Politics Plus

Yesterday, In The Public Interest (ITPI – a group which opposes any privatization of anything which ought to be a pure government function) reported that in two red states, Kansas and Texas, the legislatures had defeated measures which would in some way privatize public schooling. This is welcome news. Still, I can’t get the thought out of my head that one motivator for taking this the action at this time was the desire to keep tight state control over what children are allowed to learn. In his play, “Murder in the Cathedral,” which dramaizes the death of Thomas Beckett, T. S. Eliot wrote the line “The last temptation is the greatest treason:/ To do the right ting for the wrong reason.” I’m not sure that is 100% true, but there is truth in it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Robert Reich – Is the GOP becoming the American fascist party?
Quote – We are witnessing the logical culmination of win-at-any-cost Trump Republican politics — scorched-earth tactics used by Republicans to entrench their power, with no justification other than that they can. Democracy is about means. Under it, citizens don’t have to agree on ends (abortion, health care, guns, or whatever else we disagree about) as long as we agree on democratic means for handling our disagreements. But for Trump Republicans, the ends justify whatever means they choose —including expelling lawmakers, rigging elections through gerrymandering, refusing to raise the debt ceiling, and denying the outcome of a legitimate presidential election.
Click through for article.  Yeah, I know, the question answers itself. But he puts the evidence together nicely and neatly. Including the distinction between ends v. means, which is as important as the distinction between left and right v. up and down.

Raw Story – Lauren Boebert accused of ‘coverup’ after son’s car accident
Quote – Noble D’Amato, a 19-year-old friend of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s son Tyler, has accused the Republican congresswoman of covering up details of a vehicle crash that left him injured. D’Amato told Denver news site Westword that he was riding shotgun with Boebert’s son on September 17 when Tyler flipped the SUV he was driving. D’Amato suffered “multiple concussions and a severely lacerated hand.” “I still have problems with my hand,” D’Amato told the site. “My thumb almost got cut off. It prevented me from getting a welding job, because I can’t hold a TIG torch anymore. I’m a personal-care provider now.”
Click through for details. It used to be a truism that “It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.” I’m afraid, for today’s Republican fascists, neither matters much, if at all. I’d love to be wrong in this case, as the kid appears to deserves justice.

Food For Thought