVID vaccinations, increasingly received by Democrats

Right now, the Republican anti-science, anti-facts cult that previously enveloped climate change and the 2020 presidential election results has spread to the COVID vaccine. Indeed, Republican anti-COVID vaccine (and anti-mask) sentiment is directly intertwined with their Big Lie regarding the 2020 presidential election (that Donald Trump really beat Joe Biden, but Trump’s reelection was stolen by voter fraud), as reflected by the bizarre statement by Trump last Sunday that “people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust his Administration, they don’t trust the Election results, and they certainly don’t trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the Truth.” Not surprisingly, the results in the red states have been especially deadly. After the jump, we’ll give what is perhaps the best suggestion to get more Republicans vaccinated and get us closer to a point of safety from COVID in America.

Watch the Republicans’ language vs. President Biden’s

The Republicans’ 2021 political strategy

The Republicans’ Culture War is in high gear. That means Republicans attacking their favorite bogeymen. Here are some of the things Republicans have been saying lately, instead of helping to govern our country:

“Antifa” (to the extent that’s even a real thing) and Black Lives Matter were responsible for the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capital, even though the FBI keeps rounding up one right wing extremist after another for the attack, many of whom were caught red-handed on video. Not surprisingly, Republicans are now attacking the FBI.

–Companies and others are destroying the country by acting “woke,” a substitute for the older “politically incorrect,” and meant to be a disparagement of perceived liberalism.

–Similarly, according to Republicans, liberals (especially in the media) are guilty of “cancel culture,” which seems to mean doing things like suspending Donald Trump from Twitter and Facebook for inciting violence in the January 6 attacks. Apparently, however, Republicans have no problem canceling things and people they don’t like, such as stripping Congresswoman Liz Cheney of her House leadership post for criticizing Trump, defunding ACORN and Planned Parenthood, or, as Trump recently suggested, banning Twitter and Facebook altogether.

The January 6 Commission Democratic pivot

The January 6 terrorist attack instigated by you know who

News headlines right now are proclaiming what has been obvious all along: that Congressional Republicans are desperately trying to block the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the deadly January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. Given that the proposed commission would be created by legislation, and the Republican U.S. Senate minority can therefore filibuster such legislation, the commission is probably not going to happen. But who says there has to be a “bipartisan” commission regarding the January 6 attacks? The Democratic majorities of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have a perfectly good alternative:

Today’s Snark: Another Giuliani Embarrassment

Andrew Giuliani, son of Rudolph Giuliani of head-dripping, fed-raiding, Four Seasons Total Landscaping fame, announced yesterday that he is running for Governor of New York State as a Republican. Giuliani does have campaign experience, as this 1994 video demonstrates:

Liz Cheney ousted, Republican Civil War splits party

The current Republican Party

The Republican Party Civil War, which we have been talking about for many years, hit a critical point yesterday, as U.S. House members kicked Congresswoman Liz Cheney out of her number three House leadership post as House Republican Conference Chair. Cheney’s crime was simply to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and declare that Joe Biden is America’s legitimately accepted president, as every U.S. state formally has done, thus rejecting the “Big Lie” promoted by Donald Trump that his 7 million popular vote, 74 electoral vote loss to Biden in the 2020 election was somehow the result of a massive fraud. Trump even fomented an unprecedented, deadly terrorist attack on our U.S. Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results based on his Big Lie. Not coincidentally, this week, more than 100 Republican former office holders, including cabinet members, national security officials, ambassadors, state governors and others, are threatening to leave the GOP and form a third party. According to this group, “forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism” are threatening to take over the Republican Party, putting our country’s freedoms at risk. Therefore, it’s fair to say that the Republican Party has moved well beyond “disarray” (a favorite word that the mainstream media frequently and incorrectly apply to the Democrats) and into full-blown crisis.