The Age of Social Media

Abrasive but entertaining politicians rant on Facebook, Twitter – and legions of people follow them. After Jeff Jackson landed in Congress he made a video. Oddly, he didn’t rant, he talked calmly – 3 million people watched. He made more videos without a rant – and over a million people watched each video. How’d he…

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Teenagers

Mocking, hurling insults, on social media he called people, ‘Morons… Stupid… Dummies…Fascist Monsters…Hacks and Thugs.’ And every time he erupted people laughed, or cheered, or hurled insults back. Here’s a question: When your children talked that way as teenagers did you tell them to stop? So who’s calling people ‘thugs?’ Here’s a clue: He’s leading…

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January 6, 2000

Jaw set Trump said, ‘Democrats have been saying for 20 years elections were stolen but not one got indicted.’ Early on election night back in 2000 TV networks announced Al Gore won Florida – later that night, about facing, the same networks said George Bush won Florida by a handful of votes. Angry politicians roared,…

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Humor Helps

I got an email titled ‘Old Sayings Still True Today:’ If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates – Jay Leno The problem with political jokes is they get elected We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office – Aesop When I was a boy I…

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Trump Versus Biden

Biden’s itching to run against Trump – he’s the Republican Biden’s most likely to beat. And it looks like Biden may get what he wants – in a poll last week Trump had 52% of the vote, a big lead, in the Republican primary. But there’re warning signs (for Trump): A block of his voters…

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24 Hours

Ole Trump’s a law unto himself. Back during COVID he speculated that injecting bleach in your arm might kill the virus. Last week, in New York, he said that when he was president he prevented a nuclear holocaust and saved millions of lives. Running for president, again, he says he’ll end the Ukraine War in…

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The Inescapable Issue

Powers beyond our control, breeding crises no one saw coming, have changed politics in the blink of an eye: Pearl Harbor did that. So did 9/11. And Covid. The ‘unexpected’ makes predicting the outcome of an election a year away risky business. For all we know Putin may invade Poland next. Or Kim Jong Un…

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Politainment

A video landed from a friend in my inbox – Reverend R.C. Sproul talking about ‘worshiptainment,’ – a blight sowed in churches by preachers turning services into concerts, stage shows. I wrote back, agreed, added I felt the same way about ‘politainment.’ Vivek Ramaswamy’s the new Republican politainer. We’ve also got entertainer Mark Robinson off…

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Earth to Mike Pence

At the debate Mike Pence told Vivek Ramaswamy he was ‘wrong’ three times. After the debate, while campaigning in Iowa, Pence called Ramaswamy wrong two more times. Mike Pence is a good man but his campaign’s headed in an odd direction: He trails Donald Trump by 40 points but hammers Vivek Ramaswamy – but even…

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Until the Roof Falls In

A veteran who fought in the Iraqi war wrote in an op-ed: “Civic ignorance is a very old American problem…as far back as 1943, 77 percent of Americans knew essentially nothing about the Bill of Rights, and in 1952 only 19 percent could name the three branches of government.” He went on to say ‘civil…

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