A note to Democrats who blame progressives after losing an election:
Forcing millions to start paying student loans again and cutting off the Child Tax Credit at the start of an election year is not a winning strategy.
We're warning you now, don't point fingers in November.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) December 13, 2021
But of course the Democrats will. Because the only things they actually produce with any regularity are excuses.
Ukraine
Andrew Roth, David Blood, and Niels de Hoog, “Russia-Ukraine crisis: where are Putin’s troops and what are his options?” Guardian, December 17, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-ukraine-crisis-putin-troops-visual-guide-explainer
Roman-Catholic Church
Nicole Winfield, “Pope at 85: No more Mr Nice Guy, as reform hits stride,” Associated Press, December 17, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-pope-francis-health-religion-europe-2f733bf842c499eab9f06a48363a68df
Minoritarian rule
The proposed Pennsylvania gerrymander for the state House of Representatives favors Republicans, but not as much as the existing one, and against a political geography that favors Republicans.[1] Republicans complain, with some justification, that the gerrymander now tilts Democratic.[2]
The maps are “drafted and approved by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, a five-person panel made up of the four top legislative leaders from both parties and a nonpartisan chairperson selected by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”[3]
Kate Huangpu and Angela Couloumbis, “Democrats could make sizeable gains in Pennsylvania legislature under proposed new maps,” Spotlight PA, December 16, 2021, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/12/pennsylvania-redistricting-state-house-senate-maps/
Jonathan Lai et al., “Is the new Pa. House map better for Democrats or Republicans? We tested it,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/inq2/pennsylvania-redistricting-2022-state-house-map-analysis-20211216.html
Migration
John Leicester and Daniel Cole, “Afghans push through snowy Alps toward new lives in Europe,” Associated Press, December 17, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-immigration-migration-italy-kabul-02613cb26351c9249c27ee20f5d1681f
Opioids
Brendan Pierson, Mike Spector, and Maria Chutchian, “U.S. judge tosses $4.5 bln deal shielding Sacklers from opioid lawsuits,” Reuters, December 17, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/business/judge-tosses-deal-shielding-purdues-sackler-family-opioid-claims-2021-12-17/
Renay Mandel Corren
There is a new blog entry entitled, “An unconventional obituary.”
Andy Corren, “Renay Mandel Corren,” Fayetteville Observer, December 15, 2021, https://www.fayobserver.com/obituaries/m0028451
‘Objective’ journalism
India Walton, the Democratic Socialist candidate for mayor in Buffalo, New York, who having won the Democratic nomination, was defeated by the incumbent in a write-in campaign, may have been done in not only by Republican and Democratic Party establishment collusion,[4] but as well by journalistic hit jobs:[5]
Such stories “captured why it is nearly impossible for an ordinary person, let alone a working-class Black woman, to run for public office,” wrote Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, who profiled Walton’s campaign for The New Yorker ahead of the election. The Buffalo News article “never questioned whether a landlord might harass a woman who, at the time, was one of the most prominent opponents of the city’s rising rents,” Taylor wrote. “It also devoted seven paragraphs to the criminal record of Walton’s male friend, impugning her by association.” Taylor also rounded up details of investigations into Brown’s administration, and termed the allegations against Walton “petty” by comparison.[6]
Feven Merid, “India Walton, and how we cover progressives,” Columbia Journalism Review, December 17, 2021, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/india-walton-progressive-candidates-local-news.php
Pandemic
Stacey Burling, “COVID-19 may have killed people who never tested positive for the virus, NJ report finds,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 17, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/covid-deaths-hospitalizations-new-jersey-home-heart-attacks-stroke-20211217.html
- [1]Jonathan Lai et al., “Is the new Pa. House map better for Democrats or Republicans? We tested it,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/inq2/pennsylvania-redistricting-2022-state-house-map-analysis-20211216.html↩
- [2]Kate Huangpu and Angela Couloumbis, “Democrats could make sizeable gains in Pennsylvania legislature under proposed new maps,” Spotlight PA, December 16, 2021, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/12/pennsylvania-redistricting-state-house-senate-maps/↩
- [3]Kate Huangpu and Angela Couloumbis, “Democrats could make sizeable gains in Pennsylvania legislature under proposed new maps,” Spotlight PA, December 16, 2021, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/12/pennsylvania-redistricting-state-house-senate-maps/↩
- [4]Raina Lipsitz, “The Democratic Plot to Stop a Socialist From Becoming Buffalo’s Mayor,” New Republic, November 9, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/164319/bryon-brown-india-walton-paladino↩
- [5]Feven Merid, “India Walton, and how we cover progressives,” Columbia Journalism Review, December 17, 2021, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/india-walton-progressive-candidates-local-news.php↩
- [6]Feven Merid, “India Walton, and how we cover progressives,” Columbia Journalism Review, December 17, 2021, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/india-walton-progressive-candidates-local-news.php↩