Month: March 2021

Defending Present-Day Neanderthals in the Present

Buck Banks

“Neanderthals are hunter-gatherers, they’re protectors of their family, they are resilient, they’re resourceful, they tend to their own. So, I think Joe Biden needs to rethink what he is saying.”

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), on Fox Business, on President Joe Biden’s criticism of the governors of Texas and Mississippi. It’s not clear why she’s speaking in the present tense.

The Republican Party’s Proven Losing Strategy

Buck Banks

“You’d better be spending a lot more time developing an economic agenda that benefits working people than re-litigating a lost presidential election. The question is, how long will it take the Republicans to figure out that driving out heretics rather than winning new converts is a losing strategy right now?”

— GOP pollster Whit Ayres, quoted by the New York Times

First-Term Idaho State Representative Says Face Masks Can Harm ‘Even Our Souls”

Buck Banks

“So we live in a republic and we the people should have a voice and a choice about our own health. … I have done some research and would like to share with you the physical and emotional and even mental injuries to our bodies and possibly even our souls as healthy individuals are required to wear face masks.”

— Idaho state Rep. Karey Hanks (R), reported by KVTB-TV

Experts Parse the Future of QAnon

Buck Banks

QAnon is a religion
Image: Yahoo.com

Vox has an interesting piece on the future of QAnon as described by journalists and researchers who have covered and studied the group. While the entire article makes fascinating reading, here is a crystallization of the experts’ thinking:

  • QAnon should be thought of as a religion, not a political movement.
  • Its religiosity enables it to survive, despite its prophesies failing to materialize.
  • To the QAnon devout, Q’s true identity does not matter.
  • The recent purging of QAnon believers from mainstream social media has reinforced their self-perception as persecuted renegades.
  • Democratic lawmakers should be careful about framing the GOP as the “QAnon party” because it could drive the GOP deeper into the fringes.
  • Violent extremists are actively working to radicalize QAnon believers for their own purposes.
  • Even in the absence of Trump and regular messages from Q, the tagalong theories — 5G, vaccines and alternative medicine — represent significant risks to the public.

Emmer: Trump Meddling Not Helpful

Buck Banks

“I imagine we’ll have a conversation at some point. He can do whatever he wants. Any citizen can do whatever he wants. But I’d tell him it’s better for us that we keep these people and have a majority that can be sustained going forward.”

— ”Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that is not helpful to the GOP’s goal of winning back a majority in the House to have former President Trump targeting incumbents in primary races, The Hill reports.

GOP Lawmaker Opposes Women Working Outside the Home

Buck Banks

“I don’t think anybody does a better job than mothers in the home, and any bill that makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let others raise their child, I don’t think that’s a good direction for us to be going.”

— Idaho state Rep. Charlie Shepherd (R) argued against a bill which would use $6 million in federal grants to increase early childhood education, KTVB reports.