It has been one other week of unfettered ethical depravity in the US. Donald Trump held a Klan rally evenly disguised as a cupboard assembly the place he railed in opposition to Somali immigrants. Pete Hegseth defended the merciless and unlawful boat strikes which have murdered at the least 83 civilians. Marco Rubio put ahead a “peace plan” for Ukraine that quantities to giving Vladimir Putin every thing he’s ever wished for. And saddest of all? Most individuals in all probability don’t even know any of it occurred.
One of the disturbing tales I noticed this disgusting week highlighted new analysis from Pew displaying that information consumption is on the decline throughout all political events and age teams. The report, which was targeted on adults below 30, discovered that solely 15 % of individuals in that age group comply with the information “all or more often than not.” Once they do, it ought to shock nobody, they think about the “information” to be no matter they arrive throughout on social media.
I can hardly blame them. The information is miserable. Given Trump’s entrenched cult following, it doesn’t really feel like there’s something that may be instantly accomplished to cease him. Mainstream retailers are extra interested by appeasing energy than in holding it to account. And the “opposition get together” is feckless (extra on that later). I acquired sick over Thanksgiving, and in the course of the uninterrupted days I spent mendacity in mattress and praying for dying, did I watch “the information”? No, I didn’t. I watched motion pictures about house (Apollo 13 is one of the best film that inaccurately options no Black folks ever made), and allowed myself to get enveloped within the Lane Kiffin coaching drama. I wasn’t bodily or mentally wholesome sufficient to learn about America for every week.
This nation is a horror present, and lots of people don’t like watching scary motion pictures. I can’t blame them for wanting away. Sadly, the filth won’t clear itself up.
Proper now, Hakeem Jeffries is the worst argument for the proposition that Hakeem Jeffries needs to be speaker of the Home. His efficiency this week has been terrible, bordering on complicit.
First, the person gave Trump credit score for “securing the border.” Then, he praised Trump for pardoning corrupt Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, who had been indicted on costs of accepting $600,000 in bribes. He wrapped issues up by telling the press that they need to not expect the Democrats to pursue impeachment costs in opposition to Secretary of Warfare Crimes Pete Hegseth.
The nation is crying out for management in opposition to the violent, racist, and corrupt Trump administration. The nation is determined for leaders who will battle Trump on each floor: political, financial, authorized, and ethical. And Jeffries spent every week doing press hits for the person. Literal silence would have been higher than what Jeffries did this week.
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The issue with Jeffries is that he needs to be the chief of the Democratic Get together, and that may be a very completely different job from being the chief of the opposition get together. It’s the distinction between ready to your flip on the wheel versus attempting to interrupt the wheel. Jeffries isn’t a revolutionary or a reformer. He’s not an activist or crusader. He’s only a careerist. He’s rigorously and competently positioned himself to be this shut to getting a promotion, and he’s attempting desperately to not screw that up.
Jeffries exposes the issue with the “management” of the whole Democratic Get together: Their posture within the face of fascism isn’t certainly one of insurgency or resistance however certainly one of parliamentarian video games and political stunts. They often discuss like they know Trump and MAGA are totalitarian threats to democratic self-government, however they don’t act prefer it. As a substitute, they act like Trump is a traditional American president and could be defeated by means of regular political means. Democrats need folks out within the streets shouting “no kings,” however Jeffries wouldn’t dare throw Trump’s tea within the water, and he’d help the prosecution of anyone who did.
The folks, all through historical past, who lead anti-authoritarian actions are people who find themselves keen to be jailed for the trigger. They’re people who find themselves keen to be killed by the very regime they’re opposing. Hakeem Jeffries isn’t a type of folks. He’s simply the reasonable man on the politburo, attempting to tell apart himself from the “hard-liners,” hoping he’ll get an opportunity when the outdated man kicks the bucket.
It’d work. Jeffries would possibly effectively get the promotion he’s angling for. I’ll spend most of subsequent 12 months arguing that Democrats should retake the Home and, subsequently, that Jeffries have to be the subsequent speaker of the Home with the intention to put some restraint on the fascist president. However Democrats like Jeffries won’t ever defeat Trump, as a result of Democrats like Jeffries aren’t keen to problem the system that produced him. They’re simply ready for his or her flip to be answerable for that system.
What I Wrote
Pete Hegseth is a assassin. I wrote about all the laws that make that so. He needs to be impeached, no matter what Hakeem Jeffries thinks.
In Information Unrelated to the Present Chaos
So Lane Kiffin was the top soccer coach of the Ole Miss Rebels (a reputation I can’t consider they’re allowed to maintain). He left the varsity final week to develop into the top coach of the LSU Tigers, a rival to Ole Miss, although Ole Miss is slated to be within the Faculty Soccer Playoffs whereas LSU isn’t. This has, understandably, angered Ole Miss followers, and lots of within the school soccer neighborhood are decrying Kiffin’s betrayal of the college, regardless that, in straight soccer phrases, the LSU job is clearly the higher one.
Kiffin acquired a seven-year, $91 million contract from LSU—a public college—which works out to about $13 million per 12 months, making him the second-highest-paid coach within the nation. With it, he instantly turns into the highest-paid public official within the state of Louisiana (though it’s not in any respect unusual for the soccer coach of the general public college to be the highes-paid public worker in a state).
It’s fascinating that that is taking place in Louisiana, as a result of the one purpose the LSU job was open is as a result of the varsity lately fired its final high-paid coach, Brian Kelly. The state of Louisiana nonetheless owes him $54 million.
After Kelly was fired, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry threw a match. He vowed that the LSU athletic director wouldn’t be allowed to supply such an costly contract once more, and that future contracts wouldn’t be assured in order to not put Louisiana taxpayers on the hook for a soccer coach they’ve already fired. Landry is a Republican—and whilst you know I don’t like saying good issues about Republicans, Landry was precisely proper on this level. The salaries of faculty soccer coaches (and basketball coaches) are utterly out of whack with the general public universities they work for. It will be one factor if the entire billions of {dollars} school sports activities generates have been going again into the states, however they’re not. LSU isn’t funding levees in New Orleans.
With the hiring of Kiffin, it could seem that Landry’s directive was utterly ignored by LSU. Not solely did it rent a coach for $91 million; it gave him a completely assured contract, and that contract was negotiated by the very same agent who represented the previous coach.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower as soon as warned that even the president was comparatively powerless within the face of the military-industrial complicated. I think about Jeff Landry may now communicate concerning the football-industrial complicated. There seems to be no manner for even the governor of a state to cease the insanity when the soccer staff wants a well-known new head coach.
I’ve stated a number of occasions: A presidential candidate who ran on getting corruption and graft out of faculty sports activities, permitting for truthful competitors whereas distributing the cash generated by the sports activities extra equitably, would win in a landslide. Sadly, I’m nonetheless ready for a presidential candidate who runs on getting corruption and graft out of the White Home.
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