Last week, the populist theocratic authoritarian former Alabama chief justice Roy Moore beat Luther Strange in a special election to fulfil the rest of Jeff Sessions’ term in the Senate. Strange, who had been filling the seat, was endorsed by President Trump, even though Moore, who pulled a gun out at a rally right before the special election, is far more Trumpian than Strange. In some ways, he is even more Trumpian than Trump. Moore’s closest analogue may be fascist former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, whom the president recently pardoned.
national politics
Posted inOpinion
Democracy in Crisis Podcast: Reporter Alec MacGillis on Jared Kushner, Ben Carson and Mitch McConnell
This week, co-host Baynard Woods talks with ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis about Jared Kushner’s rental properties, Ben Carson’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the machinations of Mitch McConnell, whom MacGillis wrote about in his book ‘The Cynic.’
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Democracy in Crisis Podcast: Dale Beran on 4chan, the alt-right and the rise of Donald Trump
This week, co-host Baynard Woods talks with Dale Beran about 4chan, the alt-right and the rise of Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Beran wrote an article about the growth of 4chan from a message board used by (mostly) young men talking about things like comics and video games to a site associated with far right movements.
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Democracy in Crisis Podcast: D. Watkins on white supremacy, policing and the Trump administration
This week, co-host Baynard Woods talks with author D. Watkins about white supremacy, policing and the Trump administration. D. is the author of ‘The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America’ and ‘The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir’ and is editor at large for Salon.
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Democracy in Crisis Podcast: Wil Hylton on Breitbart and Bannon
This week, co-host Baynard Woods talks with Wil Hylton, whose New York Times Magazine story “Down the Breitbart Hole” gives readers an up-close view of the inner workings of the media platform. But just two days after the story came out, Steve Bannon was booted from the White House and returned to the website, potentially shifting the trajectory of the website. And then Bannon called Wil …
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Democracy in Crisis Podcast: Charlottesville
On this week’s episode Marc Steiner talks to co-host Baynard Woods and City Paper editor Brandon Soderberg about their experiences at the racist rally in Charlottesville.
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s Sam Clovis is no scientist, but that didn’t stop Donald Trump from nominating him for the top USDA science job
President Donald Trump has decided the chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) doesn’t need to be a scientist, so on Wednesday, Trump nominated Sam Clovis for the job. Making Clovis, a non-scientist best known for hosting a rightwing radio talk show in Sioux City, the USDA undersecretary for research, education and economics would break with the tradition of finding a qualified scientist for the position, and it might break the law.
Posted inCommunity/News
CBS 2 and Fox 28 in Cedar Rapids will start airing more pro-Trump content
Both KGAN (CBS 2) and KXFA (Fox 28) will be increasing the amount of Trump-friendly news commentary they broadcast. Neither station has a choice in the matter. Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the media company that owns one of the Cedar Rapids stations, and operates the other, is mandating the pro-Trump content boost.
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Democracy in Crisis: A queer dance party descends on McConnell’s house following anger over health care bill
A swanky stretch of C Street near the Capitol in Washington D.C. is blocked by a raucous crowd dancing in front of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s house on an unseasonably cool summer evening. As music blasts from loudspeakers, the scene resembles a Pride block party as about 50 members of the LGBTQ community and their allies attempt to dance away their fears and anger over McConnell’s so-called health care bill, which was negotiated in secret.
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Democracy in Crisis Podcast: WTF is up with the alt-right?
This week’s episode includes a discussion of racism, rallies and the rift on the far right with co-host Baynard Woods, Baltimore City Paper editor Brandon Soderberg and Center for Emerging Media’s Imani Spence.
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Democracy in Crisis: The indictment of journalist Aaron Cantú portends grim future for First Amendment
Dozens of defendants, each sitting with their own lawyer, fill a Washington, D.C. courtroom, looking like college students wearing their nicest clothes for a job interview. It is far more serious than that. They are all facing charges of felony rioting, conspiracy to riot and destruction of property on the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration, when they were scooped up en masse by police with a controversial crowd-control technique which corrals protesters in a “kettle.”
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Democracy in Crisis: I took my Trump-loving father to Mar-A-Lago
A couple of weeks ago, my dad and I stood on a Palm Beach sandbar staring at President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago golf club and resort. Even though my dad and I were standing on the same sandbar, looking through the same zoomed phone screen, squinting in the same midday sun and turned away by the same security guard, we saw totally different things.
