Mainlining Q

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One of the more disheartening political realities is the mainstreaming of Q Anon into one of the two major political parties of the US. Yes, the lines about pedophiles go back further to antisemitic and homophonic movements. But the recent surge of legislation is rooted in the Q Anon conspiracies about child trafficking and such that led to false stories like Pizzagate.

Each time you hear a politician pumping talking points about groomers and pedophiles you can hear them mainlining the repeatedly debunked conspiracies from Q Anon.

It’s scary.

Everybody Hates Ted

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Whether it’s inane questioning at a confirmation hearing, checking his Twitter feed while someone responds to his question, jetting off to Cancun to escape a winter storm, or just his general levels of being a jerk, does anyone actually like Ted Cruz?

This week he implied that someone who chooses to be a public defender must like criminals, ignoring that the US has a Constitutional right to a defense attorney.

I have to imagine, after kowtowing to Trump even after Trump insulted his wife and father, that everyone sees through him.

Everybody must hate Ted.

Lies and The Big Lie

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Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) said on a podcast that some older lawmakers had invited him to participate in orgies while others had done "key bumps of cocaine" in front of him.

So now he’s in trouble with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and has admitted his statements were exaggerations or untrue. 

Cuz, the GOP is apparently against these lies but not The Big Lie that many of their members perpetuate. 

Trust the Science

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We’ve seen how poor scientific literacy can negatively affect our ability to combat climate change and the pandemic. But let’s also recognize the other bunk science claims to which we fall prey.

Multivitamins and supplements are loosely regulated. Many don’t contain what the labels say. And few people really need that daily megadose. Targeted vitamins for targeted use can be good, but most of those megadose multivitamins are just coming out in your urine.

GMOs are targeted and well known what’s in them. There’s no significant body of evidence that they harm human health. But companies can put “No GMOs” on their label (again, mostly unregulated) and get people to pay more for the same food they’ve always gotten.

There is no such thing as a super food.

There’s more, of course. But in the end most of it is just fancy marketing.

If we say we Trust the Science, let’s look at the places where many of us are not doing that.

Catch that Word Balloon!

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With a few off-the-cuff words at the end of an important speech, Biden might have reshaped the nature of this conflict with Russia, putting Putin in a position of saying the American government is actively working on regime change in his country.

Now, Joe’s not wrong, but saying it publicly in a speech by the President of the United States carries a heavy weight. Which is why his team has tried hard to walk back those words.

Just like helium balloons, some word balloons can be a real hazard if you just let them go.

We’ll see how this shapes up.

Look in the Mirror

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Republicans are suddenly very focused on sexual predators, promoting and passing laws all over the country focused on fears of sexual predators and using it as an (unfounded) attack during the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson. Of course, these fears are also cornerstone of the QAnon conspiracy theories.

Wondering when they’ll look in the mirror.

Bad Legislation, Florida

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Conservatives used to oppose legislation that’s too loosely defined or too broad. Laws like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill (yep, I’m using that name since that’s pretty clearly the intent) that leave open to interpretation the difference between “instruction” and “discussion,” leave what’s “age appropriate” open to debate, and seems to conflate gender identity with sex.

So what’s Florida going to do when they have a non-binary elementary school teacher? Deal with a buncha lawsuits.

Stupid, mean-spirited legislation designed to pretend that some people don’t exist.

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(P.s. Don’t know the Mx. honorific? Google it)