Today's News: Cheering

Big Democratic win today in the US Senate. This "Dark Brandon" meme seems to have legs:

Thanks, @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/2PxrbDOtJB

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) August 8, 2022

#DarkBrandonRises pic.twitter.com/skjETVXU5Y

— Molly Cochran ☮️🇺🇦🌻 (@MollyC82) August 8, 2022

pic.twitter.com/v1dOoaxKPb

— ShV77💙 (@Sharon9177) August 8, 2022

I love DARK BRANDON!! pic.twitter.com/2PX6b4kopa

— Kathy McCarty (@KMTBERRY) August 8, 2022

Rob Reiner knew:

Said it before. I’ll say it again. Joe Biden has accomplished more in his first two years than any President in the last 60. We all need to shout this from the rooftops!

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) August 3, 2022

Not one Republican in the Senate voted for the most consequential bill to address Climate Change and the lowering of Prescription Drug prices in US history. We have President Biden, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to thank. Never forget that.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) August 7, 2022

Somewhere, Harry Reid is looking down and nodding "Well played, grasshopper. Well played!"

Give props to @SenSchumer He kept at it even after BBB collapsed. He kept his negotiations w Joe Manchin completely secret until the CHIP bill passed, brilliantly outmaneuvering McConnell. He threaded the needle on climate to get Manchin, on taxes to get Sinema. Well done, Chuck!

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) August 7, 2022

Credit to them all. https://t.co/yxOQ4suzUu

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 8, 2022

I dumped all over Schumer three months ago. I would like some A1 sauce with my crow https://t.co/iXGYJBOkJ6

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 7, 2022

Let's not get carried away here https://t.co/GQCzLqqxGJ

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 8, 2022

If voters this November cast their ballots exclusively for the candidates and party that are most likely to help improve their lives there will not be a single Republican elected to the House or Senate.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 8, 2022

what a difference a real POTUS makes. and a party that’s not a cult. kudos to Biden and Dems. https://t.co/OSsStwvf0H

— Raffi Cavoukian (@Raffi_RC) August 8, 2022

Today's News: A problem with definitions

Some chatter these days about how conservatives and progressives aren't talking to each other very much anymore.

Another day of nightmare oppression in communist Canada 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/msNUsft7Se

— Dr. Ian Garner (@irgarner) July 17, 2022

We don't agree on some basic definitions anymore, do we. 

One striking thing about GOPers obsessing about the definition of words like women and recession is that they use "woke" as a blank-check placeholder for anything from "gay" to "black" to "against kids raped by their fathers being forced to bear their children" and don't care.

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) July 30, 2022

For example, "freedom" to some conservatives seems to mean that they should be "free" to not have to follow any rules or laws about how to treat people.

This message of "freedom" is a powerful one, even though what it actually means is letting Canadians be racist and sexist, underpay workers, operate unsafe factories, fire teachers, & dismantle any other "state interference" that actually gives us all real freedom.

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) July 3, 2022

And second, I don't know who is selling this fantasy, but pro-life conservatives in the US are pretending now that US state laws against "abortion" really only ban the pregnancy terminations they don't approve of, while the terminations they DO approve of - ie, the terminations that save a woman's life - aren't really abortions at all and therefore are still legal.

Terminating an ectopic pregnancy is not abortion.

Ectopic pregnancies are not sustainable and life-threatening. They REQUIRE a termination.

The idea that banning abortions includes ectopic pregnancies is ABSURD.

Know the facts. #AbortionIsMurder

— Michelle 🍊 (@DecertifyWI) July 29, 2022

I’m not, any termination of the fetus is an abortion. And yes it is, the right is now scrambling to redefine the terminology because they fucked up.

— Brett Booth (@Demonpuppy) August 1, 2022

No, talk to a pro life OB-GYN, they will explain why Abortion and treatment that requires termination of pregnancy are not the same thing.

— Cliff Wilson (@CliffWi53826478) August 1, 2022

The extent of right-wing - conservative anger is getting frightening - it was bad enough in Canada in 2019, throwing gravel at Trudeau, but the FluTruxKlan extravaganza this winter seems to have created a fury of hate. 

 Recent example -- last week in Canmore Alta, a guy destroyed his family business just because he couldn't resist sending an unnecessary transphobic insult email.

The Town of Canmore is reinforcing the community’s values of love and inclusivity after a local business, Valbella Gourmet Foods, faced backlash for a transphobic email to Pride organizers. https://t.co/XG33GZhmP0

— CityNews Calgary (@citynewscalgary) July 27, 2022

The incredible thing about this email from the owner of Valbella’s is that he could have simply not sent it. He could have chosen not to reply to Canmore Pride at all.

He’d be enjoying a relaxing Tuesday night right now, and looking forward to a normal day at work tomorrow.

— Matt Blair (@mjblair) July 27, 2022

Watching Valbella learning in realtime that 'cancel culture' and 'fuck around and find out' are really just the same thing is glorious.
Tip of the hat to all the businesses out there making a stand for inclusiveness and against hate.

— Luke Fevin (@According2Luke) July 27, 2022

Here's a good analysis of how this could happen - mainly, because of the right-wing bubble that these people live in, where they believe they are in the mainstream and everybody secretly agrees with them:

The Valbella Gourmet Foods drama is a good example of how the radical right's bubble has made them hilariously overconfident. The language Jeff von Rotz used is straight from right wing online discourse, which means he's spent enough time on social media to be aware of the--

— Allan Mott: Beloved by Dozens (@HouseofGlib) July 27, 2022

is in full damage mode, it's reputation permanently marred, while it loses business in a way that can probably only be rectified by their giving a huge chunk of money to the organization he denounced. Apparently von Rotz was a big vocal supporter of the ridiculous--

— Allan Mott: Beloved by Dozens (@HouseofGlib) July 27, 2022

assholes he follows rail against "cancel culture". He truly thought nothing would happen to him because everyone he knows seems to agree with him--not realizing that circle of people is much smaller than he imagined and not at all representative of the whole.

— Allan Mott: Beloved by Dozens (@HouseofGlib) July 27, 2022

But there are even hate-crimes happening in little ole PEI, for heaven's sake, just because Trudeau happened to drop in to a Charlottestown pub one day. What is the matter with people like this?

A P.E.I. pub that received a barrage of harassment after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited last Friday just had their delivery van vandalized.

“The hate is still there, and this time it has gone way too far,” the pub wrote in a social media post. pic.twitter.com/mRGRlvlt0J

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) July 31, 2022

Its hard to figure out how this type of ill-will can end, or where we will be when it does.