Andrew Rothschild

You don't think evangelicals, by issuing credible threats to abstain from voting, drove many once-skeptical Republicans to embrace (however awkwardly) their agenda? (Real question, since I'm pretty sure this is your area.)

According to Atrios, D leaders have gone out of their way to prevent that very thing bc they see what happened to Rs (e.g. electeds having to curry favor with talk radio personalities) as a cautionary tale. Per A, Ds only want media they can control (which never works). Does that fit with your info?

The East Wing was built in 1902.

Also worth noting that there is an enormous amount of social messaging out there telling young women that it is wrong to be repulsed by old, unattractive men. E.g. Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful, humanist story, but its original social function was preparing girls to marry homely old dudes.

He might be a great director in a system that did not assume (for random historical reasons today justified by unconvincing backfill) that the same person must be responsible for (a) visual style, and (b) story construction, two talents without any obvious connection to one another.

Well there goes my academic legacy!

(Also: if you want a one-of-a-kind experience, go to the Warners archives at USC and ask for the Old Acquaintance file. Contained therein is Coffee's draft, which includes a 50-page romance sequence in which Kit and Preston are... snowed in at a ski chalet (?).)

...that Lenore Coffee, a minor screenwriter who, among other things, did some work on the Old Acquaintance screenplay, seems to credit JVD with the phrase in her autobiography which I have read for reasons unknown.)

(To be clear, my support for this has only two prongs: one, that I've never found an instance of the phrase being used before Old Acquaintance opened in 1940, and, two...

Not the point, but, as far as I can tell, the term "meet cute" originates with this play. This is the one quasi-academic theory I have ever had about anything, and so I am unreasonably invested in its promulgation.

No one is trying to "berate" you (??), but "communists and fascists are enemies" is one of the most foundational facts of 20th century history. Also: if your hope for Bluesky was that you could post whatever half-formed thought wafted into brain without critique, I suspect you will be disappointed.

Until America entered WWII, speaking too loudly against European fascist movements was widely seen as suspect by rabid anti-communists like Hoover.

I mean, the link you need to read is "the entire nature and history of fascism vis a vis communism in the 20th century"? Fascism rose in large part because it was seen as a bulwark against communism; communists were on the front lines of anti-fascism, and anti-communists were friendly to fascism.

You don't it plausible that... a rabid anti-communist would be pro-fascist? Not sure how to respond to that except to say you might benefit from picking up a 20th century history book.

Are the Muppets to blame for this cursed locution? (Always sad when our faves are implicated in vandalism.)

Earlier! Don't forget that Nixon was, in large part, the creation of J. Edgar Hoover, a man who felt deep kinship with European fascism, who harassed and arrested and deported anti-fascists, and who I believe one could convincingly argue paved the road that led us here.

Nothing will shake my conviction that "all politicians lie" bears at least 50% of the responsibility for the current state of affairs.

This is a separate argument from the one you made before, unless your actual/underlying position is, "If a person I vote for ever makes one decision I don't like, I will pronounce participatory democracy a scam and never vote again."

I mean, how else could they critique the press by having someone in a helmet labeled "PRESS" yell futilely at someone in a hat labeled "MAINSTREAM MEDIA"?

Funny, I can't recall any election where "More people need to vote for candidates like AOC" was a central part of Dem messaging, or any part of Dem messaging, or not more-or-less the complete opposite of Dem messaging.

I don't think nostalgia is inherently bad or regressive, but like, if those feelings are strong for you and you want to process them, keep a diary! Read a book! Make art! The only sort of person who'd be moved to "fight" by these feelings is the sort of person for whom fighting is their only move.

He's also clearly showing a site called "Euronews" listing the most popular baby names in *Europe.*

I do think it's interesting-ish that Green Acres came to be one of the symbols of the sort of witless, tepid "rural" show that was purged in the late 60s to make way for ostensibly better TV-- because, at least in terms of inspiring laughter, it holds up better than 99% of shows of its time.

Amazing Grace

Hmm, are you sure? I was told that Democrats do nothing but call Trump Hitler all day long and that is the root of America's violence problem.

Maybe you're right, but that sounds awfully similar to the usual arguments about why you can't tax companies or rich people. "The rich will always win -- if you try to fight them, you'll only hurt yourself, so best just not to try."

Even if he backtracked immediately, there's really no non-insanely-corrupt reason for keeping a person like that in a position of any influence or authority.

"Those 'five words about equality'... are among the most important in human history. They represent a unique moment in the story of the world, the merging of a powerful notion of universal equality with a revolutionary claim about the sources of political authority." Prosody, sweep, substance. Wow.

Do normal people still listen to Michael Jackson?

Harris pressed on transgender rights, potentially pardoning Trump: 5 key moments from NBC interview Vice President Kamala Harris talked about abortion access, transgender rights and other issues in an interview with NBC News Tuesday.

Pretty sure she didn't! NBC kept trying to force her to take a stand on e.g. gender-affirming care, and she steadfastly refused to comment except to say "all people should be treated with dignity and respect." www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

Also, did Kamala Harris ever once mention any of these things during the campaign?